1 Sentence to Describe Every MLB Team Heading into Stretch Run of 2023 Season
From the Seattle Mariners being hotter than the sun to the New York Yankees being colder than ice and everything in between, we've summed up the current state of each of the 30 Major League Baseball teams in one sentence.
If you even remotely enjoy reading, though, one sentence simply isn't enough, right? So we're also adding a few paragraphs of context after each team's brief synopsis.
Teams are listed in alphabetical order by location.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics are current through the start of play Thursday, August 24.
Arizona Diamondbacks
1 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Rallying from a brutal six-week stretch to resume a playoff push that felt unlikely at best in the preseason.
On June 12, the Arizona Diamondbacks—who had a preseason win total of 75.5—were 41-25 overall, sitting alone in first place in the National League. At the time, they were on pace for 100.6 wins.
Three weeks later on July 1, they had fallen six games behind red-hot Atlanta for the NL's No. 1 seed, but were still 16 games above .500 and three games ahead of the Dodgers in the NL West. The dream of not only a postseason berth but a first-round bye was very much alive more than halfway through the campaign.
Then the wheels fell all the way off. They lost 25 out of 32 games right as the Dodgers started to catch fire. In the span of less than six weeks, a three-game lead turned into a 12.5-game deficit as they plummeted to 57-59.
But someone clearly neglected to cut the head off of these rattlesnakes while they were down and out, because the Diamondbacks have stormed back into the loaded NL wild card race with wins in nine of their last 11 games, setting the stage for an exciting finish.
Atlanta Braves
2 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Relentlessly mashing their way to what they hope will be their second World Series title in three years.
Atlanta has been solid all season long, claiming sole possession of first place in the NL East every single day dating back to April 3.
But it wasn't until early June that the Braves really hit their stride, blossoming into an insatiable, homering juggernaut.
Since June 3, Atlanta has gone a best-in-the-majors-by-5.5-games 49-20 with 146 home runs in 69 contests. That's a 162-game pace of 342.8, in a category where the all-time single-season record is 307, set four years ago during the infamous "juiced balls" season. (The four highest and nine of the 18 highest team home run totals came in 2019.)
Matt Olson is eventually going to reach 50 homers.
Austin Riley, Ozzie Albies, Marcell Ozuna and Ronald Acuña Jr. will all flirt with 40.
Sean Murphy and Eddie Rosario are both already at 20.
Even Nicky Lopez—who had hit five home runs in 519 games played with Kansas City—got traded to Atlanta and homered six at-bats later.
If they're still hitting like this 6-10 weeks from now, they're going to win it all.
Baltimore Orioles
3 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: On pace for one of the greatest seasons in franchise history, yet still not getting the respect they deserve.
I will readily confess that I am as guilty of this disrespect as anyone, constantly questioning whether Baltimore's starting rotation is good enough to win a best-of-seven series against the likes of Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles or Texas.
(After all, the Orioles have gone 1-2 against each of the Braves, Astros and Dodgers, and split their six games with the Rangers with a negative-7 run differential.)
But sometimes it's important to just sit back, smell the roses and appreciate the O's.
In a season where seemingly every team has had wild swings of both winning and losing streaks—even woebegone Oakland reeled off seven straight Ws at one point—Baltimore has been the small market engine that could, chugging along with a winning record in each month, only twice slumping through so much as a three-game losing skid.
They're on pace for 100 wins, which was incomprehensible as recently as two years ago.
So long as they get to 98 wins, it'll be their best win total since going 98-64 in 1997.
And for "I'm not saying, I'm just saying" purposes: Baltimore made it to the World Series in five of the seven years it won at least 98 games.
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Boston Red Sox
4 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Perpetually treading water, one strong week away from crashing the postseason field.
I'm not about to go back through four months' worth of standings snapshots to try to confirm this notion, but doesn't it feel like the Boston Red Sox have been consistently more-than-one-but-never-more-than-six games back for the third wild card spot on a daily basis since the second week of the regular season?
This much I can confirm: At no point have the Red Sox been more than two games below .500, nor have they ever been more than nine games above .500—briefly reaching the latter plateau on July 28 with a 56-47 record, then 1.5 games behind both Houston and Toronto for a spot in the field.
The offense has been good enough for October baseball, with 38-year-old veteran Justin Turner and 23-year-old rookie Triston Casas each playing a huge part with 20 home runs.
The pitching...not so much. But at least the arms are mostly healthy at the moment with even Chris Sale returning to the rotation earlier this month.
Maybe they can piece it together and track down the likes of Houston, Seattle and Toronto to make the cut. However, it does feel inevitable that they come up short by three or four games, given that has been their comfort zone for months.
Chicago Cubs
5 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Desperately trying to make the most of Cody Bellinger's return to MVP form.
For much of the season, the Chicago Cubs were the inverse to the Miami Marlins, flailing with a positive run differential while the Fish somehow entered the All-Star Break 14 games above .500 despite allowing more runs than they had scored.
It was maddening, and appeared destined to result in a trade deadline sale of impending free agents Cody Bellinger and Marcus Stroman.
But they finally turned a corner in late July—while Miami also regressed to the mean with a weeks-long implosion—winning 10 of 11 games to instead become buyers, landing Jeimer Candelario from the Nationals, who has a 1.002 OPS since arriving in Chicago.
Now, the Cubs are barely in the projected field, jostling with Arizona, Cincinnati, Miami and San Francisco for the final two spots, still within plausible striking distance of Milwaukee (3.5 GB) for the NL Central crown and hoping that Bellinger can carry them across the finish line.
Bellinger certainly isn't their only asset. Nico Hoerner and Dansby Swanson have become maybe the best middle infield defense in the majors, and Justin Steele is one of five legitimate candidates to win the NL Cy Young. But it does seem like the Cubs' postseason fate lies most heavily in the hands of the center fielder that the Dodgers discarded over the winter.
Chicago White Sox
6 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Burning it all down, hoping for a fresh start in 2024.
Deeply mired in one of the worst seasons in franchise history with practically half of the roster slated to hit free agency this November, the Chicago White Sox embraced their only rational recourse: Purge.
They traded away Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, Kendall Graveman, Joe Kelly, Reynaldo López, Keynan Middleton and Jake Burger in an effort to rapidly restock what had been one of the worst farm systems in recent years.
And after letting Executive VP Ken Williams and general manager Rick Hahn oversee that initial phase of the rebuilding process, the White Sox fired both of them on Tuesday.
But at least Luis Robert Jr. is having a phenomenal year, right?
The 26-year-old face of the franchise for the foreseeable future isn't exactly putting up "Peak Mike Trout" numbers. However, with 33 home runs, 16 stolen bases and a 4.9 bWAR on a team with a losing record, he sure can relate to the three-time AL MVP.
Cincinnati Reds
7 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: The future is now.
Though the Reds weren't quite the first team to reach the over on their preseason win total—Baltimore (76.5) got its 77th win this past Sunday, beating Cincinnati to the punch by three days—no one expected the Reds (65.5) to have more wins than losses in late August.
After all, Cincinnati spent last summer going through what the White Sox did this summer, unloading everyone who wasn't going to be part of the long-term plans, ready to scuffle through a couple of rebuilding seasons before ideally becoming a legitimate contender again in 2025 or 2026.
But someone forgot to tell these young hitters that they aren't supposed to be this good for another few years.
The pitching staff still needs time in the oven before it becomes a finished product, but the Reds entered Thursday fourth in the National League in runs scored, even though the 11 team leaders in plate appearances are all in their age-29 or younger season.
Rookies Elly De La Cruz, Matt McLain, Spencer Steer and Andrew Abbott already look like future All-Stars, with recently promoted Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Noelvi Marte already on their way to joining that club.
Buy stock in the Reds while you still can. They're going to be fun (and good) for a while.
Cleveland Guardians
8 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Woefully squandering some seriously impressive rookie pitching.
Through Wednesday, Cleveland had six different rookie pitchers make at least six starts this season, four of whom had done so with an ERA of 3.31 or better—Tanner Bibee (20 starts, 3.01 ERA), Logan Allen (19 starts, 3.31 ERA), Gavin Williams (11 starts, 3.02 ERA) and Xzavion Curry (six starts, 31 total appearances, 3.24 ERA).
And because those 23- and 24-year-olds have fared so well on the mound, the Guardians were the second-stingiest pitching staff in the majors, allowing 508 runs. (Trailing only Toronto's 501.)
Sadly, they only have a 60-66 record to show for it, because they have scored fewer runs than everyone except for Detroit and Oakland.
To some extent, that was by design. They made Myles Straw, Steven Kwan and Will Brennan their primary outfield trio, hoping for elite defense while knowing that home runs would be few and far between.
But they expected more pop from offseason acquisitions Josh Bell and Mike Zunino, thought Amed Rosario would hit much better in his walk year than he actually did, and didn't have much of backup plan if they all fell flat.
So there they sit, five games out of first place in one of the worst divisions in MLB history, wasting one of the best cumulative efforts ever turned in by a group of rookie pitchers.
Colorado Rockies
9 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Three-quarters of the way through the worst season in franchise history.
For as not great as the Colorado Rockies have been for the bulk of their three-decade history—only Miami (.461) and San Diego (.464) have worse all-time winning percentages among active franchises than the Rockies (.467)—they've never been outright terrible.
Their worst record was 64-98 in 2012, and their worst run differential was negative-209 in their inaugural 1993 campaign.
But this year's squad enters Friday on pace for 100.8 losses and a negative-229.6 run differential.
At least there are a couple of enticing building blocks amid the wreckage. Rookie shortstop Ezequiel Tovar is thriving and just turned 22 earlier this month. Rookie outfielder/first baseman Nolan Jones is also having a strong year, leading the team with an .875 OPS.
The pitching staff, however, is a sad state of affairs, having allowed 85 more runs than any other NL team, presently six games behind St. Louis for the worst record in the league.
While Oakland has been even more dreadful in terms of both run prevention and overall record, the A's had no delusions of contending this season, dead last in payroll by a $10 million margin at a bit under $59 million.
Conversely, with a $170 million payroll, the Rockies are inexplicably spending above the league average ($164.5 million) for just a whole lot of nothing.
Detroit Tigers
10 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Quietly enjoying a respectable second half of the season.
Since entering the All-Star Break at 11 games below .500, the Detroit Tigers have cobbled together a little something worth building upon heading into the offseason.
They've gone 19-19 with a young trio of hitters leading that charge.
22-year-old Riley Greene was actually a bit better before the ASB than he has been after it, but he's still batting .289 with five home runs and an .817 OPS over his last 36 games.
Spencer Torkelson—who turns 24 on Saturday—has an .873 OPS with 11 home runs in the second half. He was supposed to be one of the top candidates for AL Rookie of the Year last year, and he is finally starting to live up to the hype. From June 12 through August 21, he had 162-game paces (in 61 games) of 48 home runs and 114 RBI.
But the brightest star has been 25-year-old Kerry Carpenter, who has 12 home runs with a .1013 OPS in the second half and a 1.212 OPS through 21 games played in August.
Fans are coming out to Tigers games for one last glimpse of Miguel Cabrera, but they're also getting a good look at the next generation who could spearhead a return to relevance.
Houston Astros
11 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Finally getting the band back together.
Of Houston's first 102 games, only 13 featured both Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez in the starting lineup.
But once both of those multiple-time All-Stars and key pieces of last year's World Series winning lineup were able to return from the IL in late July, well they just had to go rescue Justin Verlander from the sinking ship that was the New York Mets.
Even Michael Brantley—who hasn't played since last June but was a big part of this team from 2019-22—is nearing a return to the squad, currently on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Sugar Land.
Feels like the whole thing needs some sort of 80's movie montage to tie it all together, doesn't it?
(Obnoxiously over-the-top movie preview voice)
"Unable to overcome the mighty Texas Rangers without their former stars, the Houston Astros embarked upon a soul-searching, injury-rehabbing and buddy-reuniting journey for one final ride. Coming this October to a streaming service near you, saddle up for: How the 2023 AL West Was Won."
Kansas City Royals
12 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Say, that Bobby Witt Jr. sure is special.
It has been a hopelessly lost season for the Kansas City Royals, who couldn't even wait until July 1—let alone August 1—to make sure they got something in exchange for Aroldis Chapman's bounce-back campaign.
They are 47 games below .500, on pace for what would be a franchise worst 110 losses. (Current record is 106 loss in 2005.)
All 11 pitchers who have logged at least 32 innings of work have done so with an ERA north of 4.20.
Of the 12 hitters to record at least 190 plate appearances, the only one who is 29 or older is Salvador Perez, as they desperately search for players to build around for the future.
But at least Bobby Witt Jr. is great and getting better.
Witt hit 20 home runs and stole 30 bases as a rookie in 2022, but he struggled in the field and only had a .722 OPS to show for all of his efforts on offense.
Now a permanent fixture at shortstop, he has looked much more comfortable on defense. But early on this season, he was on track for more of the same at the plate, batting .244/.288/.415 through the end of June.
Then Witt hit .327 with a .979 OPS in July before improving to .364 and 1.115, respectively in August, suddenly blossoming into a player who legitimately could be an MVP in the next few seasons.
Los Angeles Angels
13 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Pulling out all the stops, yet still collapsing into itself like a dying star.
At 6.5 games back in the AL West and 3.5 games back for a wild-card spot on the morning of July 26, the Los Angeles Angels were stuck in no-man's land.
But rather than throw in the towel or just do nothing with what may be their final few months with Shohei Ohtani, they went all-in.
They traded for Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López before later adding C.J. Cron, Randal Grichuk and Dominic Leone.
They called up 2023 first-round pick Nolan Schanuel after just 21 games in the minors and immediately made him their lead-off hitter.
They rushed Mike Trout back from a hamate fracture, with The Athletic's Sam Blum reporting that Trout was still sore but "felt an urgency to return with time running out on the season." He landed back on the IL a day later.
It has all been for naught, though, as they entered Wednesday 10 games back in the wild card race, only to lose both halves of their doubleheader against Cincinnati and lose the pitching half of Ohtani for the rest of the season.
Los Angeles Dodgers
14 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Trying like mad to track down Atlanta for the No. 1 seed.
Dating back to June 19, the Los Angeles Dodgers have the best record in baseball at 37-15.
Freddie Freeman has hit .343/.418/.598 with 10 home runs in those 52 games, and he can barely hold a candle to Mookie Betts' marks of .353/.442/.722 with 17 home runs. (And that doesn't even include the two stars combining for eight hits in the Thursday afternoon win over Cleveland.)
Clayton Kershaw continues to pitch well when healthy. Lance Lynn has been a revelation since coming over from the White Sox. Julio Urías is finally looking like his old self with a 1.44 ERA in August. And the bullpen has turned into Fort Knox with the eight most-used relievers—Ryan Brasier, Brusdar Graterol, Caleb Ferguson, Evan Phillips, Yency Almonte, Alex Vesia, Phil Bickford and Ryan Yarbrough—logging a combined 149.2 innings pitched with a 1.80 ERA in those 52 games.
They were four games back in the NL West at the start of that run, but now they have effectively clinched no worse than the No. 2 seed in the National League.
But can they catch Atlanta for coveted home-field advantage in the presumed NLCS showdown?
The gap is presently 4.5 games, but the Dodgers will host the Braves for a colossal four-game series over Labor Day weekend.
Get your Dodger Dogs ready for that one.
Miami Marlins
15 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Still hanging around in spite of a horrific start to the second half.
At the All-Star Break, the Miami Marlins had the second-best record in the National League at 53-39.
They did have a negative-5 run differential and one of the least productive offenses in the league, raising serious questions about their staying power. But Miami holding a 3.5-game cushion over the NL's No. 7 seed through 92 games was a very real thing that happened.
Unfortunately, 53-39 turned into 58-56 in a hurry as the Marlins were swept not once, not twice but three times in their first seven series of the second half.
The aforementioned cushion had turned into a hole, as they entered August 8 in eighth place in the NL, 1.5 games behind Cincinnati for the last playoff spot.
They've managed to stop the bleeding, though, with a lot of help from trade deadline acquisitions Josh Bell and Jake Burger, and are still right in the thick of a playoff hunt that feels much more attainable now that the offense is more than just Luis Arráez's batting average and Jorge Soler's home runs.
Reigning NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara has also resurfaced in a big way, going at least eight innings in three of his last six starts after doing so just twice in his first 20 games. If he keeps churning out quality starts and occasional complete games, there's still hope for Miami.
Milwaukee Brewers
16 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Maybe, sort of, finally hitting their stride on offense.
Through their first 103 games, the Milwaukee Brewers averaged a meager 4.1 runs per game. Detroit, Kansas City and Oakland were each well below that, but were it not for the Miami Marlins scoring one fewer run in their first 103 games, the Brewers would've had the worst offense in the NL.
Since July 28, however, it has been a much different story with Milwaukee averaging 5.4 runs per game.
The Brewers aren't actually hitting much better, though.
They're at .246/.324/.395 in those 24 games compared to .232/.311/.376 through the first 103 games. It's improvement, yes, but still mediocre.
Their only .300 hitter over the past four weeks has been Tyrone Taylor (.326). And the only Brewer with more than four home runs in that span is Carlos Santana, who has six home runs but just a .240 OBP.
However, they've done a drastically better job of stringing together hits and making them count for more. In sweeping Texas last weekend, Milwaukee went 13-for-31 (.419) with runners in scoring position. And in Tuesday night's win over Minnesota, the Brew Crew manufactured a five-run sixth inning with six singles in the span of seven batters.
With their pitching staff, they don't need to hit like the Atlanta Braves in order to win a lot of games. If they can keep scoring six or more runs on a semi-regular basis, they should be able to hold off the Cubs and Reds to win the NL Central.
Minnesota Twins
17 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Treading water atop a terrible division.
At 65-62, the Minnesota Twins would be six games behind the Seattle Mariners for a wild card spot if they needed that to make the playoffs.
But in an AL Central featuring four of the five worst winning percentages in the American League, Minnesota has a 4.5 game lead and should be able to secure the No. 3 seed—though the six games against Cleveland in the next two weeks could shake that race up in a big way.
On the pitching front, Minnesota has been great. The Twins lead the majors in total strikeouts and may be headed for a six-man rotation with Joe Ryan on the verge of returning from the IL.
On the hitting front, though...
There's definitely pop in their bats, but they rank in the bottom half of the AL in batting average, on-base percentage and OPS. Their batters have also struck out 100 more times than their pitching staff has struck out the opposition. And, again, Minnesota's pitching leads the majors in that department.
It's a little hard to believe they didn't trade for a single hitter ahead of the deadline, but it has kind of worked out thus far.
New York Mets
18 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: The biggest disappointment in MLB history.
Ever since the New York Mets waved the white flag at the trade deadline by giving away Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and others, most of the national "disappointment spotlight" has been on a combination of the Angels and Yankees.
But make no mistake about it: No one has forgotten how horribly awry this season went for the Mets.
$353.5 million.
That was their Opening Day payroll.
Not only was that $76.5 million more than the next-closest team (Yankees), but they committed to $6 million more than the Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles and Oakland Athletics combined.
One year removed from winning 101 games before bowing out in the wild-card round, they spent an outrageous amount of money to make sure they would be in a better position to win it all this year.
Instead, they are 10 games below .500, jostling with the Washington Nationals for last place in the NL East.
It's a disaster that was unimaginable five months ago. And between the trades they made—or almost made—it already looks like they aren't planning on winning many games in 2024, either.
New York Yankees
19 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Cratering toward their first last-place finish of the six-division era.
Dating back to 1994, the New York Yankees have won the AL East more often than not.
They have 16 division titles during that time, and finished in second place in 10 of the other 13 seasons.
Their only fourth-place finish was in 2016, when they did at least still finish six games above .500.
There have been no fifth-place finishes yet, but that's about to change.
At 6-17 dating back to July 30 (including Thursday's loss to Washington), the Yankees have been the worst team in the majors over the past few weeks. They have plummeted to 61-66 overall, 6.0 games behind the Red Sox in last place in the AL East.
They did mercifully snap their nine-game losing streak Wednesday night behind Aaron Judge's three-homer extravaganza, yet the biggest Yankees story of the day was general manager Brian Cashman holding a pregame press conference in which he called the season a disaster and an embarrassment.
It's almost comical that Gerrit Cole is running away with the AL Cy Young trophy, as the Yankees have already nearly allowed as many runs (559) as they did in the entire 2022 season (567). But aside from that ace and the healthy portions of Judge's season, this team has been a traveshamockery.
Oakland Athletics
20 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Still making a case for the worst single season in modern MLB history.
The Oakland A's are not going to end up with a worse winning percentage than the 1962 New York Mets, who went 40-120-1 (.250) in their inaugural season.
They might even avoid setting a franchise record for losses in a single season, as they are roughly on pace to match the 117 losses suffered by the Philadelphia Athletics in 1916.
But Oakland's run differential is historically futile.
The A's entered Thursday's game against the White Sox having allowed 304 more runs than they have scored. The next-closest team was the Colorado Rockies at negative-178.
In the past 20 years, there have only been two instances of a team finishing a season at -300 or worse. Both instances were the Detroit Tigers, who posted marks of -337 in 2003 and -333 in 2019.
The all-time record belongs to the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who went 20-134 with an impossibly bad -723 run differential in their final season of existence. But from 1900 onward, the record belongs to the 1932 Boston Red Sox, who allowed 349 more runs than they scored.
The A's are presently on pace to destroy that modern-day record, tracking toward a -388 differential.
Philadelphia Phillies
21 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: The big bucks are finally starting to pay off.
The reigning NL champions have the fifth-highest payroll in baseball with eight players making at least $16 million this season. And the two players virtually tied atop their list of big salaries are Bryce Harper and Trea Turner.
Up until a few weeks ago, those expensive bats were not pulling their weight. Through August 4, Harper—who entered the year as a career .523 slugger—was slugging .403 with just five home runs in 77 games played, while Turner—who entered the year as a career .302 hitter—was batting .236.
Since then, however, they have flipped a switch.
Harper has seven home runs (one was an inside-the-park job) and a .793 slugging percentage over his last 16 games. Turner is batting .348 with five home runs in his last 17 contests. And during that time, the Phillies have averaged 6.35 runs per game, compared to 4.49 before it.
They only won 10 of those 17 games and did have a brutal three-game stretch in the middle in which they scored a grand total of two runs. But if Harper and Turner keep hitting well, the Phillies will be a legitimate threat to Atlanta and/or Los Angeles in the postseason.
Pittsburgh Pirates
22 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Still figuring out the long-term plan beyond Ke'Bryan Hayes and Bryan Reynolds.
Since winning 20 of their first 28 games, the Pittsburgh Pirates have been the worst team in the National League, winning just 37 of their past 99 contests and turning a tantalizing start into yet another year in the basement.
So, what's on the horizon for this franchise?
Ke'Bryan Hayes is signed through at least 2029 with a club option for 2030, and Bryan Reynolds is signed through at least 2030 with a club option for 2031.
But aside from those two long-term building blocks, the only figure on the books beyond this season is a $3.25 million club option on Jarlín García, who has yet to pitch in 2023.
And aside from Hayes and Reynolds, the only players with at least 70 hits for the Pirates this season are 30-year-old Connor Joe, 36-year-old Andrew McCutchen and 37-year-old Carlos Santana, the latter of whom they traded to Milwaukee.
Not much tangible promise here beyond perhaps Jack Suwinski and Mitch Keller, and even those guys have warts. The former has 21 home runs, but is batting just .202. The latter was an All-Star, but allowed 24 earned runs in his first four starts of the second half of the season.
The Pirates do at least still have Oneil Cruz, though we haven't seen him since he broke his ankle in early April. And certainly 2023 No. 1 overall pick Paul Skenes is cause for excitement. But as they wrap up yet another rebuilding year, can they identify anyone else to build around?
San Diego Padres
23 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Perpetually unable to turn their luck around.
On two separate fronts, the San Diego Padres were supposed to be much better than 61-67 through 128 games.
The more often discussed front is the payroll. The Padres weren't quite as monetarily invested in winning as either New York franchise, but their $249 million Opening Day payroll was both the third-highest in the majors and by far their highest in franchise history.
But perhaps the more interesting front is the "luck" factor, as San Diego's +62 run differential suggests it should have 71 wins, not 61.
The Padres have gone 6-19 in one-run games, which is the worst record in the majors. They are also 0-10 in extra-inning games. (This, of course, ties into that poor record in one-run games, though four of their extra-inning losses were by multiple runs.)
San Diego is also the only team that has yet to string together a single four-game winning streak, constantly struggling to get any sort of positive momentum.
They were buyers at the trade deadline, but some lot of good it did them. The Padres have gone 9-12 in August, scoring either zero or one runs in seven of their last 15 games.
They do still have a postseason pulse at six games back, but they are going to need better luck and some serious winning streaks to get there.
San Francisco Giants
24 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Pinning their postseason hopes and dreams on a bunch of rookies.
Most contenders have at least one or two first-year guys playing a key role in their postseason push.
But with the exception of maybe Cincinnati, the San Francisco Giants are asking the most of their rookies.
Among their active position players, Patrick Bailey, Blake Sabol, Luis Matos, Casey Schmitt and Wade Meckler all made their MLB debuts this season. All five saw action in Tuesday's game against the Phillies, and Meckler (who hit .377 in the minors before getting called up earlier this month) is the only one who hasn't played in at least 50 games for the Giants.
And though veterans Logan Webb and Alex Cobb are indisputably San Francisco's most important pitchers, rookies Tristan Beck and Ryan Walker have been key members of the bullpen, logging a combined 113.2 innings pitched with a 2.85 ERA. Highly touted 21-year-old starter Kyle Harrison also made his MLB debut in the aforementioned game against the Phillies.
That's eight rookies on the 26-man roster of a team half a game back in the wild card race. They will make or break the Giants the rest of the way.
Seattle Mariners
25 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Back from the dead with an incredible run for the second straight season.
Last year's big Seattle Mariners run came earlier in the calendar and was slightly more absurd. After sitting at 29-39 on June 20, they won 22 of their next 25 games to enter the All-Star Break in wild card position, ultimately snapping their 21-year postseason drought.
This year, the M's were 50-50 in late July, far enough out of the postseason picture to embrace somewhat of a seller's mentality at the trade deadline, shipping closer Paul Sewald to Arizona.
But the day after the trade deadline, the Mariners started an eight-game winning streak.
And a few days after that one was snapped, they started another eight-game winning streak.
From July 25 through August 22, they went 21-5, storming all the way back not only to what would be the AL's No. 6 seed if the season ended today but to within a game of first place in the AL West.
Julio Rodríguez stole all of the headlines with his preposterous 17-for-22 stretch at the plate last weekend. But Cal Raleigh hit 10 home runs during those 26 games, Teoscar Hernández heated back up including a five-hit game of his own and even Dylan Moore had both the first and second multi-HR games of his career.
Perhaps most impressive of all: Seattle's sans-Sewald bullpen has a 2.55 ERA thus far in August.
It's all coming up M's these days.
St. Louis Cardinals
26 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Using the end of a lost season to figure out pitching options for next year.
The St. Louis Cardinals traded away impending free agent pitchers Jordan Montgomery, Jack Flaherty, Jordan Hicks and Chris Stratton. Steven Matz, Matthew Liberatore, Jake Woodford and Ryan Helsley are all on the IL. And Adam Wainwright is going to retire this offseason.
Add it all up and the 16-games-below-.500 Cardinals are pretty much out here holding open auditions for spots on next year's pitching staff.
Former first-round picks Dakota Hudson and Zack Thompson have shown promise thus far. Hudson has made four starts in August with a 3.75 ERA, and Thompson has logged 19.0 innings this month with a 2.84 ERA.
Drew Rom—who came over from Baltimore in the Flaherty trade—got shelled for eight runs in his MLB debut this past Monday, but he was sensational in his only two appearances in St. Louis' farm, going 11.0 innings with 18 strikeouts and just one earned run allowed. We'll see how he fares Sunday against the Phillies.
And John King—part of the Montgomery/Stratton trade with Texas—has given the Cards 7.2 innings with a 1.17 ERA. The lefty could be a key member of the bullpen over the next few years.
Tampa Bay Rays
27 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: They weeble and they wobble but they don't fall down.
Tampa Bay's starting rotation has been absolutely gutted by elbow injuries over the course of the season.
Speedy utility infielder Taylor Walls has been out for more than a month with an oblique injury.
The Rays have also been without Wander Franco over the past two weeks as he remains on administrative leave.
Yet, somehow, they just keep winning.
They did fall apart for a while in July, dropping 16 of 22 games to squander what was a 6.5-game lead over Baltimore at the end of June. But they have rallied to win 14 of their last 21 games, including four in either walk-off or extra-inning fashion just within the past two weeks.
They are a far cry from the juggernaut that mashed 103 home runs in the first 58 games of the season, but they have managed to tread water two games behind the Orioles in the AL East and somewhat comfortably (5.5 games) clear of the wild card cut line.
One more pitching injury could spell disaster, but they are more than hanging in there.
Texas Rangers
28 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Panicking a bit after landing on the wrong end of back-to-back sweeps.
The Texas Rangers are still in sole possession of first place in the AL West, but a recent six-game losing streak—coupled with Seattle's meteoric rise—has drastically altered the postseason probabilities in the past week.
For starters, the No. 1 seed in the American League may be just about out of the question now, as the Rangers have slipped to six games behind the Baltimore Orioles. Even if the O's were to falter down the stretch, Texas is also presently four games behind Tampa Bay.
However, that is nowhere near as noteworthy as the suddenly very real possibility that the Rangers miss the playoffs altogether, as Texas entered Thursday one game ahead of Houston, 1.5 games ahead of Seattle and just 2.5 games clear of current No. 7 seed Toronto.
While the Rangers' remaining strength of schedule isn't particularly daunting, it is tougher than what each of those three teams will face. Per Tankathon, Texas has the 15th-toughest remaining schedule with Seattle, Toronto and Houston checking in at 24th, 25th and 28th, respectively.
Basically, they need to get back on track, and fast, because that cushion is gone.
Toronto Blue Jays
29 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Simultaneously re-emerging as a legitimate World Series contender while slipping out of the playoff picture.
It goes without saying that the Toronto Blue Jays can't win the World Series if they fail to make the playoffs in the first place, and they are currently one game back of red-hot Seattle for the final spot in the postseason field.
But with Hyun Jin Ryu returning from Tommy John surgery earlier this month and pitching well so far (1.89 ERA), what was already a very good pitching staff has gotten even stronger.
Toronto presently has the lowest team ERA in the majors at 3.67—of the 13 pitchers currently on the roster, Yimi García has the worst ERA at 4.01—as well as the second-highest strikeout percentage, trailing only Minnesota in that department.
And on the hitting front, though the Blue Jays currently do not even rank in the top half of the majors in home runs, we all know this team can club the ball. With any luck, George Springer will remain as hot as he has been in August and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will have the type of September breakout that Bo Bichette had last year.
Washington Nationals
30 of 30
One Sentence Synopsis: Quietly arriving ahead of schedule.
The Washington Nationals were supposed to be terrible this season. And through the first three months, they were. Granted, not quite Oakland terrible or Kansas City terrible, but they were dead last in the NL standings on June 23 with a 28-47 record.
Since then, however, the Nats have been legitimately respectable, as well as a lot of fun to watch.
Dating back to June 24, they've gone 30-22, tied with both the Phillies and the Cubs for the eighth-best record in the majors. And for the first month of that, they were basically just playing .500 baseball. Tighten the scope to "since July 20" and the Washington Nationals are 20-11, tied with Atlanta for fourth-best behind only the Mariners (23-8), the Dodgers (21-8) and the Cubs (21-9).
It's only a month. They aren't exactly holding presales for 2024 postseason plans in the nation's capital. And going 20-8 to start this season didn't do much for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Still, it's something to build upon for a team that wasn't realistically supposed to compete for at least another two years.
And if this team is solid now, just wait until top prospects Dylan Crews and James Wood join the party next season.
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