MLB Teams That Are Already Looking Forward to Next Season

While teams like the New York Yankees, Texas Rangers and Atlanta Braves know they're going to be in playoff runs this year, other teams are not so sure this baseball season.

Whether they're not meeting expectations or simply don't have enough talent on the MLB roster, certain teams are already looking forward to next year.

Here's a look at seven of those teams.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Things are bad for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

They have the highest payroll in baseball and are sitting at 19-26 on the year.

Sure, they've dealt with their fair share of injuries, but then there's the managerial situation. Don Mattingly's status with the club is still up in the air, but that didn't matter to him during his rant on Wednesday.

The Dodgers went into this season thinking that they could throw a lot of money at players and would instantly put one of the best teams in the National League on the field.

When looking at the roster, there's obviously a lot of talent, but there's also a team that struggles to score runs as the Dodgers rank 29th in the league with 156 runs.

Zack Greinke recently returned from the disabled list, Josh Beckett is still winless and neither Andre Ethier nor Matt Kemp are producing.

Dodgers fans are tired of this kind of play and are ready to turn the page by changing managers or otherwise.

New York Mets

The New York Mets knew this season would be a long one, but after seeing the performance of Matt Harvey, Met fans have hope heading into next year.

Not only will Harvey be returning (in addition to David Wright), but top catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud and top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler should be making their debuts in 2014.

This year has been full of disappointments as the Mets outfield consists of players who would normally be in Triple-A if they were with any other franchise. Ike Davis and Ruben Tejada are also struggling, giving the Mets four players with an on-base percentage of less than .300.

Miami Marlins

The Miami Marlins are always looking forward to next year.

Some players in the major leagues look forward to the possibility of being on another team while all players in the minor leagues look forward to finally getting their shot.

Managers look forward to working for a competent owner the next year. Owner Jeffrey Loria looks forward to how much money he gets to keep after the taxpayers funded his stadium.

However, true Miami fans (all 100 of them), have nothing to look forward to because the Marlins are going to remain bad for the foreseeable future.

You can talk all you want about all the prospects the Marlins received in return over the offseason for dealing away their talent, but the fact remains that they'll never spend the money to continuously compete.

Giancarlo Stanton will be gone at some point and there will be no face of the franchise for fans to come see.

Chicago Cubs

Theo Epstein helped bring a title back to the Boston Red Sox.

Fans of the Chicago Cubs are hoping he can do the same thing for them.

The Cubs are in the midst of their fourth straight losing season and it seems like it will hold true through 2013.

Hopefully, the Cubs can get rid of Alfonso Soriano's bloated contract and make a run at a few free agents during the offseason. There's a good core of players already in place (and at a good price), which should allow the Cubs to get difference-makers.

Still, fans are down on the North Side. It has to get better, doesn't it?

Houston Astros

The Houston Astros knew coming into this season year that they weren't going to be a good team.

With a roster chalked full of inexperience, the Astros have taken their lumps this year.

However, they're building through the minor leagues and it will eventually get better. It took the Tampa Bay Rays a long time to build through the draft and look at them now.

The Astros will eventually get there, but they have to stay patient. Next year will bring in more good prospects from the minor leagues. Eventually, it will get better.

Los Angeles Angels

After signing Josh Hamilton, the Los Angeles Angels didn't think they would be in this position—sitting at 19-27 with not much hope for this season.

The offense is scoring its fair share of runs, but the pitching has been absolutely horrible.

Gone from last year's rotation are Zack Greinke, Ervin Santana and Dan Haren. Santana and Haren were let go because the Angels thought they could re-sign Greinke, but that didn't happen.

Now, the Angels are stuck with Joe Blanton and Tommy Hanson. Hanson has pitched decently, but Blanton has been roughed up in just about every start.

The Angels need help in the pitching department. They're looking forward to the offseason when they can make a run at free agents like Tim Hudson, Matt Garza, Paul Maholm and Josh Johnson. They could also try to bring back Haren or Santana, who will be free agents.

Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays have been hearing it for most of the season. This group of Blue Jays has been disappointing.

What was viewed as the best team on paper prior to the beginning of the season, the Blue Jays haven't been winning games like many thought they would.

The Blue Jays are 19-27 and don't have much going on at the plate outside of Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion.

On the mound, R.A. Dickey isn't pitching like he did a year ago and Mark Buehrle is having his struggles as well.

What the Blue Jays need to do is just turn the page. They need to come into a year without all of the high expectations. When they do, then things will come together.

Because they came in with such high expectations, players have tried to do too much instead of sticking with what has worked in the past.