There are no perfect teams in 2025.
There are very good teams (the Yankees and Tigers are leading their divisions at 15-10). There are recovering teams (the Rangers are 14-11). There are teams fulfilling expectations (the Red Sox and Guardians). And there are teams off to surprising starts (the Orioles are 10-14).
But every team that takes the field this spring is also coping with problem areas, under-performing players or positions that potentially threaten to undermine their lofty ambitions down the road.
Whether these teams ultimately succeed in their pursuit of postseason glory may hinge on how well they can patch, or overcome, their weaknesses.
Here’s a look at the problem areas confronting each of the six AL teams that are playing at a .560 pace or better as of the morning of April 25. We looked at the concerns of the six leading NL teams in a previously published article.
One weakness every American League contender needs to address
Cleveland Guardians (14-10, .583, second, AL Central)
Need: More offense (and for their best pitchers to show up)
The Guardians are playing .583 ball in the AL Central despite a seriously under-performing mound staff. The 3.94 staff ERA — better than the 4.33 MLB average — looks good but is deceiving.
Guardians pitchers have already cost the team 1.2 games based on Win Probability Added, and the issue is widespread: -0.8 for the starters and -0.4 for what was supposed to be the team strength, the bullpen. Tanner Bibee has a 5.19 ERA, Luis Ortiz is at 5.96, and Emmanuel Clase has allowed nine earned runs in 10 innings as the team’s closer.
The offense is also problematic on several fronts. Second-year shortstop Brayan Rocchio may be improving, but he’s still a relative liability. Lane Thomas is hitting .156 with no power in center field, and Nolan Jones is at .179 in right. Both rank 29th at their positions in productivity. Likewise, Guardians pinch-hitters rank 27th. An offensive overhaul is needed.
Detroit Tigers (15-10, .600, first, AL Central)
Need: Production from key lineup spots
With baseball’s third best pitching staff (in terms of WPA), the Tigers are solidly in contention for a division title and postseason spot. Tigers pitchers have held opponents to three or fewer runs 13 times in their first 25 games, three of those being shutouts.
The Tigers offense, averaging 4.48 runs per game, isn’t bad, but there are troublesome spots. That’s particularly true at what are viewed as two offense-first spots, left field and DH.
The regular left fielder, Riley Greene, is hitting only .229 with a .639 OPS. Among all left fielders, those numbers rank 18th in productivity. The principal DH, Justyn Henry Malloy, is at .208 with a .698 OPS.
The Tigers would also like it if utilitymen Colt Keith and Ryan Kreidler stepped up their game. Keith is hitting.188 with a .552 OPS; the figures for Kreidler are .105 and .296, and he was optioned to the minors this week.
Even at a defense-first position such as center, you have to run down a passel full of fly balls to justify a .552 OPS.
Houston Astros (13-11, .542, third, AL West)
Need: A Yordan Alvarez resurgence (and some help from his teammates)
The Astros are winning thanks to the fourth-best pitching in MLB. Only the Mets, Padres and Tigers are allowing fewer runs per game than Houston’s 3.38.
The offense, minus Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman, is another story entirely. At 3.83 runs per game, it ranks 22nd in productivity, largely due to a .659 OPS.
It’s been a while since the Astros wanted anything offensively from their catching. Yainer Diaz (.173/.205/.280) fits right in, except that he’s also producing negative defensive stats. More problematic is the slow start by DH Yordan Alvarez.
That problem presumably self-corrects with time, but for now, Alvarez is off to a .221 start with a .661 OPS that is 300 percentage points below his career average. Through the season’s first month, only two teams are getting less production from their DH spot.
Whether two other important winter acquisitions, Isaac Paredes and Cam Smith, come around is another story. Both were obtained in the Kyle Tucker trade. Paredes is hitting .233 and Smith, a rookie, is at .226 while learning to play right field.
New York Yankees (15-10, .600, first, AL East)
Need: Anyone with a pulse that can pitch every five days
At 5.48 runs per game, the Yankees have the American League’s most productive offense. It’s a large part of the reason why they and the Tigers share the league’s best record.
Any lineup with Aaron Judge, Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger ought to move runners around the bases pretty well. Goldschmidt is off to a .383 batting average start, while Judge (.415/.513/.734) is on pace to sweep the slash line triple crown.
Too bad they can’t pitch. Yankee starters have performed at a rate of -0.5 Win Probability Added, a performance that ranks among the game’s 10 worst rotations. The loss of Gerrit Cole to arm surgery is part of the reason, but Cole’s replacement, Marcus Stroman, has allowed a dozen earned runs in just nine innings over three starts.
Stroman is the big problem but not the only one. Clarke Schmidt has a 7.45 ERA, Carlos Carrasco is at 6.53 and Will Warren is running just under a 5.00 ERA in his five starts. On days when Max Fried doesn’t pitch, the Yankee rotation Is among the game’s worst.
Seattle Mariners (14-11, .560, first, AL West)
Need: Offensive production from the right side of the field
The Mariners are playing some of the most balanced ball in the AL. They rank third in runs per game, fourth in OPS, and mid-pack in ERA.
Which leads to a question: Where would the Mariners be if the right side of the infield was hitting? First baseman Rowdy Tellez is posting a .636 OPS, and unfortunately for the M’s, that’s 40 points higher than second baseman Ryan Bliss, who’s down at .596.
Right field has also been a problem. Luke Raley, the most frequently used right fielder, is off to a .634 OPS start. As a group, all Mariners right fielders have produced -0.3 Win Probability Added, which ranks fourth-worst in MLB.
Texas Rangers (14-11, .560, first, AL West)
Need: Bullpen and offense mainstays to play up to their standards
One month into the season, the Rangers are proof that it is possible to win games with a bad bullpen.
And make no mistake, that's what the Rangers have: a bad bullpen. At -1.8 Win Probability Added to date, Texas has the third-least effective pen in the game, better than only the Cardinals and Nationals.
Some of that may be bad luck, because the stats on Ranger relievers are decent if not great. Relievers have given up 35 earned runs in 86 innings, good for a solid 3.66 ERA. They’ve allowed 23 percent of inherited runners to score. How does that stack up? Their main divisional rivals, the Houston Astros, are letting 31 percent of inherited runners to score. Yet the Astros' pen ranks fourth in WPA. Go figure.
The Rangers' offense has also been spotty, especially on the right side of the infield. First baseman Jake Burger is batting.178 with a .550 OPS, while second baseman Marcus Semien is at .153 with a .456 OPS. Presumably, Semien’s numbers will improve over time.
Meanwhile Leody Taveras is at .197 and the team’s DH, usually Joc Pederson, is hitting .066 with a .272 OPS. Not surprisingly, that’s the worst performance by any team’s DH position to date. It also gives Texas four regulars hitting .200 or worse.
No wonder the offense ranks 28th in run production at just 3.21 runs per game. Only the White Sox and Royals are scoring more sparingly.