Five Non-Playoff Teams You Should Buy Stock in for 2025

It may be hard to believe considering how many powerhouses seem to be back in the playoffs every year, but the MLB postseason actually has more parity than most might think.

In 2024, five teams made the playoffs that did not do so the season before: the Guardians, Tigers, and Royals in the American League, and the Mets and Padres in the National League. The year before that, seven teams were different than the prior season.

An active offseason could add some unpredictability to the upcoming year. While last offseason saw a majority of the market held up until Shohei Ohtani signed his deal with the Dodgers, the hot stove has been piping hot this time around with several teams already poised to look much different in 2025.

Sure, some moves saw players go from playoff team to playoff team (we’re looking at you, Max Fried and Juan Soto). Yet, plenty of others saw talent added to teams who were on the outside of the postseason looking in only a couple of months ago.

With the tides ever changing in the MLB postseason landscape, it’s fun to think of which of last year’s playoff bridesmaids will have a chance to become brides in 2025. Here are five teams whose stock you should consider investing in ahead of the upcoming season.

Chicago Cubs

Last year was supposed to be a big year for the Chicago Cubs. Fresh off of plucking new manager Craig Counsell away from their rivals just up the interstate, many picked them to battle his old Brewers team for NL Central supremacy.

Instead, the Brewers led the division nearly wire to wire while the Cubs fell six games short of the postseason, increasing their playoff drought to four seasons.

Part of the issue was that Chicago didn’t do much to improve upon a team that went 83-79 in 2023. They brought back Cody Bellinger, traded for Michael Busch, and signed free agent Shota Imanaga. Besides that?

Perhaps that’s why they ended 2024 with an identical 83-79 record.

This time, the Cubs are taking a more aggressive approach to the offseason. Earlier this month, they bolstered the rotation by signing free agent starter Matthew Boyd, then made a huge splash when they traded for three-time All-Star Kyle Tucker. Most recently, they shipped Bellinger off to the Yankees, possibly to prepare for additional offseason moves.

Indeed, they may not be done with additions. MLB insider Bob Nightengale has Chicago connected to Marlins starter Jesús Luzardo as well.

In addition to all of this, the Cubs have a top-10 farm system to potentially pull from over the course of the season. They should take a step forward in 2025, and even if they don’t take over the NL Central crown, their playoff stock should be on the rise.

Boston Red Sox

Speaking of teams who just missed out on the playoffs, the Boston Red Sox also were in the hunt for a Wild Card spot up until the end of the year. They managed to get a game closer to the promised land than the Cubs, missing the postseason by five games.

Offense wasn’t really the problem for the Red Sox in 2024 as they were top ten in runs per game. The problem was more with the pitching staff, which was average at best with a 4.04 staff ERA. Both the rotation and bullpen needed improvement coming into the offseason.

And improve is exactly what Boston has done.

They started with the bullpen, signing veteran free agent Aroldis Chapman. Even at the age of 36 the fireballer can still bring the heat and had a 3.79 ERA and 14.3 K/9 in 68 games with the Pirates last year.

Then, the Sox made one of the biggest moves of the offseason so far. They were the team that finally won the Garrett Crochet sweepstakes, giving up four top-30 prospects to the White Sox for a starter that teams had been trying to pry away since last summer’s trade deadline.

These moves will go a long way toward helping the Red Sox leapfrog the five teams (Orioles, Royals, Tigers, Mariners, and Twins) who finished ahead of them in the 2024 Wild Card race. Only the Royals and Orioles have really done much this offseason and nothing to the magnitude of Boston’s moves.

The Yankees will be hard to catch in the AL East considering the moves they’ve made to counter the loss of Juan Soto and others. But a playoff berth is well within sight.

Texas Rangers

The Texas Rangers were one of the biggest surprises in MLB during the 2024 season. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a good thing.

The 2023 World Series champions never got close to a chance at defending their title. On May 21, the Rangers would fall below .500 and never climb back again, ultimately landing at 78-84 and outside of the postseason looking in.

Injuries decimated the Rangers in 2024. Key players such as Jacob deGrom, Tyler Mahle, Max Scherzer, Evan Carter, and Josh Jung missed huge chunks of the season, a massive hurdle for the team to overcome.

Scherzer is the only member of that group not set to return to Texas in 2025. That alone should help the Rangers get back into contention for a postseason spot once again.

But that’s not the only good news. Not only is Nathan Eovaldi returning after the Rangers re-signed him, but the team also added some offensive firepower when they traded for Jake Burger from the Marlins last week.

The AL West might be vulnerable in 2025. The Mariners haven’t done much of anything this offseason, and the Astros just traded one of their top players, Tucker, leaving questions as to what direction they’re going in right now.

The odds should be high for the Rangers to return to form this upcoming season. Buy stock in them while you can.

Toronto Blue Jays

With a young offensive core and a pitching staff featuring some big names, the Toronto Blue Jays seemed primed for a third straight playoff appearance in 2024. Instead, they saw a season of unmet expectations.

That young offensive core produced just the 23rd-most runs per game (4.14). Only four players who appeared in more than 50 games for Toronto had an OPS+ over 100. One of those players, Justin Turner, was shipped out at the trade deadline.

As for the pitching staff, the rotation held its own, but the bullpen was awful. Blue Jays relievers had the worst ERA in the entire AL at 4.82 and would have been in the MLB cellar if not for the lowly Rockies bullpen.

The Jays have already made one move to help improve the bullpen – sort of. They brought back free agent reliever Yimi García, who they had traded to the Mariners just before the trade deadline this past summer.

That move doesn’t compare to the much bigger splash the Blue Jays made the same day as that signing: a trade for three-time Gold Glove infielder and 2022 All-Star Andrés Giménez. He will further reinforce a defense that led MLB in defensive runs saved (102) and ranked fourth in outs above average (26) in 2024.

The Jays will need to do more to reinforce their weak bullpen, but on the offensive side, they’ll need to rely on a lineup that is almost all on the good side of 30 returning to form. Much of that same core already proved they could do it in 2023, though, so who’s to say they can’t do it again?

San Francisco Giants

Last offseason, the San Francisco Giants made several moves in an attempt to return to the playoffs after falling short in 2023. They brought in offensive players like Matt Chapman and Jorge Soler and pitchers like Blake Snell and Jordan Hicks.

Instead, they were the very definition of a middling team.

The Giants finished the 2024 season at 80-82, nine games shy of a Wild Card spot. They were never more than three games over .500 or more than six games under. Their longest winning streak on the season was five games, while their longest losing streak was six.

Those four acquisitions did perform well for San Fran, yet the offense and pitching finished the season…you guessed it…middle of the pack. The offense was 17th in MLB at 4.28 runs per game, while the pitching staff finished 19th with a 4.10 ERA.

At the very least, the offense could take a step forward from mediocrity in 2025. The Giants made one of the biggest splash signings of the offseason when they signed Willy Adames, the top shortstop option on the market, to a seven-year deal.

The pitching staff will need to weather the loss of two-time Cy Young winner Snell to the rival Dodgers, but if 23-year-olds Kyle Harrison and Hayden Birdsong can take steps forward in 2025, that will certainly help. As will Ryan Walker officially taking over the closer role from the ineffective Camilo Doval.

It shouldn’t take too much more tweaking for the Giants to be where they want to be heading into 2025. If they continue making the right moves, their playoff stock will trend back in the right direction.