5 AND FLY? THEY JUST MAY
Here are top five Series contenders after trade deadline
Kudos to the many presidents of baseball operations, general managers, assistant general managers, special assistants to the general manager, analysts, quants and support staff who orchestrated an active and generally entertaining trade deadline.
Yet for all the wheeling and dealing and heavy lifting, there are certain factors that can’t be flipped by a few big transactions during Major League Baseball’s annual transaction bazaar. Like real estate, contending for a World Series can have as much to do with location and luck as effort.
So after franchise icons were uprooted and money laundered and hugs dispensed, which clubs emerged with the straightest line to the World Series? Let’s break down the five clubs in primest position to reach the Fall Classic:
1. Astros
A team that already led the majors in runs scored and was third in the American League in ERA knew exactly who it was and what it wanted to do: fortify the bullpen.
Enter Kendall Graveman and Yimi Garcia, giving Houston three closers along with incumbent Ryan Pressly, with reliable Phil Maton imported from Cleveland for good measure. It’s tough on opponents to shorten the game when they’re already trying to suppress an offense that rolls seven deep once Alex Bregman returns from injury.
More important, the Astros already entered Saturday with a 5½-game lead in the AL West and a favorable schedule. The path to the best record in the AL is clear.
2. Brewers
Oh, you figured one of those transaction-crazy, star-studded National League squads out west would occupy this spot? Better to lay low in Dairyland, nurse a seven-game lead and rely on a dominant starting-pitcher punch of Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burnes and Freddy Peralta backed by the deepest bullpen in the NL.
The Brewers will be even better off if they don’t catch San Francisco for the league’s best record. Better to let the West champ slug it out with a loaded wild-card survivor while the Brewers play host to a flawed NL East champ.
Yep, it might not look like it, but the road to the World Series runs through Milwaukee.
3. Giants
Even before they added Kris Bryant, it was impossible to ignore how well-constructed this team is. The Giants have beaten back the advances of the more celebrated Dodgers and Padres and played with numbing consistency.
Notice how the Giants were one of the few contenders not to add a significant relief arm at the deadline? That’s because their bullpen leads the majors in WHIP (1.11) and ranks second in batting average allowed (.217). They catch the ball. They command the strike zone on both sides of the equation.
And they have 19 games left with the Diamondbacks and Rockies, more than any other contender. Oh, and now they’ll trot out Bryant anywhere he’s needed — truly a dream for club president Farhan Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler.
4. White Sox
Big bullpen moves. Bad division. Rivals throwing in the towel. Pencil the Sox into the postseason now.
They probably will be able to coast in September more than any other AL club, but what happens come October? Central teams from both leagues were rudely dismissed in the 2020 playoffs, so it’s fair to wonder if the Sox are partially a product of proximity. They’re 28-8 against the Twins, Tigers and Orioles this year and 32-38 against everyone else.
Still, there’s shutdown potential in starters Lance Lynn, Lucas Giolito and Carlos Rodon, and then there’s that revamped bullpen with Liam Hendriks and Craig Kimbrel awaiting the baton from Michael Kopech, Ryan Tepera and Garrett Crochet.
Scary, on paper.
5. Dodgers
So you thought it’d be a waltz to the World Series for the reigning champions of both the World Series, the last two offseasons and this trade deadline?
Not so fast. Sure, the Dodgers are 10-deep in position-player All-Stars, feature the best rightand left-handed pitchers of their generation in Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw and have four MVPs littering the roster.
Yet there’s only one ball, right? It will be fascinating to see these Dodgers try to develop a rhythm while integrating Scherzer and Trea Turner into their plug-andplay ethos. Meanwhile, will Cody Bellinger find himself ? Will Mookie Betts shake off a hip injury and a lackluster first half ?
Will the scarcity of at-bats because of Turner’s addition sit well throughout the roster?
Hey, these are “problems” any club would love to have. Yet already facing a three-game division deficit and with nine more death matches against the Padres, it might not come easy for the Dodgers.