Top 10 MLB And Minor League Storylines Of 2024
Image credit: (Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
What a year it’s been!
From unthinkable new statistical records and breakout stars to struggling franchises making headlines for losses and relocation, it’s a been a wild ride for the game of baseball.
In the long run, we think the 10 storylines below will serve as shorthand for the 2024 MLB and minor league seasons.
1. Shohei Ohtani creates the 50-50 club
Shohei Ohtani’s 2024 began with an investigation into gambling losses. It turned out that his long-time interpreter Ippei Mizuhara had used Ohtani’s name and stolen from him to cover gambling losses. Mizuhara eventually pled guilty to bank and tax fraud, admitting that he had stolen nearly $17 million from Ohtani.
Ohtani was cleared of any wrongdoing, and once the season began, that story began to slide into the background as the Dodgers superstar produced yet another year of MLB firsts.
Jose Canseco established the 40-40 club in 1988. Four others—Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Alfonso Soriano and Ronald Acuña Jr.—joined him over the years, with Acuña creating the 40-70 club in 2023.
When MLB introduced rules changes to spur the running game in 2023, league-wide stolen bases increased by more than 1,000. With the rise of the running game, new power-speed clubs have been created.
Acuña hit 41 homers and stole 73 bases in 2023. This year, Ohtani created the 50-50 club with 54 homers and 59 steals.
2. Aaron Judge turns in an all-time season—again
Aaron Judge is so reliably productive that his greatness tends to be taken for granted. The Yankees outfielder cleared the 200 wRC+ threshold for the second time in three seasons in 2024.
Just seven players have reached that territory more than once in a season of at least 500 plate appearances: Babe Ruth (nine times), Ted Williams (six), Barry Bonds (four), Ty Cobb (two), Rogers Hornsby (two), Mickey Mantle (two) and now Judge.
This season, Judge hit .322 and led all MLB hitters in seven key categories: 58 home runs, 144 RBIs, 122 runs, .458 on-base percentage, .701 slugging, 218 wRC+ and 11.2 fWAR.
Judge incredibly led all MLB hitters in the same seven categories in 2022, a level of mastery that is almost impossible to fathom in today’s game.
3. The White Sox set the modern single-season loss record
In a season featuring zero 100-game winners, the White Sox somehow made history at the other extreme.
The expansion 1962 Mets lost 120 games. No team since 1900 had lost more games—until this year. The White Sox lost 121 times to set the modern single-season record. Only a 5-1 finish staved off an even more dismal loss total.
On their way to ignominy, the White Sox tied the American League record with 21 consecutive losses and had other streaks of 14 and 12 straight losses. Chicago’s second-half futility is the backbone of its loss record. Their 14-50 (.219) record after the all-star break is the second-worst of the expansion era. Only the 1962 Mets at 17-61 (.218) were worse.
Chicago’s –306 run differential is one of just 21 to dip below –300 since 1900, though the White Sox are not alone this century. The 2023 Athletics, 2019 Tigers and 2003 Tigers are also in the –300 club.
4. The Athletics say goodbye to Oakland
Different city, same outcome.
Only the Yankees and Cardinals have more World Series championships than the Athletics. But while New York and St. Louis have remained anchored in place for more than a century, the A’s have lived a nomadic existence, with 54 seasons in Philadelphia, 13 in Kansas City and 57 in Oakland.
Next step: Sacramento and its Triple-A ballpark for three or four seasons.
Ultimately, A’s owner John Fisher wants to take the franchise to Las Vegas, but no ballpark construction is underway or even imminent.
The Athletics’ protracted exit from Oakland reached its final chapter in 2024, and it was a sad and confusing display.
5. Paul Skenes goes from No. 1 pick to No. 1 starter
Paul Skenes was the No. 1 starter for the No. 1 team in college baseball in 2023, the national champion LSU Tigers.
That summer he was the No. 1 pick in the draft. Less than a year later he was the No. 1 starter for the Pirates—and one of the most dominant rookie pitchers MLB has ever seen.
6. Nobody saw Kristian Campbell coming
The Red Sox drafted Georgia Tech shortstop Kristian Campbell in the fourth round in 2023. He made such an impression that summer at High-A Greenville that he did not rank among Boston’s Top 30 Prospects heading into 2024.
Campbell put in the work all offseason to remake his swing, body and approach to emerge as one of the breakout prospects of 2024 as he rose three levels to Triple-A Worcester.
Campbell performed so well that he won Minor League Player of the Year. Never before in the Prospect Handbook era, which dates back to 2001, had a POY not ranked in his organization’s preseason Top 30.
7. Diamond Baseball Holdings expands its minor league footprint
Coming into 2024, the private equity firm Diamond Baseball Holdings was already the largest owner of minor league teams in history, and they continued to acquire flagship franchises this season.
This season, DBH purchased seven teams at four levels of the minor leagues: Triple-A Charlotte and Omaha of the International League; Double-A Arkansas (Texas) and Binghamton and Harrisburg (both Eastern); High-A Winston-Salem (South Atlantic); and Low-A Inland Empire (California).
With these purchases, DBH now owns 36 of the 120 full-season minor league clubs, including a dozen of the 30 teams at both Triple-A and Double-A.
8. MLB attendance is up; minor league attendance is down, again
For a second consecutive season, MLB topped 70 million fans coming through the gates, and for a second straight year, average attendance went up.
In total, MLB drew 71,348,405 fans in announced attendance in 2024, for an average of 29,544 per game. That’s up from 70,747,365 total attendance and 29,283 fans per game in 2023. MLB drew just 64,556,658 fans and 26,843 per game in 2022. MLB had fallen below 70 million fans for every season from 2018 to 2022.
In the minor leagues, the 120 teams drew 31,217,496 fans in announced attendance in 2024, an average of 3,959 fans per game. That’s a drop of nearly 1 million from 2023, when MiLB drew 32,148,232 fans for an average of 4,077 per game. It is slightly higher than the 2022 numbers of 30,916,465 total fans and 3,910 per game.
9. The first wave of minor league relocations are forced by facility standards
Two minor league franchises will be on the move in 2025. Both clubs were unable to meet the higher facility standards introduced by MLB when it took control of the minor leagues in 2021.
The Rangers’ Low-A Down East affiliate, which is based in Kinston, N.C., moves to Spartanburg, S.C. The Braves’ Double-A Mississippi affiliate will begin play in Columbus, Ga.
Both Spartanburg and Columbus are former minor league cities.
The Low-A Carolina Mudcats are slated to move from Zebulon to Wilson, N.C., in 2026.
10. Chandler Simpson swipes 100 bases and wins the minor league batting title
Kristian Campbell wasn’t the only Georgia Tech product to shine in 2024.
Rays outfield prospect Chandler Simpson plays to his strengths, even though he has yet to hit an over-the-fence home run in three pro seasons.
Simpson, a 2022 second-round pick, tied for the minor league lead with 94 stolen bases in 2023 and then upped the ante in 2024, a season he split between High-A Bowling Green and Double-A Montgomery.
Simpson swiped 104 bases in 110 games, becoming the first minor leaguer to both clear 100 steals and lead the minors in back-to-back seasons in more than a decade.
Reds prospect Billy Hamilton led the minors in steals in 2011 and 2012, stealing a minor league-record 155 bags in the latter season.
An added wrinkle to Simpson’s season was his .355 batting average, which led the full-season minor leagues. No minor leaguer had won the overall batting title while leading the minors in stolen bases going back at least 45 seasons.
Simpson also became the first player in the past 40 years to have an NCAA Division I batting title and a minor league batting title. Notably, Buster Posey led D-I in batting and later won a National League batting title.
