Livescore
Andrew McCutchen has reportedly agreed to return to Pittsburgh, and all seems right in the baseball world, at least for this minute.
McCutchen did the impossible in his first run with the franchise, playing the role of superstar in not only helping the Pirates break their string of under-.500 seasons, but lifting the club into the postseason for three consecutive years (2013-15). They haven’t been the same since he was traded away after the 2017 season, but now he’s back.
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It’s a wonderful story, on the heels of that wonderful coming home story that played out in St. Louis last summer, as Albert Pujols found the fountain of youth near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.
We couldn’t help but wonder what other potential feel-good reunion stories could be on the horizon, sooner or later. So we found at least one for every franchise. Some were more obvious than others. The only real qualifications: Be really good for a team and have the fans love you, go away for a while, then come back. Some of the players we chose just left (or have yet to leave), and some have already been gone for a long time. In every case, though, the reunion will be special.
AL East
Blue Jays: Marcus Semien. Yeah, I know he was only there one season. But what a season it was, eh? He hit 45 homers, posted a 7.3 bWAR and was a huge part of a Blue Jays team that won at least 90 games for only the second time since 1993.
Orioles: Trey Mancini. Yeah, I know he just left. But his heart’s still at Camden Yards, and always will be. Probably won’t happen for a couple of years, but he needs to come home before he wraps up his career.
Rays: Evan Longoria. Longoria was part of the group that forever changed baseball expectations in Tampa Bay. He was a rookie on that worst-to-first 2008 squad — second on the team with a 4.8 bWAR — and he’s the only player from that team still in the majors. Bring him home, Rays.
Red Sox: Mookie Betts or Xander Bogaerts. Either one works. Give Sox fans a chance to say the goodbye they didn’t get the first time.
Yankees: Didi Gregorius. He arrived in New York known mostly to Yankees fans as The Guy Who Replaced Jeter, and he left as Sir Didi.
AL Central
Guardians: Francisco Lindor. Honestly, Cleveland baseball fans are just thrilled they wouldn’t have to choose between Lindor and Jose Ramirez for this little exercise. So great the front office kept Ramirez home.
Tigers: Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. The way they prepare and perform, it looks like neither future Hall of Famer will run out of gas soon. How cool would it be to see the duo lead the 2026 Tigers to the World Series title that eluded them in the early 2010s?
Twins: Jose Berrios. He’ll be 34 when his contract with the Blue Jays ends, but it hurt Twins fans when he was traded, and there still should be enough left in the tank to give the Twins a season or two of 130 innings.
White Sox: Jose Abreu. Truth is, I don’t care whether Abreu wins a World Series title all three years of his contract with the Astros. He deserves to get his baseball send-off wearing a White Sox uniform, standing in front of fans who adore him.
Royals: Eric Hosmer or Mike Moustakas. Those 2014 and 2015 KC teams were special.
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AL West
Angels: Shohei Ohtani. Sorry, Angels fans
Astros: George Springer. The Astros don’t become the Astros without the emergence of Springer, a kid from Connecticut, alongside Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa.
Athletics: Josh Donaldson. There are soooooo many candidates for the A’s, but we’ll go with Donaldson. He arrived in the organization as a minor league catcher, a largely unnoticed piece of a trade, and left as a perennial MVP candidate in a trade everybody noticed. Maybe wrapping it up back where it all began would be a nice story.
Mariners: Edwin Diaz. Yep, he’s going to be a Met for a long while, but J-Rod’s team just might need a veteran bullpen arm with closing experience in 2028 or 2029. It’ll be a nice fit.
Rangers: Joey Gallo. Bring him home, Rangers. Y’all need each other.
NL East
Braves: Freddie Freeman. That shocking break-up — still can’t believe it happened — needs an eventual happy(ish) resolution.
Mets: Wilmer Flores. Tears would be shed at that reunion, and not just on the field.
Nationals: Juan Soto. Would be cool to see Soto play for the Nats as a teenager and in his 40s.
Marlins: Giancarlo Stanton or Christian Yelich. Bring back at least one of the pieces of the great outfield purge. The good thing is this: It would be on another team’s dime.
Phillies: Cole Hamels. Just a spring training invite. That’s all we’re asking, Phillies. He wants to give it one more try, and we all want that shot to happen with you guys.
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NL Central
Brewers: Josh Hader. If we do this list again next offseason, we’ll probably say Corbin Burnes or Brandon Woodruff, but for now it’s Hader.
Cardinals: Michael Wacha. This needs to happen now. Wacha’s a free agent who was really good for Boston last year, and Cardinals fans will always remember his rookie October magic. Oh, and Kolten Wong NEEDS to have the birds on the bat across his chest for at least one more season.
Cubs: Anthony Rizzo. Or, y’know, literally anyone from that 2016 team that was dismantled because the owners chose money over on-the-field success. Cubs fans would love to see Rizzo, Javy Baez, Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber or Willson Contreras back in a few years.
Pirates: Hey, McCutchen is back. Don’t get greedy. Gerrit Cole is not coming back.
Reds: Eugenio Suarez or Johnny Cueto. Seattle’s not letting Suarez leave anytime soon — they love him there — but down the road it would be nice to see him back in Cincy. And the Reds missed an opportunity with Cueto this offseason; he would have been a great teacher for young starters Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Graham Ashcroft.
NL West
Diamondbacks: AJ Pollock. He spent a frustrating amount of time on the DL while in Arizona, but Pollock was really, really good for the Diamondbacks, including that 6.9 bWAR year in 2015. He’s in Seattle this year, but it’s only a one-year deal.
Dodgers: Cody Bellinger. Dodgers fans will love Bellinger until the day he returns, and rest assured that will happen. How it happens is anyone’s guess. Will it be to close out his career a decade from now after many successful seasons elsewhere, or will it be in two years, as one final attempt to revive that magical swing that has gone silent? That’s the question.
Giants: Madison Bumgarner. Bring back MadBum! Unless, of course, the Giants can somehow talk Buster Posey out of retirement.
Padres: Hunter Renfroe. Being honest, there’s not a ton to choose from for the Padres, who have had a better roster the past three years than they did in the previous 10. So we’ll go with the Mike Trout lookalike — how much fun is it that they’re on the same team in 2023? — who averaged 28 homers a year for the Padres from 2017 to 2019.
Rockies: Nolan Arenado. Remember, this is about the fans, not the front office. And Rockies fans didn’t mess everything up so badly that the fan-favorite/potential future Hall of Famer was traded away.
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