Each year, I revisit the previous season’s MLB preview before I write the new one.

It’s a necessary refresher after a long baseball season and an offseason that feels twice as long, and informative for the next iteration. (And I want to see what I got right.)

Hindsight was a mostly unnecessary companion on this particular walk down memory lane, though. The headline of last year’s preview was, “Dodgers taking must-win to unprecedented levels after historic offseason.”

The must-winners won. Then, they had another aggressive offseason in which it felt like they signed everyone. Will they make it back to the postseason for the billionth year in a row? Absolutely. Will the pennant come down to them and the Mets, the other team with a $700-million-dollar man?

Often, a new season seems destined to go the way of the one before. The projections are often repetitive; the Yankees picked to come out on top in the American League, the Dodgers a lock for another NL West crown. Some outcomes are predictable, like the reigning champions not defending come October; there hasn’t been a repeat since the Yankees’ 1998-00 three-peat.

Even with two of the most talented and expensive rosters in the game, the Padres and Phillies are still hitting a wall too early in the postseason.

The Giants and Blue Jays are still struggling to reel in and retain elite talent. Blake Snell opted out of his two-year Giants contract and became one of what seemed like a hundred Dodger signings. The Jays were also-rans once again in the Juan Soto sweepstakes, and could lose Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to free agency in the fall.

This is a sport rooted in tradition, including these universal truths: there will always be super-teams, underdogs, and injuries. Some owners never spend, and some teams never win. Some always seem to win.

But each season inevitably brings key differences and new question marks, too. The A’s are temporarily homeless, sharing a minor-league ballpark with the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento, and there will be outdoor baseball all season in Tampa because Hurricane Milton destroyed Tropicana Field’s roof.

Here are just a few storylines and questions for each league.

American League

Is the AL East really up for grabs? Will it even be much of a race now that the Yankees have lost Juan Soto to the Mets, Gerrit Cole to Tommy John surgery, and Giancarlo Stanton is dealing with severe injuries to both elbows?

Can the Orioles go far without spending?

Will the Blue Jays really let Vladdy leave? Should they, if he wants more than $500 million?

Is this the year the Red Sox make it back to October?

Is the Central the most intriguing AL division this year? Is it the most competitive?

Could any of these teams beat the Dodgers in the World Series?

National League

Can anyone topple the Dodgers, either in the division race or in the postseason? The Diamondbacks scored more runs than any other team last year and still missed the postseason, but they doubled their ace starter count this offseason, signing Corbin Burnes to join Zac Gallen in the rotation.

Are the Rockies still a team? (They made exactly zero trades, which suggests they may have been relegated like an English football club.)

Can Soto lead the Mets to the NLCS and beyond?

Will the Braves bounce back after not winning the NL East for the first time since 2017?

Will the Marlins finally pay some players or shed salary via trade to avoid another revenue-sharing grievance from the Players’ Association? They signed one big-league free agent this year: right-hander Cal Quantrill, for one year and $3.5 million.

Can the NL Central be interesting enough to not get lost in the shuffle between the stacked NL West and East?

Are the Pirates the dark-horse team I think they are? And will owner Bob Nutting ever loosen the purse strings and let general manager Ben Cherington build around Paul Skenes’ incredible talent?

Is Terry Francona the manager to lead a Cincinnati Reds renaissance, or should he have stayed retired?

The outcome of a season may seem obvious. You may even predict the World Series winner. But there are always surprises along the way. The Royals and Tigers did, indeed, turn the corner in their respective rebuilds last year, winning 86 games apiece to tie for second in the AL Central, behind the 92-win Guardians. The White Sox set a modern record by losing 121 games. Soto chose the Mets over the Yankees.

The potential for the unexpected is why we come back each year, ready for our hearts to soar or break. Often, it’s a combination of the two, like having to say goodbye to Nomar Garciaparra at the trade deadline, but then humiliating the Yankees and reversing an 86-year curse.

For those who love it, the start of a new baseball season is so much more than a game.

It’s springtime and sunshine, warm breezes after months of icy wind, the first green buds on branches recently covered in snow.

It’s a clean slate, the blank page on which a magical, mysterious story will unfold.

It’s the knowledge that you have no idea what’s going to happen, because anything is possible. Even what seems impossible, like a team being able to defeat the Dodgers.

Here we go.