Maybe because other teams like Mariners, Red Sox, Baltimore, Yankees will continue to improve their team with trades and free agent signing. We lost Bichette bat and didn't replaced him. We shouldn't have too much expectations on Santander, Barger, Lukes, because the first he's prone injury, and the last two just had the best season in their career. Barger in minor league wasn't a star player, so he probably come back to prior 2025. And the actual lineup is filled with many guys who barely can hit for .230 AVG, We saw the result in game 3 during WS , when have too much similar players in lineup.