For the 22nd consecutive season, the ZiPS projection system is unleashing a full set of prognostications. For more information on the ZiPS projections, please consult this year’s introduction, as well as MLB’s glossary entry. The team order is selected by lot, and the next team up is the Tampa Bay Rays.

Batters

The Orioles hogged most of the AL East Disappointment space in 2025, but the Rays were similarly uninspiring. Rather than bouncing back from a down 2024, their first losing season in a pretty long stretch, they dropped down a few more wins in 2025, and never felt like they were relevant, either as dominating contender or incompetent doormat. While the Rays are historically great when it comes to squeezing as much out of every penny, it can be difficult for them to turn things around quickly because they won’t bridge gaps with big spending. So now they enter 2026 with their usual m.o. of trying to accumulate enough incremental advantages to sneakily win 90 games.

Tampa Bay doesn’t have a particularly deep offense, so if the team is successful, it’ll likely require big years from Yandy Díaz and Junior Caminero. ZiPS is still happy with Díaz as one of the better DHs in baseball, though the fact that he’ll turn 35 in August can’t completely be ignored. Nor is ZiPS projecting 45 home runs from Caminero, but he still should be easily this lineup’s largest source of pure power. The computer does expect some offensive regression from Jonathan Aranda, since being able to run a .409 BABIP — like he did last year — isn’t a skill that major leaguers just happen to possess. That said, he’s still projected to produce enough to play first base, rather than getting stuck in tweener hell — that awful place reserved for players who both aren’t good enough offensively to be first basemen and who aren’t strong enough defensively to play a more important infield spot.

ZiPS is not electronically enamored with either recent signee Cedric Mullins or Josh Lowe in the outfield, and it sees the Nick Fortes-led catching tandem as less forte and more pianissimo, but the Rays look at least passable at those positions. Carson Williams gets a solid projection from ZiPS, better than either Steamer or THEBAT, but it is a lot less excited about him, both offensively and defensively, after his rough 2025 season. Left field projects to be a real problem spot, and though Brandon Lowe is probably overrated at this point, ZiPS doesn’t really like any of his possible replacements at second base on our depth chart. ZiPS does like Jadher Areinamo’s defense a lot more than the consensus, so he’s at least interesting. Prospect Xavier Isaac doesn’t spike a big projection, but his offensive upside is real, and there’s hope that his elbow is fine, and that there are no lasting repercussions from the “life-saving” brain surgery he had over the summer.

Pitchers

Even after trading right-hander Shane Baz to the Orioles, the Rays rotation looks to be in at least decent shape. If Shane McClanahan, who hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2023, is fully healthy, he rounds out a pretty nice top trio with Drew Rasmussen and Ryan Pepiot. Meanwhile, offseason acquisition Steven Matz could be either a decent fourth starter or strong in a relief role, and Tropicana Field is a fairly safe home to limit his occasional homericiousness. Both Joe Boyle and Ian Seymour project as league average or just a skosh worse, so there are at least six plausible rotation candidates here, and Yoendrys Gómez isn’t that far back. What ZiPS doesn’t see is a lot of emergency depth here; it usually thinks the Rays have a number of fringy pitching prospects who could fill in admirably, but that’s not the case this time around.

The bullpen is a similar story. ZiPS isn’t super excited about Edwin Uceta, but it remains a huge fan of Griffin Jax, picked up last summer when the league pillaged the Twins. Jax was a short-term play, but ZiPS doesn’t see Taj Bradley, whom Tampa Bay sent to Minnesota in return, as being much more interesting than either Boyle or Seymour. Garrett Cleavinger gets a solid projection, and ZiPS is happy with Bryan Baker, Mason Englert, and Kevin Kelly. ZiPS is less tickled by the Rays’ options to cover lower-leverage innings, guys like Steven Wilson or Hunter Bigge, but I’m sure the team will find some random unknown reliever to put up a 3.30 ERA.

The Rays aren’t bad, but this is a tough division, and there are enough holes and questions that ZiPS is putting them in water-treading territory again, somewhere between a few games below .500 and a few games above it. That’s still a team that can sneak into a wild card, but it’ll need some good fortune to do so.

Ballpark graphic courtesy Eephus League. Depth charts constructed by way of those listed here. Size of player names is very roughly proportional to Depth Chart playing time. The final team projections may differ considerably from our Depth Chart playing time.

Players are listed with their most recent teams wherever possible. This includes players who are unsigned or have retired, players who will miss 2026 due to injury, and players who were released in 2025. So yes, if you see Joe Schmoe, who quit baseball back in August to form a Ambient Math-Rock Trip-Hop Yacht Metal band that only performs in abandoned malls, he’s still listed here intentionally. ZiPS is assuming a league with an ERA of 4.16.

Hitters are ranked by zWAR, which is to say, WAR values as calculated by me, Dan Szymborski, whose surname is spelled with a z. WAR values might differ slightly from those that appear in the full release of ZiPS. Finally, I will advise anyone against — and might karate chop anyone guilty of — merely adding up WAR totals on a depth chart to produce projected team WAR. It is important to remember that ZiPS is agnostic about playing time, and has no information about, for example, how quickly a team will call up a prospect or what veteran has fallen into disfavor.

As always, incorrect projections are either caused by misinformation, a non-pragmatic reality, or by the skillful sabotage of our friend and former editor. You can, however, still get mad at me on Twitter or on Bluesky. This last is, however, not an actual requirement.

For the 22nd consecutive season, the ZiPS projection system is unleashing a full set of prognostications. For more information on the ZiPS projections, please consult this year’s introduction, as well as MLB’s glossary entry. The team order is selected by lot, and the next team up is the Colorado Rockies.

Batters

In 2025, the Colorado Rockies had the worst year in team history, losing 119 games, seriously threatening to take away the all-time-loss record of the Chicago White Sox just a year after that singular non-achievement. Paradoxically, the Colorado Rockies also had one of the best years in team history, as it seems to have been enough for ownership to finally commit to fully modernizing the front office. In is Paul DePodesta to run baseball operations, accelerating a process that the team had started a few years ago under caretaker GM, Bill Schmidt. Well known for his role with the Moneyball-era A’s and his short stint with the Dodgers, DePodesta has spent the last decade as the chief strategy officer of the Cleveland Browns. Michael Baumann wrote about the hiring back in November; you should check that out if you want to read more about the unorthodoxy of tabbing DePodesta to lead a major league front office in 2026.

The Rockies’ woes are in large part due to the many mistakes made during the Jeff Bridich era. For most of the 2010s, they were run like a bad 1970s franchise, seemingly with little comprehension of what the team’s problems actually were, spending money with the precision of a mid-inning hot dog cannon, thinking being 35 years old was a skill, and treating minor leaguers that were not top prospects as if they were annoyances rather than players who could help the team. The result was that even when Colorado was good, its blind spots were tremendous. In 2018, the Rockies won 91 games, the most in team history. And they somehow got only -2.1 WAR from position players outside their top three (Charlie Blackmon, Trevor Story, and Nolan Arenado).

Things have been more “normal” the last few years in Colorado. The team actually makes trades at the deadline now, promotes non-elite talent from within, and no longer randomly throws large sacks of cash at players who were good five years before, only to be surprised when those veterans struggled. But the Rockies still haven’t developed that critical mass of prospects to build a team around.

I swear that ZiPS isn’t intentionally trolling with Ian Desmond as one of Ezequiel Tovar’s top three offensive comps. Desmond really was a valuable offensive player for a good four- to five-year period, and Tovar is the better defensive player. ZiPS also expects center fielder Brenton Doyle to have somewhat of a bounceback season. Catcher Hunter Goodman is a real hitter, and ZiPS is kind of taken with his tandem-mate, Braxton Fulford. Completing the group up the middle is Adael Amador. ZiPS is a great deal less excited about the second baseman, but at least we’re talking about a player who has yet to turn 23 and has cognizable upside.

The rest of the offense is rather bleak. ZiPS isn’t sure about Kyle Karros’s bat, but it does have him as the second-best minor league third baseman defensively over the last two seasons, behind only Ben Williamson. ZiPS sees little upside at the other corners, and I don’t think even the Rockies are holding out much hope for a Kris Bryant comeback.

Pitchers

I’m not sure it’s a good sign that ZiPS sees the Rockies’ second-most valuable pitcher being Konner Eaton, a 2024 sixth-rounder who is not really on anyone’s prospect radar and who has barely pitched in Double-A ball. Outside of possible upside from Chase Dollander, and a belief that Sean Sullivan could develop into a decent mid-rotation option, ZiPS doesn’t think there’s much coming in the near future. The team’s best pitching prospects are probably guys like Brody Brecht, JB Middleton, and Griffin Herring, all of whom were too low in the minors for ZiPS to give an “official” projection. Colorado’s best hope here is that Kyle Freeland can soak up 180 innings or so, and that some of the “throw against the wall and see what sticks” options work out.

The bullpen is a rather unexciting bunch, but ZiPS does project most of the Rockies relievers to be a bit above replacement level, which is something. Victor Vodnik is the closest thing they have to what constitutes a good reliever, but ZiPS thinks Juan Mejia, Brennan Bernardino, and Jaden Hill have at least some upside. Like the rotation, the Rockies are probably going to basically hold open auditions and see who in the organization works out. Without many late-inning leads to actually protect, that’s not a bad approach.

The Rockies will probably lose 100 games in 2026, but I’m more hopeful about the organization’s long-term future than I’ve been in a long time.

Ballpark graphic courtesy Eephus League. Depth charts constructed by way of those listed here. Size of player names is very roughly proportional to Depth Chart playing time. The final team projections may differ considerably from our Depth Chart playing time.