Grading the 2022 season for every MLB team

Coming off a nightmarish 110-loss season in 2021, the expectations in Arizona were low. 74 wins was in the range of viable outcomes, and the team saw terrific seasons from Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, and Christian Walker. More importantly, several of the team's youngsters delivered, including an exciting stable of outfielders led by Daulton Varsho, Jake McCarthy, and Corbin Carroll.

After a slow start, the Braves got right and surged to their fifth consecutive NL East title. Unfortunately, the team's season will be remembered for playoff failures, but it's tough to be too rigged after the team won 101 games and showed elite performance in almost every facet. The emergence of Kyle Wright, William Contreras, Michael Harris, Vaughn Grissom, and Spencer Strider should make fans even more optimistic about the future.

The O's had one of the biggest turnarounds in recent memory, from 52 wins in 2021 to 83 wins in 2022, and it was a result few saw coming. The improvement was sweeter considering that Baltimore's young players spurred it, led by catcher Adley Rutschman. The team still has a lot of areas to improve heading into the offseason, but they also have a chance to be a factor in the AL East for years to come.

The Red Sox are rarely dull, and that statement was accurate again in 2022. Coming off a 92-win season, Boston had a sorely disappointing 78-win season with one pitching injury after another. Many of the issues were beyond their control, like injuries to Chris Sale, Michael Wacha, Nathan Eovaldi, Garrett Whitlock, and Tanner Houck, but the team also had holes created by trading Hunter Renfroe and failing to address the bullpen. The front office has a pivotal offseason ahead.

We were expecting a bad year in Chicago after the team traded much of its core in 2021. The 74-win season was even with most expectations, but the franchise did have some positive developments at the major league and minor league levels. The picture of the pitching staff looks better today after strong years from Justin Steele, Hayden Wesneski, and Adrian Sampson, while the team has reason to be bullish about forthcoming prospects Pete Crow-Armstrong and Matt Mervis.

After claiming the AL Central in 2021, expectations were even higher for the White Sox in 2022. The team had a slow start and never got out of their funk, finishing at .500 with costly injuries to key players and a disappointing starting rotation due to struggles from Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, and Michael Kopech. The retirement of Tony La Russa at the end of the season starts another reboot for the squad, but their window with their current set of talented young players is closing.

The firesale in Cincinnati continued last offseason and into the regular season, with the franchise trading most of its valuable veterans. As a result, it wasn't a surprise that the team lost 100 games, though the progress was still lacking with many young players like Nick Senzel and Jonathan India, while Tyler Stephenson missed most of the year to injuries. There were some bright spots, led by young pitchers Nick Lodolo, Hunter Greene, Graham Ashcraft, and Alexis Diaz.

Cleveland returned to the playoffs, exceeding most expectations with excellent pitching and a lineup that was just good enough. Shane Bieber's rebound from a shoulder injury and a breakout season from Triston McKenzie were key, but we also shouldn't overlook breakout offensive seasons from Steven Kwan, Josh Naylor, Oscar Gonzalez, and Andre Gimenez. With Jose Ramirez locked up, the future continues to look bright for the Guardians.

Another frustrating year in Colorado, as the Rox suffered their fourth straight losing season. Free agent signing Kris Bryant was a dud due to injuries, and the offense failed to score 700 runs for the first time in the franchise's history over a full season. The lack of starting pitching continues to be a concern, with German Marquez having a disappointing year atop the rotation. Strong years from C.J. Cron and Daniel Bard were some of the only bright spots.

Following a 77-win season, the Tigers finally spent money last offseason to take the next step. The additions of Javier Baez and Eduardo Rodriguez were both disastrous in the first year, but more alarming were the performance and injuries to most of the team's young players. Big three young starting pitchers Casey Mize, Matt Manning, and Tarik Skubal each suffered arm injuries, while Spencer Torkelson was a massive disappointment at first base. It's no wonder the team lost 96 games and fired GM Al Avila.

Houston made the playoffs for the sixth consecutive year, with their fourth 100-plus win season over that timeframe. They then went on to win their second World Series championship, one that was not shrouded in controversy. The consistency of the team's success has been remarkable given the past cheating scandal, penalties, and scrutiny the organization has faced over the last three seasons, and the good days are set up to keep on rolling with a young core that includes Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker, Jeremy Pena, Cristian Javier, and Hunter Brown.

The Royals have dipped their toes in the free-agent market over the last two seasons but can't seem to do much right. GM Dayton Moore's last attempt as a rebuild looks like a disaster with a 97-loss season, and ownership cleaned house as a result. The bright side is that the team does have some interesting young players, including Bobby Witt Jr., MJ Melendez, Vinnie Pasquantino, and Brady Singer, but the major league ballclub is more than a few additions away from competing again.

No organization in baseball is more frustrating than the Angels, given the superstars on the roster. Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani continue historic performance, yet the Angels seem only to go backward. The Angels did seem to fix many of their pitching woes from recent seasons, but the lineup couldn't make do with multiple black holes. Even the early-season firing of Joe Maddon did little to spur the squad.

The Dodgers NL West dynasty continues, but ultimately, the organization will be judged on championships. Despite nine division titles in 10 years, the Dodgers have only one ring to show for it. The 2022 squad was historic with 111 wins despite the loss of Trevor Bauer and significant injuries to Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin, and Andrew Heaney, yet much of that success will be forgotten after falling in the NLDS. Now the team's big concerns turn to retaining free agents Trea Turner and Kershaw.

The Marlins have failed to reach 70 wins in each of the last four full seasons, and their big free-agent signings backfired in 2022 with Avisail Garcia and Jorge Soler struggling. Miami's offense was at the bottom of the barrel, and they even saw their fair share of disappointment from the vaunted starting rotation with struggles from Trevor Rogers and a season-ending injury to prized prospect Max Meyer. The saving grace was a Cy Young season from Sandy Alcantara and a career year from Pablo Lopez.

Milwaukee sported an elite starting rotation en route to a division title in 2021, but injuries came for that rotation last season. Freddy Peralta, Adrian Houser, and Aaron Ashby missed significant time, and only Corbin Burnes reached 200 innings pitched. The deep lineup still lacked enough star power to keep up with the Cardinals in the NL Central, and the deadline trade of Josh Hader was likely another short-term setback that prevented Milwaukee from a Wild Card spot. For all the disappointment, Milwaukee is still well set up for 2023 due to their pitching and budding outfield prospects.

A quick start got hopes up in Minnesota, but injuries ultimately killed the team. The Twins didn't have a starting pitcher reach 150 innings, and even trade deadline acquisitions Tyler Mahle and Jorge Lopez couldn't help. The Twins did see strong development from young players Luis Arraez, Jose Miranda, Nick Gordon, and Joe Ryan, but 78 wins were far below what was expected.

Owner Steve Cohen showed he wasn't messing around when he spent big last offseason to acquire Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, and Mark Canha, raising the stakes in Queens. It's hard to find fault on the surface with 101 regular season wins, and yet the talk from fans is of a house on fire after the Mets blew the division lead late in the year and fell early in the playoffs. Injuries to Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom, and Starling Marte certainly played a significant role.

The Steinbrenner family ownership has been synonymous with "win it all or else." That attitude has spanned generations and now bled down to the unrealistic fanbase, who seemed completely unsatisfied with a 99-win squad that lost in the ALCS. The team's second-half collapse was understandably frustrating, but multiple significant injuries (Matt Carpenter, Chad Green, Michael King, Frankie Montas) were a big reason. The team's focus now moves to Aaron Judge's free agency after his record-breaking season.

The firesale started last offseason with the trades of Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Sean Manaea, and Chris Bassitt, and the trading didn't stop during the year. As expected, it was a long year in Oakland with 102 losses, and it's tough to find a silver lining without any young players making a significant impact.

A slow start caused the firing of manager Joe Girardi, but the Phillies were able to turn things around and catch the final NL Wild Card spot. An 87-win season was satisfactory, given the significant time franchise player Bryce Harper missed due to injury, and the long-time bullpen issues were fixed late in the year. Philly got hot at the right time for a run to the World Series, creating a long-awaited thrill for fans in spite of a third-place finish in the NL East.

No one should be surprised by Pittsburgh's second consecutive 100-loss season, given their lack of effort to improve. Still, there were some major positives from the season, as Pittsburgh was able to get strong return for Jose Quintana at the trade deadline and saw young players Mitch Keller, Oneil Cruz, and Roansy Contreras take steps in the right direction.

The always-aggressive A.J. Preller struck again with the acquisitions of Juan Soto, Josh Bell, Brandon Drury, and Josh Hader at the trade deadline. Those moves helped the Padres secure a Wild Card spot with 89 wins, though the disappointing season from Fernando Tatis Jr. off the field put a heavy cloud over the organization.

We often see breakout teams regress the following year, and that was the case for San Francisco in 2022 after an improbable 107-win season. The front office did hit on several of their offseason moves, most notably the additions of Carlos Rodon, Alex Cobb, and Joc Pederson, but injuries and the retirement of Buster Posey proved to be too much.

The drought is over. Seattle returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2001 after winning 90 games, and they even won a short Wild Card series in the process. The team had a dominant starting rotation and a breakout season from rookie Julio Rodriguez, and the core will be around for a while.

The surprising firing of manager Mike Shildt last year didn't have a clear impact, as the Cardinals powered their way to an NL Central division title. Big seasons from Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, and Albert Pujols thrilled fans, but the team's lack of starting pitcher depth haunted them late in the year. It's clear St. Louis needs more upper-echelon pitching to compete with the big dogs in the NL going forward, but they got the most out of the 2022 roster.

No matter the circumstances, the Rays just seem to get it done under manager Kevin Cash. They made the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season, winning 86 games in spite of major injuries across the team. Roster depth from a deep farm system, along with opportunistic in-season moves saved the day, even though the team ran out of gas in the playoffs.

The Rangers were one of the most aggressive teams in the free agent market last year, adding Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, and Jon Gray, among others. Those additions didn't do much for Texas, only winning eight more games than in 2021 due in large part to the team's lack of depth. Breakout years from Nathaniel Lowe, Martin Perez, and Brock Burke were positives, but heads rolled with firings in the coaching staff and front office.

Toronto fell short of a playoff spot in 2021 despite 91 wins but was able to win one more game in 2022 to get a Wild Card berth. Even with that success, it felt like they left meat on the bone after disappointing years from Jose Berrios and Yusei Kikuchi. Nearly the entire roster returns to make another run next season.

Washington's World Series win in 2019 is a distant memory, with an embarrassing 107-loss season in 2022. In the midst of another injury-plagued season from Stephen Strasburg and a historically bad season from Patrick Corbin, the Nats traded the face of the franchise, Juan Soto, for an epic haul from San Diego. The long-term future looks a little brighter with the addition of blue-chip prospects, but that doesn't do anything for the team's current situation.