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The 2022-23 Major League Baseball offseason was a different time. You can tell by all the takes that have aged like so many bowls of warm milk since the season began.

So, let's discuss a few of them.

We've specifically picked out eight major storylines from the MLB offseason whose "how it started" and "how it's going" summaries couldn't be more different. These concern deals that have and haven't panned out, as well as teams and races that are playing differently than expected.

The list mostly concerns unpleasant surprises, though we're going to begin in Boston with a surprise on the other side of that spectrum.

How It Started

Even amid a winter that blew away even the most optimistic projections as a record $3.7 billion got paid out to free agents, no deal blindsided prognosticators quite like the Boston Red Sox's five-year, $90 million pact with Masataka Yoshida.

The Japanese outfielder didn't even crack MLB Trade Rumors' rankings of the 50 best free agents on the market, and they weren't alone in overlooking him. When the 29-year-old signed, the mood inside baseball could be adequately described as appalled.

As one executive told Kiley McDaniel of ESPN: "We thought he was worth less than half of what they paid."

How It's Going

So, it turns out that a guy who hit .326 in seven seasons with the Orix Buffaloes in Japan is a really good hitter regardless of the circumstances.

That may not have been apparent before, but it sure is now. With a .312 average (3rd) and 138 OPS+ (12th) that qualify him as one of the best batsmen in the American League, the sweet-swinging Yoshida has established himself as a huge win from what was otherwise a rocky winter for Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom.

How It Started

If the Chicago White Sox achieved any notoriety in 2022, it was only as the most disappointing team in baseball. An 81-81 record is just not an outcome befitting a would-be World Series contender.

The White Sox nonetheless came into 2023 equipped for a phoenix-like revival. Swapping out the serially befuddled Tony La Russa for Pedro Grifol in the manager's chair figured to help, while a club-record $75 million deal with Andrew Benintendi only further bolstered a roster that was already teeming with talent.

Plus, Pale Hose players had something like revenge on their minds. As shortstop Tim Anderson said in February: "Everybody should [have a chip on their shoulder]."

How It's Going

More than two months into the 2023 season, the only time the White Sox have been over .500 was when they were 1-0 after winning their opener.

They're now 26-35, with their chances of making the playoffs hovering in single-digit territory. The question has thus shifted from whether they're the team to beat in the AL Central to how many pieces from said roster will get moved at the trade deadline.

How It Started

It really didn't matter who you asked. There was a universal answer for which was the team to beat coming into 2023, and it was the Houston Astros.

We had them as MLB's No. 1 team at the outset. So did MLB.com, ESPN, The Athletic, The Ringer and, oh, who knows how many other publications?

As to where this consensus was coming from, well, you try beholding a team coming off a 106-win season that culminated with a victory in the World Series and judging them as anything less than the best team around.

How It's Going

In their defense, the Astros are doing fine. At 36-24, they're only one win off the pace they set through their first 60 games of 2022. And at 3.22, their starters have the third-lowest ERA in the entire league.

Yet this Houston team is clearly more vulnerable, and not just because of injuries and José Abreu's quick descent from big signing to big bust. With their impressive rise to first place at 39-20, the Texas Rangers have turned the Astros into an underdog just within the AL West.

How It Started

Could the Los Angeles Angels actually trade Shohei Ohtani?

It's a question that has fascinated the baseball intelligentsia for what seems like millennia by now, and you don't have to go far back to find a time when the answer teetered more toward "probably" than "maybe."

Despite protestations from general manager Perry Minasian and owner Arte Moreno, Ohtani's trade candidacy was a hot topic both at the beginning and the end of the offseason. To the latter, seemingly all it would take for speculation of a midseason trade to reach fever pitch was the Angels finding themselves on a path toward an eighth straight losing season.

How It's Going

As it turns out, the Angels aren't bad. That doesn't mean they're good, but their 31-30 record has them in contention for a wild card. This has much to do with Ohtani doing his typical two-way superstar thing, so the idea that there's a "zero percent chance" he gets traded has legs.

This, of course, is especially plausible in context of what Moreno actually said in March: "I will say it on the record. We will not trade Ohtani while we are contending for a playoff spot."

How It Started

Even now, you can punch "Trea Turner Phillies perfect" into Google and get pummeled by a barrage of articles that all expressed roughly that sentiment in reaction to the speedy shortstop's 11-year, $300 million deal with Philadelphia in December.

And yes, one of those was written right here. Because between their deficiencies at shortstop and in the leadoff spot, the defending National League champions signing the 29-year-old had the same vibes as when peanut butter first hooked up with jelly.

"It just seemed like a lot of things added up and pointed us in this direction," an excited Turner said at his introductory press conference. "We were excited about it."

How It's Going

It's not all Turner's fault that the Phillies are four games under .500 after 60 games. Special scorn should be reserved for a pitching staff that is 12th in the National League in ERA.

Yet as the days go by, it's only getting harder to make excuses for what's on track to be Turner's worst year in the majors. His .286 on-base percentage is but one of several career-low numbers on his record, and his strikeout rate and other under-the-hood stats don't look much better.

How It Started

The $800 million offseason that the New York Mets were once on track for may not have come to fruition, but they still began 2023 with a record payroll and hype to match.

A rotation with future Hall of Famers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer up top? Shoot, how could that be anything other than the best in baseball? And that was just one piece of a bigger puzzle that looked like the World Series contender owner Steve Cohen wanted to build within three to five years upon buying the team in 2020.

"We haven't won it yet and we're two years in, so time's running out," Cohen quipped this February.

How It's Going

Exactly 60 games into their season, the Mets are playing more like the Mehs. They're a 30-30 team with a negative run differential, and thus one that can't be guffawing at its dwindling playoff odds.

Among other things, resuscitating those odds will require more from Verlander and Scherzer. The former missed the first month of the season with an upper arm strain, while the two of them put together have a composite ERA about twice what it was last year.

How It Started

Elsewhere in New York, the Yankees turned back the clock and actually spent like the Yankees in a $574.5 million free-agent splurge. Most of that went toward retaining Aaron Judge, who was kinda-sorta an important part of their 99-win season in 2022.

But the Toronto Blue Jays, 92-game winners in their own right last year, might have had the better offseason. They arranged a more balanced team for 2023, and all it would cost them was a club-record $209.9 million.

Thus, the board was set for one of the two to claim the AL East title this season. And who was the favorite seemed to vary depending on the soapbox.

How It's Going

John Sterling never ceases to be right about the inherent unpredictability of baseball. In this case, who could have foreseen the teams with the fourth- and second-lowest payrolls in MLB would be the ones atop the AL East?

Those are the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles, who have been locked into first and second in the division on a daily basis since April 19. Neither is without faults, but the same is true of a Yankees squad that lacks a co-ace for Gerrit Cole and a Blue Jays squad that has a notably top-heavy pitching staff.

How It Started

The Los Angeles Dodgers had a season for the books in 2022. Between their 111 wins and plus-334 run differential, they were a juggernaut that made even The Juggernaut blush.

Until, of course, they weren't. The San Diego Padres made sure of that in the National League Division Series, wherein they shrugged off a 5-14 regular-season record against the Boys in Blue and dispatched them in four games.

Rather than back off, the Padres turned the screw with a $381 million splurge that catapulted their payroll over the Dodgers. In some circles, the Friars were even favored to win what figured to be an even bloodier showdown between the two in 2023.

How It's Going

Did the...did the Padres get the memo? Because judging from their 27-32 record and 1-5 mark against the Dodgers, it sure seems like they didn't. A historically bad average with runners in scoring position isn't helping, and ditto for a revolving door of injured sluggers.

Mind you, the Dodgers themselves shouldn't be let off the hook. They're also playing under expectations at 35-25, and the fact that the Arizona Diamondbacks have the same record is making it increasingly fair to question whether they're actually the team to beat out west.

Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.