One Stat to Decide Every National League Team’s 2026 Season

The National League heads into 2026 with more questions than answers. For each club, one telling number seems to sum up the pressure points ahead.

Bullpens collapsed. Lineups showed their age. These stats reveal what went wrong in 2025 and hint at where things might break again in 2026.

Let’s dig into the stories behind the numbers. What do they really mean for the year ahead?

Arizona Diamondbacks: 17 Different Pitchers with Saves

When 17 different pitchers record a save in one season, it’s not creative bullpen management—it’s a crisis.

The Diamondbacks’ promising core crumbled because the relief group never settled. Shuffling roles and arms exposed a deeper problem: the rotation and bullpen both need a full overhaul.

Instead of building on postseason momentum, Arizona faces a winter of tough choices about who they can trust late in games.

Atlanta Braves: 38 Runs Created at Shortstop

The Braves usually rely on offensive firepower, but their league-worst shortstop production in 2025 was hard to miss.

Just 38 runs created at short forced Atlanta to act. They made a smart gamble on Ha-Seong Kim.

If Kim bounces back to even league-average with the bat, projections say he’s worth about three extra wins thanks to his glove and improved offense.

In a lineup that doesn’t need a star at every spot, Kim could quietly become a difference-maker. Atlanta just needs him to keep shortstop from dragging down the whole roster.

Chicago Cubs: Life After Kyle Tucker

The Cubs thrived on elite position-player value in 2025, but that’s under threat now.

With Kyle Tucker gone, Chicago loses a middle-of-the-order bat who shaped their lineup. It’s likely that defensive standouts Pete Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner won’t repeat last year’s magic.

Just running it back isn’t enough to keep their edge in run prevention and value. The Cubs’ model leaned as much on defense as star power. If the gloves slip and Tucker’s production isn’t replaced, Chicago could slide in a crowded NL race.

Cincinnati Reds: Rotation Strength, Outfield Weakness

The Reds made the postseason behind a strong rotation, but their offense had a glaring flaw.

They ranked near the bottom in outfield power, and there’s no obvious fix inside the organization. The farm and current roster just don’t project enough pop in those spots.

The front office faces a bind: keep the rotation intact, or trade pitching for bats and try to balance things out. If Cincinnati wants to move from playoff participant to real contender, they’ll probably have to sacrifice some pitching depth for outfield power.

How bold they get on that front could define their 2026 season.

Colorado Rockies: A 119-Loss Rock Bottom

Colorado’s 119-loss disaster in 2025 forced a full front-office reset. The numbers show that just being “better” won’t fix the story.

Historically, teams this bad bounce back only to the mid-50s or low-60s in wins. Projections have the Rockies around 57 wins in 2026, which still looks rough in the standings.

This isn’t a quick fix. Colorado has to rethink everything from roster construction to player development. When you’re starting from 119 losses, even small gains feel big—but they’re still years from real contention.

Los Angeles Dodgers: Aging Bats, Not Just the Bullpen

The Dodgers tried to fix their bullpen by adding Edwin Díaz.

The more subtle—and maybe more dangerous—issue is an aging lineup whose run production has declined steadily even after bringing in Shohei Ohtani.

The bats that once made Los Angeles terrifying aren’t automatic anymore. Star power can only cover that up for so long.

The Dodgers are still contenders, but now they’re walking the line between experience and decline. How they juggle playing time, rest, and maybe some youth will decide if Díaz’s arrival actually matters in October.

Milwaukee Brewers: A .279 Mirage with Runners in Scoring Position

The Brewers’ offense looked better on the scoreboard than it did on paper. One number explains it all.

They hit a wild .279 with runners in scoring position, way above what their skills suggest should be normal. History says teams that overperform like that tend to regress hard the next year.

If that average in key spots drops back to earth, Milwaukee’s run scoring could fall off a cliff. Without real lineup upgrades, they’re counting on a 2025 outlier that probably won’t repeat.

New York Mets: 796 Rotation Innings and a Broken Bullpen

The Mets’ story starts with a number that doesn’t scream disaster—until you look closer: just 796 innings from the rotation.

That shortfall overworked the bullpen, which eventually cracked under the strain. Injuries and controversy only made things worse.

The result? A club that not only lost games late but lost any sense of stability on the mound. New York’s offseason mantra is simple: innings, innings, innings.

They need starters who can take the ball every fifth day and go deep, even if they’re not stars. If they don’t find them, the bullpen’s doomed to another year of overuse and underperformance.

San Diego Padres: The Perils of a Historic Bullpen

San Diego’s 2025 push rode a historically dominant bullpen—the kind of relief performance that can carry a team further than it should go.

But elite bullpens are almost impossible to sustain. Key arms have moved on, and regression is the rule, not the exception, for groups that perform like that. Expecting a repeat in 2026 feels more like wishful thinking than a real projection.

From Strength to Question Mark

If the bullpen slips even a little — and honestly, it looks like it might — the Padres have to squeeze more out of their rotation and lineup. Their margin for error just shrank.

Across the National League, these single-team stats aren’t just trivia. They’re pressure points that could shape the 2026 season.

 
Here is the source article for this story: One stat that will make or break 2026 for all 15 NL teams