Every season in Major League Baseball brings about its own challenges for each team. For some, the battle is against injuries and ineffectiveness in-house. For others, it’s facing off against a rival that seems to have their number. And while more of that is likely for the 2026 season, there’s an opportunity for some teams to take a massive leap forward from a season ago. This article will examine three such teams.

TEAM #1: ATLANTA BRAVES

Now, this may seem like low-hanging fruit to say that the Braves will be better in 2026 than they were a season ago when they finished with a record of 76-86. It may seem like an obvious correction and regression to the mean, because they can’t face another season dominated and devastated by injuries. Thus, in that vein, the Atlanta Braves are a team to watch this season. A healthy campaign from Ronald Acuña Jr., alongside Matt Olson and Austin Riley, can be a terrific threesome for Braves’ fans and a terrible trio for the opposition. Not to mention that the cast of characters around the trio has improved. Atlanta seems like an easy candidate to assume for a piece like this, stating that they will go from under .500 to a postseason spot. But the National League postseason picture is murky to say the least, with so many good teams vying for so few spots. But expect Atlanta to be among them.

TEAM #2: BALTIMORE ORIOLES

The Baltimore Orioles are another team that could be seen as an easy candidate to make this kind of list, especially given the offseason they’ve had with acquisitions. That being said, it goes beyond just bringing in Pete Alonso. Acquiring players like Taylor Ward, Ryan Helsley, and Shane Baez all make big improvements to a team that finished in last place in the very difficult American League East. To go from a record of 75-87 in 2025 to a postseason team in 2026 might seem like an enormous jump, but looking at the talent and quality of players on the Orioles, it’s less of a surprise or shock. And it becomes more of an inevitability for this team to exceed the lowly valleys of a season ago.

TEAM #3: PITTSBURGH PIRATES

Saying that the Pittsburgh Pirates will make the postseason in 2026 seems like an insanely bold claim to make, given how the team has operated under owner Bob Nutting. However, the Pirates have operated this offseason in an entirely different way. There’s little doubt that it will be an extremely difficult task to climb up from the depths of 71-91 in 2025 to the 85+ wins needed to be an NL Wildcard team. Yet when examining the new ballclub in Pittsburgh, it’s not hard to see where the team has changed. Capturing fourteen more wins won’t come easy, but the moves that were made this offseason could easily push this Pirates team to another level in the National League. While this might be a bold claim to make, it’s a much easier belief to be had that the Buccos’ could gave an additional ten wins to become a .500 team. But if they’ve surpassed the ten games over .500 mark, why stop there and not go after an NL Wildcard berth with an additional five more wins or so?