Baseball Pre-Postseason Report 2023

Everything worked out as I predicted.  In the AL East, the Yankees ran away with it and the Rays were exposed as frauds.  The Indians won the AL Central for their outgoing manager, Tito Francona.  The Astros had no trouble winning the AL West.  In the NL, the obvious choices of the Braves, Phillies, and Mets made the playoffs, while the Cardinals and the Padres easily won their divisions.

 

Oh, what’s this?  You’re fact-checking me?  Please.  I am errorless.  Just a glance at the playoff standings shows that . . . well . . . Ehh! . . . Let me get some white-out for this post.  So actually, the AL division winners were the Orioles, Twins, Astros and the wildcards were the Rays, Rangers, Jays.  For the NL, the Braves, Brewers, Dodgers won their divisions, and the Phillies, Marlins, Diamondbacks took the wild card slots. 

 

It was a season of disappointments and a few pleasant surprises.  Some teams are on both lists.  The teams that aren’t on either list, didn’t matter.

 

Our Disappointments

The Rays: These guys blew everyone away in the opening month of the season, but came back down to earth.  Pitching injuries and the loss of Wander Franco to scandal hobbled the team and allowed the Orioles to pass them.  They’re real good, but should have been the AL favorites.

 

The Yankees: Who could have guessed sinking an enormous amount of money into two players and neglecting the rest of the team could have backfired like this?  (Not me, apparently.)  Not to mention they had previously sunk a whole bunch of money into star players that now currently suck.  Management needs to get their heads screwed on straight and realize that there is no “Salary” component in the Baseball Pythagorean win/loss formula.

 

The entire AL Central: Oh, how I’d love to see the Tigers and Royals return to greatness.  So much for that.  I basically hate this division.  Saying they’re collectively a “disappointment” is a misnomer, since there were no expectations.  The Twins have won the right to be dismissed early from the playoffs again.  Carlos Correa’s third choice in terms of teams he picked in free agency has paid off.

 

The Angels: They make this list every year.  If they’d just lose Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, they could be right there with the AL Central in terms of non-potential and we could all just forget about them.  Losing Trout and Ohtani will not make this franchise better, especially since they’ll get nothing for them (when they could have).  Losing Arte Moreno as an owner will.

 

The Mariners: You could see this one coming.  (Well, I did.)  But given how hard they played in the second half and just missing out on winning the AL West or a Wildcard still kinda hurts.  I can’t even fault management, since they did actually improve the team at the trade deadline.

 

The Rangers: Given the amount of money and talent on this team, they should have won the AL West going away.  Then again, as I said above, that doesn’t guarantee success.  Nobody believed in this team at the beginning of the season.  However, there’s more in the next section.

 

The Mets: It’s almost a new category of failure.  They not only over spent, they blew the thing up at the trade deadline.  At least the failure was admitted to.  And then they fired Buck Showalter after the season.  If you thought he was the problem, why did you wait until after you blew up the team?  You could have gotten rid of him first and seen if it made a difference.  (They may be making room for Shohei and Craig Counsell.)

  

The Padres: Then there are those that live in denial.  They could have traded at the deadline and made the team better in the near future.  They failed.  They could have even added significantly to the team and decided not to.  Instead, the team made a run there at the end just to rub it in. 

 

Management and the players have both been blamed, but nobody’s really figured out who capped this team.  Do GM AJ Preller or Manager Bob Melvin need to go or perhaps both of them?  Will trading Juan Soto be addition by subtraction (along with some other players)?  Do they need to add a clubhouse leader?  If nobody knows who’s truly at fault, random firings aren’t going to improve the situation.

  

The Cubs: They spent and were competitive, but they’re the Cubs.

 

The Reds: They looked good out of nowhere, but then flamed out.  Elly de la Cruz’s first season and Joey Votto’s final season weren’t enough to drag them into the postseason.  It management will add to this team, they may have a future.

 

The Pirates: They briefly thrilled the baseball world at the beginning of the season, but also faded.  At least they didn’t finish last in the NL Central.  Next year, we should get Oneal Cruz vs Elly de la Cruz battling it out over who owns the last name, “Cruz.”  (I’m looking forward to this.)

 

The Cardinals: Last place in the NL Central was reserved for these guys.  Apparently, Yadier Molina was the only thing holding their pitching staff together, because without him, they were nothing.  This team still has some bright spots, but they’re all on offense.

 

The Dodgers: They overcame quite a few injuries this season and the DBacks to win the NL West.  Why are they on this list?  Because they’ll be disappointing in the playoffs.

 

The Giants: I’m not sure who thought the Giants were really going to be competitive this season.  (Judge and Correa certainly thought they weren’t going anywhere.)  But the snap firing of miscreant manager Gabe Kapler seems to indicate they thought they should have been winning this season.

 

The Rockies: Congratulations on your first 100-loss season!  After all those bad teams, this was the one that finally broke through. 

 

Pleasant Surprises

The Rays: They weren’t a fraud and even after losing a bunch of pitching and Wander Franco, they did not fade or give up.

 

The Orioles: After they took over the AL East lead from the Rays, they never looked back.  Even when the Rays tied them, they withstood it.  Management didn’t really add anything at the trade deadline, but apparently they didn’t need to.  Their Triple-A team just won their championship.  It all looks good, but they lost their ace closer, Felix Bautista.  We wish them the best.

 

The Rangers: Given how many starting pitchers, even great starting pitchers, they lost over the season, a terrible bullpen with over 30 blown saves, and the frankly low expectations, this team did pretty well to hold it together and make it to the playoffs with two good teams nipping at their heels.  (How did you guys lose out to a team, the Astros, who had a losing record at home!)  Did they overachieve or underachieve? 

 

The Braves: Like the Inquisition, nobody expects a super team.  Ronald Acuna Jr. accomplished baseball’s first 40 homer/70 stolen base season.  Even if the Mets had performed this season, they likely still would have been blown away.  Experts are questioning their pitching staff, though.

 

The Marlins: I thought they had real talent.  They did.  Good on them.

 

The Diamondbacks: This was the only team to give the Dodgers a run for the West this season.  They’re a scrappy bunch with some great pitching. 

 

Oh, I have to make more predictions.  I know I’m going to miss most of the playoff games.  That’s a lock.  For the AL, I’ll go with the Astros and Orioles.  (If the bracketing was different, my choices would change.)  For the NL (I’m going to surprise you), the Phillies and Diamondbacks.  In the World Series, I’m in for the Phillies over the O’s.  Yes, Bryce Harper, the child of destiny, will be the MVP.