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Baseball is a humbling game, even for the very best players. Every hitter has no choice but to get used to striking out, and every pitcher is going to give up runs at some point.
A 162-game season comes with its share of ups and downs, but for some, the downs can be tough to escape. Just ask last year's AL MVP runner-up.
Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh has gone from on top of the world to one of the least productive hitters in the sport in just a year, and he's far from alone in enduring a disappointing season.
Here's a look at the 12 biggest disappointments from the 2026 MLB season, including Raleigh's steep regression.
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MLB's biggest disappointments in 2026
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Cal Raleigh
Few expected Raleigh to repeat his 60-home run season, and a slow start wasn't a major surprise given he has a track record of being a streaky hitter, but the Mariners are still waiting for their catcher to get out of a season-long funk.
Raleigh is hitting an unfathomable .157 on the season with 13 home runs and a .570 OPS across 92 games, down from .948 last season. With just 52 hits, Raleigh still has fewer hits than he had home runs in 2025, and his strikeout rate is up from 26.7 percent to 32.0.
"The Big Dumper" has just about run out of time to turn his or the Mariners' season around, but Seattle will have to hope he can get hot over the last few weeks and take some momentum into 2027.
MORE: Where Brewers' 22-0 rout of Mariners places in MLB history
New York Mets
The Mets, Red Sox and Phillies were three of the biggest stories of April for their ugly starts to the season. The Phillies turned it around in May, the Red Sox turned it around in a big way in July, but the Mets have never quite gotten it figured out.
While New York has played better in the second half, it's too little, too late for a team whose payroll rivals the Dodgers. The Mets weren't necessarily expected to be a juggernaut in 2026 due partly to rotation concerns, but they invested far too much into the roster to be out of contention well before the All-Star break -- and their firing of manager Carlos Mendoza confirmed that.
Kyle Tucker
The Dodgers won the sweepstakes for top free agent Kyle Tucker in the offseason, to no surprise, giving him a four-year, $240 million deal that comes at an even greater cost when accounting for the luxury tax.
The Dodgers are still in great shape when it comes to contending for a third consecutive championship, but Tucker hasn't contributed in any meaningful way. The four-time All-Star is hitting .230 with 11 home runs and a .693 OPS, struggling mightily at home and failing to make up for the lack of production with his defense.
MORE: Which Hall of Famers were at the Field of Dreams Game?
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Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
The Blue Jays are a disappointment themselves, though they still find themselves right in the thick of the AL wild-card race. A mystifying season for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is a major reason Toronto remains below .500.
Guerrero's power has long been streaky, but he has gone from an unstoppable force in the postseason to a light-hitting first baseman in 2026, batting .263 with just seven home runs and a .693 OPS through 115 games. Guerrero has yet to hit a home run at home this season, which just doesn't make sense for a player who went deep eight times in 18 postseason games last year.
Seattle Mariners
Raleigh hasn't been the only disappointment in Seattle, as the entire team has fallen far below expectations. The Mariners aren't technically out of it quite yet because of the state of both the AL West and AL wild-card races, but they are running out of time as they close in on 70 losses with more than a month to go.
Aside from Raleigh's struggles, the Mariners have gotten next to nothing out of Josh Naylor, Brendan Donovan or J.P. Crawford, wasting strong seasons from Randy Arozarena and Cole Young, while Bryan Woo and George Kirby haven't been the dominant forces they were in recent years and closer Andres Munoz has had his share of meltdowns.
After entering the season with a World Series-or-bust mentality, the Mariners will have to find something within themselves just to make the postseason.
Paul Skenes
It hasn't been an objectively bad season for Paul Skenes, but it has been subpar for his standards. The reigning Cy Young Award winner's ERA has approached 4.00 in recent weeks, and his velocity is mysteriously down compared to his first two seasons. Skenes insists he's healthy, but that only opens the door for more questions about his elevated walk rate and home run struggles.
The positive side of it all is Skenes still owns a sub-3 FIP and maintains a high strikeout rate. That means bad luck is part of the equation. Still, Skenes went from a 1.09 ERA over an eight-start stretch in the spring to a 5.62 ERA since the start of July. The Pirates, meanwhile, have lost 13 of his last 16 starts despite better offensive production this season.
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Edwin Diaz
The Dodgers' other major offseason addition, Edwin Diaz, has been nearly as much of a letdown as Tucker.
Diaz gets a pass in some respects because he missed extended time with loose bodies in his elbow, but he struggled both before and after the IL stint and is now back on the IL with what the Dodgers are calling "neck tightness."
The former Mets closer has an 11.85 ERA across 16 appearances and allowed at least one earned run in six of nine appearances after returning from injury.
MORE: Why Dave Roberts is right to rip Dodgers for 'below-average' baseball
Freddy Peralta
Speaking of former Mets pitchers, Freddy Peralta went from fourth in NL Cy Young voting with the Brewers last season to someone New York couldn't feel comfortable putting on the mound every five days.
The right-hander has a 5.27 ERA across 25 starts this season after carrying a 3.30 ERA from 2021-25, with a career-low strikeout rate and career-worst hits per nine rate. There was some thought the Rays might find a way to fix Peralta, but he's gotten off to a rough start in Tampa Bay as well in a huge blow to his free-agent value this coming winter.
Zac Gallen
Zac Gallen hit free agency at the wrong time, coming off his worst season to date, and he ultimately re-signed with the Diamondbacks in February on a one-year deal worth more than $22 million. At this rate, he isn't going to come anywhere close to that kind of value on the open market this winter.
Gallen has been one of baseball's worst starters this season, posting a 6.34 ERA, 5.30 FIP and 1.56 WHIP across 19 starts and allowing 11.2 hits per nine innings. Arizona has survived awful seasons from Gallen and Merrill Kelly, who was also brought back as a free agent, but Gallen's regression has been particularly mystifying.
MORE: Why Diamondbacks placed Ketel Marte on restricted list
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Jarren Duran
The Red Sox' recent surge has quieted some of the noise surrounding Jarren Duran, but it was still surprising not to see him get a fresh start at the trade deadline. The former All-Star looked like an MVP contender in 2024 and was still a valuable player last season even as he struggled to replicate that production, but the wheels have fallen off in 2026. From a .203 AVG and .612 OPS to a spat with teammate Willson Contreras, Duran has been more of a distraction than anything for Boston even if his power numbers are still solid.
Kansas City Royals
The Royals certainly aren't the center of attention around the league, but they have to be feeling heavily disappointed about how the season has played out. Thought to be a legitimate contender in the AL Central with a seemingly stable rotation and young bats in Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen joining the lineup full-time, Kansas City got off to a rough start and simply never recovered.
Bobby Witt Jr. has still played at a high level, while Caglianone has broken out in a major way and young starter Noah Cameron has started to look much better of late. With injuries to Maikel Garcia and Vinnie Pasquantino, however, the Royals just haven't been able to put it all together and will have some soul-searching to do this winter.
Eugenio Suarez
Eugenio Suarez's reunion with the Reds was a nice story in the offseason, but both his season and the team's have been major letdowns. The 35-year-old has followed up a 49-home run campaign with only 18 through 95 games, and he doesn't contribute nearly enough in any other department to make up for a power decline. Suarez is hitting just .208 with his lowest OPS since his rookie season, and he's given Cincinnati no reason to exercise its end of a mutual option for 2027.
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