MLB hot seat ranking: Which baseball GMs, lead decision makers could be on the chopping block this winter?

As the regular season wraps, blame is ready to be placed

Major League Baseball's regular season is drawing to a close and that means it's time for one of the rites of fall: wondering which teams could make leadership changes.

While no one likes to see any person lose their job, it's an eternal aspect of professional sports. Front offices, more so now than any other time in league history, get the credit when their teams win; the flip side of that coin is that they also get the blame when their clubs lose. Do enough of the losing and, well, you know what comes next.

Fortunately, there appears to be few endangered executives heading into the offseason.The Washington Nationals fired Mike Rizzo earlier this summer and are in the process of interviewing for his permanent replacement, but it seems unlikely that some of their fellow rebuilders -- the Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins, and Athletics -- make similar changes this fall. 

Elsewhere, it's hard to envision a few clubs who underperformed this season, like the Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles, dismissing their executives after one down year. One presumes that the Minnesota Twins and Arizona Diamondbacks front offices will remain untouched, too, ostensibly having sold at the deadline with the understanding and support of their ownership groups.

That leaves just a few situations where you can squint and see a leadership change on the horizon. Below, we've tackled two of those cases. Afterward, we've also addressed a few executives who we don't believe to be on the hot seat, even if their names may have popped to mind for you.

1. Bill Schmidt, Colorado Rockies

For most teams, a season like what the Rockies have endured this year would culminate with an organizational overhaul. Will that be the case in Colorado? It's anyone's guess. The Rockies tend to operate differently than the average club, with owner Richard Monfort displaying admirable loyalty to his charges. (The Rockies' assistant general managers have both been with the organization since 2006.) Professional baseball is a results-based industry, however, and at some point that blind loyalty interferes with the Rockies delivering the best possible product.

With that established, the Rockies have been more sensitive to results this year than normal. They fired longtime manager Bud Black following an abysmal 7-33 start, and they even behaved as a seller at the trade deadline. While the second part sounds like a joke, bear in mind that these same Rockies aren't far removed from standing pat in July against all prevailing logic.

Speaking of, that same reasoning dictates that the next step would be to change the brain trust, installing fresh thinkers who haven't tried and failed repeatedly to tame Coors Field. That isn't intended to be a knock on Schmidt, by the way. He's well regarded in the industry for his scouting acumen, and there's no question that the challenge of winning in Colorado is akin to playing the game on hard mode. Him being dismissed would just be the reality of the sport on display.

2. Ben Cherington, Pittsburgh Pirates

Competing in Pittsburgh requires a flawless approach to low-cost player acquisition. Cherington hasn't been afforded an Opening Day payroll that ranked higher than 27th in his first six seasons at the wheel in Pittsburgh. Relatedly, he hasn't won more than 76 games in a year either. Earlier this summer, the Pirates sacked manager Derek Shelton. If Cherington avoids a similar fate this fall, it'll be in part because Pittsburgh has played winning baseball in the second half.

Assuming Cherington remains in place, his offseason to-do list begins with finding offense. The Pirates rank last in runs scored and 29th in park-adjusted production. Cherington is unlikely to have money to throw at his problems, so he'll instead need to find his version of the Trevor Rogers trade -- that is, the deal the Miami Marlins struck at the 2024 deadline to land Kyle Stowers. 

Shy of that, Cherington could find himself present on next year's version of this list.

Notable exclusions 

• Perry Minasian, Los Angeles Angels: You never know for sure with mercurial owner Arte Moreno, but we assume Minasian is safe after signing a multi-year extension 13 months ago. He's now under contract for at least one more season, with a club option for the 2027 campaign. 
• Nick Krall and Brad Meador, Cincinnati Reds: Krall is the president of baseball operations and Meador is the general manager. Both have held those positions for about two years now, and while Terry Francona's presence may have upped Cincinnati's internal expectations, it seems unlikely to us that the Reds will make sweeping changes just yet. Check back in a year.