MLB winners and losers after first month: Mets rotation, road Cardinals, rising stolen bases, more takeaways

Major League Baseball’s opening month of April – never mind for these purposes that games that count were played in March – is almost behind us, and that means a time for sober reflection and stock-taking. To do that, we’re going to have a brief look at some first-month-of-the-season winners and losers. 

Perhaps such a framing sounds too definitive given that, to repeat, the season is barely a month old. If you prefer, think of these buckets as “doing very well so far” and “needs to improve” in the forward-looking sense. You know how this sort of thing goes. Now let’s run down a few players, teams, and even statistical trends that are looking back upon the opening month with a sense of accomplishment or regret. The URL-clicker should be warned that is not an exhaustive list of those players, teams, and even statistical trends currently experiencing a sense of accomplishment or regret, but it is a certain list of players, teams, and even statistical trends currently experiencing a sense of accomplishment or regret. Onward. 

Winner: Mets rotation

The Mets’ rotation coming into the season looked like a dubious and ace-less corps, and that was before the injuries took hold. Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, and Paul Blackburn are all on the injured list at this writing, and they haven’t yet pitched a single inning in 2025. On paper, that sounds like a grim set of circumstances for a team expected to contend. In reality, though, the Mets’ rotation has been a major asset through the first month-plus of the season. Right now, Mets starting pitchers lead the majors with an ERA of 2.29 (!), and they also lead the majors in FIP with a mark of 2.71. That’s more than just a pleasant surprise; that’s dominance, and it’s the leading reason the Mets right now are in first place.

Loser: Orioles‘ rotation

GM Mike Elias failed to adequately address the rotation following the departure of last year’s Corbin Burnes via free agency, and he and the Orioles are paying for it right about now. The O’s rotation at this writing is last in MLB with an ERA of 6.22, or 0.75 runs higher than the 29th-ranked rotation of the Rockies, who of course pitch their home games at a mile above sea level. The Baltimore rotation is also last in MLB in FIP by a wide margin. Injuries to Grayson Rodriguez (elbow) and Zach Eflin (lat) have exposed the lack of depth and stripped away front-end upside. The core of young to young-ish position players remains an enviable one, but Elias is at high risk of wasting it.

Lee has been a major contributor to the Giants’ strong start to 2025. After missing all but 37 games of his rookie season because of a torn labrum in his left shoulder, Lee has come back in his age-26 season with authority. Through 21 games played for the Giants, he’s slashing .315/.374/.573 (170 OPS+) with an MLB-leading 10 doubles and zero double plays hit into. As well, he’s backed up the production with a knack for avoiding strikeouts and finding the sweet spot on his batted balls. That’s a welcome development for a player whose bat was generally regarded as a question mark when he made the leap from Korea to MLB. To boot, Lee is putting up those numbers while grading out as a plus fielder at the up-the-middle position of center field. 

When your OPS would make a sub-optimal batting average, you are struggling to a grave extent. Coming off a strong season in Arizona in which he produced at a top-line level and also put up some of the best batted-ball metrics of his career, Pederson figured to be a useful bat for a Texas team looking to rebound in 2025. He has not been that, at least as of yet. Presently, Pederson is encumbered by a slash line of .052/.141/.069 (!) with zero home runs. Pederson hasn’t gotten a hit since way back yonder on April 2. 

The reigning American League MVP and the best hitter in baseball has been better than ever thus far in 2025. “Better than ever” is of course a high bar to clear for a player like Judge, who’s already enjoyed a legendary peak. Speaking of which, that peak is still ongoing. Thus far in 2025, Judge is slashing .411/.509/.722, which is good for a sky-scraping OPS+ of 254. Judge also leads the American League in WAR, and he has more RBI than games played.

It’s hard to lose 121 games in one season and then come out the next year and look even worse. By golly, though, the Pale Hose have done it. The White Sox are 5-18 with an AL-worst minus-28 run differential. That’s good for a winning percentage of .217, and that puts Chicago on pace for a record of 35-127. That, of course, would be worse than last year’s record mark of 41-121. More impressive still is that the Sox have bumbled their way to this start despite playing one of the weakest schedules in baseball to date. 

Tucker has for some time been a frontline performer and one of the best all-around players in baseball. This season, he’s taken it to a still higher tier. In 25 games, he’s slashing .320/.420/.650 with seven homers, six stolen bases, and more walks than strikeouts. This has all accrued to the benefit of the Cubs, who traded for Tucker this past offseason, as they try to position themselves as a National League power in 2025. As well, it’s been good for business in terms of Tucker’s developing market. He’s eligible for free agency after the current season, and he’s far and away the top talent slated to be available (assist: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s decision to sign a long-term extension with the Blue Jays). Whether he re-ups with the Cubs or hits the market, Tucker is on his way toward making himself a lot of money with his 2025 performance and maybe even carrying the Cubs on a deep playoff run.

Loser: Cardinals on the road 

Expectations for St. Louis were not especially high coming into the season, but a 10-15 start to the season still qualifies as a disappointment. What really qualifies as a disappointment is that the Cardinals this season are a pitiful 2-11 in road games so far in 2025. High-level mathematics will tell you that they’ve been quite good at home, but the utter inability to win away from Busch Stadium has landed them in fourth place in the NL Central. In those 13 road games, they’ve been outscored 83-56. It’s too soon to start pondering things like all-time records, but we’ll note just the same that the 1963 Mets and 2010 Pirates share the mark for worst MLB road record at 17-64. The Cardinals right now are on pace to go 12-69 in road games this season. 

Winner: Stolen bases 

The rules on pitcher disengagements and base size implemented prior to the 2023 season had the very much intended consequence of injecting some life back into MLB’s flagging running game. As well, the pitch clock probably had the unintended consequence of doing the same, since pitchers were limited in how long they could hold the ball. As such, MLB teams went from 0.51 stolen bases per game in 2022 to 0.71 in 2023, the first year under the new rules. Last season, that figure was up modestly to 0.74, and this season it’s taken another significant step forward to 0.84 steals per game. For fans who enjoy such things – and all fans should enjoy such things – this is a promising early trend. 

Loser: Batting average 

The sad death of batting average continues apace. This season, the league batting average going into the April 23 slate was down to .238, which continues a sustained pattern of decline in MLB. If this year’s figure holds up, then it will be the lowest league batting average since 1968 – the famed Year of the Pitcher, which led to the mound being lowered. The league batting average was .237 in ’68, which is the lowest mark ever. That’s right: Going all the way back to 1871, only once has the league batting average been lower than what it is right now. Yes, maybe things pick up when the weather gets warmer, but this is a structural crisis for baseball driven by rising strikeout rates and team defenses that are more adept than ever at turning batted balls into outs.