The 2025 MLB season is underway starting tomorrow. It truly is amazing knowing we get to wake up and baseball will be played and the games will have significant meaning. With that being said, here are three things that I am excited to watch for this season and see how it all unfolds.

The Diamondbacks Rotation

If there is one thing I am genuinely excited for this 2025 baseball season, it is the rotation the Diamondbacks have put together. A lot of it is returning after last season, which saw the Diamondbacks have the 27th ranked ERA despite scoring the most runs in baseball. Oh, and they missed the playoffs entirely.

Fast forward and there is a lot to be excited about the snakes, but this is a rotation that is poised to bounce back. Zac Gallen was far and away the teams’ best pitcher, finishing with a 3.65 ERA. However, after that it gets a bit dicey. Merrill Kelly pitched just 73.2 innings and finished with a 4.03 ERA. If he can stay healthy and bounce back, that’s enormous for a pitcher that had a 3.29 ERA the season prior.

Also, let’s get Brandon Pfaaft back to what made him special during the World Series run. He faced a much heavier workload, but has some to work on. He is good at limiting his walks, so there is that. Ryne Nelson will be in the bullpen and what a weapon that is. A healthy and resurgent Eddie Rodriguez goes a long ways, but this club added Corbin Burnes.

Burnes gives the Diamondbacks another ace to the rotation. He had a phenomenal season with a 2.92 ERA and was everything the Orioles hoped he would be. While the strikeout percentage has gone down each of the last four seasons, Burnes is a pitcher that brings enormous depth and reliability.

Could be a bold take; but the Diamondbacks could have a top three rotation in the sport in 2025.

Paul Skenes’ Arsenal

One pitcher I am fascinated by is Roki Sasaki. He has a nasty splitter and is a pitch that hitters haven’t seen a ton of yet. Heck, even Yoshinobu Yamamoto even went on to have a dominant showing with his splitter in his first outing. Eager to see what the whiff rate looks like against Sasaki’s splitter as the season goes on. But the arsenal im most excited for is none other than Paul Skenes.

Skenes has quite the arsenal. He is a pitcher that according to his baseball savant page has six pitches and has thrown each pitch over 100 times. He utilizes them all and uses them well. While his fastball is electric and his splinker averaged 14 inches of horizontal break and 94 MPH. It was mean and it was vicious. What he is adding is a cutter and also working on a two seam fastball.

His cutter has reached 98 MPH. It’s got some wicked movement and is going to make him a nastier pitcher. One thing that’ll intrigue me is which pitch becomes his top put away pitch and what pitch becomes the top pitch in whiff percentage.

So many tools and so many ways to beat players. Should be fun.

Lawrence Butler’s Continued Emergence

There are plenty of electrifying players in the sport of baseball. One of the more electrifying ones that emerged onto the scene in the second half of the season was Athletics outfielder Lawrence Butler.

Butler was a huge focal point of the Athletics offense and a huge reason they were one of the best teams in baseball after the All-Star break. Butler played 125 games for the Athletics, but his shining moments came after the break.

Butler is an offensive machine that can barrel the baseball to death and also make a lot of hard contact. Between him and Brent Rooker, that is a lot of power. Butler hit 22 home runs and drove in 57. Also, he wasn’t afraid to swipe bags, stealing 12 of his 18 after the All-Star break.

Butler was one of the best batters after the all star break as well. He had a slash line of 300/.345/.500 with a .898 OPS. Furthermore, he was 10th in wRC+, so he was an offensive machine that provided a lot of value at the plate.

After locking in the big extension, Butler is a core piece to the Athletics puzzle. He is going to be a treat to watch and fans everywhere are very excited for what he will do.

Of course there is plenty of other things to watch for and the list could be lengthy. But these are things that I am intrigued by to begin the 2025 season and should be a lot of fun seeing how it goes.

Baseball is here and it’s beautiful.