CUBS WIN! NOW THAT’S REALLY COOL
Ranking contenders that would provide best championship story
The following subjective list aims to rank every Major League Baseball contender — defined loosely as clubs with records above .500 as of Sunday — by how cool it would be if they won the World Series. Factors include length of postseason drought and the apparent length of the club’s current window of contention, plus star power, style of play and the prevailing story lines behind every team’s season.
17. KANSAS CITY ROYALS
No disrespect to the good people of Kansas City, but the Royals are at the bottom of the list because they won the World Series last year. Back-to-back wins would make for a fun story, but the bulk of the Royals’ core will be back next season.
16. ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
The Cardinals are good so often that the Cardinals being good is pretty boring. Does that reflect a bias against perennially good teams? You bet it does.
15. LOS ANGELES DODGERS
The Dodgers haven’t won a World Series since 1988, but it’s difficult to drum up much empathy for a team with a $250 million payroll. Yes, the Dodgers have dealt with a nightmarish rash of injuries, plus most of the team’s biggest contributors are homegrown players or shrewd front office finds. There could be a huge swing in fun factor if the Dodgers get Clayton Kershaw back and/or promote Yasiel Puig from Class AAA.
14. NEW YORK YANKEES
The Yankees actually winning in the same season they finally com- mitted to rebuilding would make for some great fun, especially considering how unlikely it seems.
13. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
The Giants winning in their fourth consecutive even year would prove to be a very cool or a very annoying thing. They have tons of star power in Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey, plus all the delightful weirdness of Hunter Pence. But they also have three world championships this decade, and sharing is caring.
12. HOUSTON ASTROS
The Astros have never won a World Series and have one of the game’s brightest collections of young stars and entertaining players. But everyone knows the Astros are a team on the way up, and it would be better to see them get that first World Series win after a season in which they make a more convincing case that they’re a great team. Maybe they catch fire in September and start looking more deserving, but backing into the postseason on another 86-win season hardly seems compelling for a club that should soon give us more.
11. WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Bryce Harper is arguably the most famous name in baseball now that Alex Rodriguez isn’t playing, but it’d seem a shame for Harper to get an extended postseason showcase in a season when he’s not playing his best. Plus, nearly all of the Nationals’ top contributors this season will return for 2017. Still, Dusty Baker would make October pretty fun.
10. SEATTLE MARINERS
Another team whose biggest homegrown star — ace Felix Hernandez — has been something less than himself in 2016. The Mariners hit a lot of home runs, and Robinson Cano is a likely future Hall of Famer who doesn’t get nearly enough recognition. But the Mariners mostly seem like a team that’s pretty good at a lot of things and truly great at few of them.
9. BOSTON RED SOX
The idea of a final postseason curtain call for David Ortiz — a transcendent superstar, one of the best postseason hitters in MLB history and the rare player retiring at the top of his game — seems fairly epic.
8. MIAMI MARLINS
Theirs is a good, deep and entertaining lineup coached by none other than Barry Bonds in his first year back in uniform since his playing days. They have a future Hall of Famer contributing in Ichiro Suzuki. And they have Jose Fernandez. Plus they feature a goofy stadium with a dance club and a hilarious home run celebration.
7. DETROIT TIGERS
There’s nothing particularly fresh or exciting about the Tigers being in the postseason because they reached the playoffs every season from 2011 to 2014. But it’s not clear how much longer they’ll be able to stand up on a roster fueled by veterans, including two of the game’s most recognizable stars in Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander. Michael Fulmer and nowinjured Nick Castellanos look like emerging stars, but the Detroit bullpen has a way of making the late innings interesting.
6. PITTSBURGH PIRATES
The Pirates feel like they deserve a World Series win after getting so thoroughly jobbed by circumstance last year. Plus for them to emerge as real contenders this season after trading away a host of veterans at the deadline would make for a pretty neat story. But they appear to be a retooling club more than a rebuilding one. This is hardly their only shot.
5. TORONTO BLUE JAYS
The Blue Jays could lose two pillars of their explosive offensive — Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion — to free agency after this season. Divisive Bautista is on the disabled list but should be back in plenty of time for October and makes baseball games more engrossing whenever he’s on the field. Also, Marcus Stroman, despite a somewhat disappointing season in 2016, remains one of the game’s most charismatic pitchers.
4. TEXAS RANGERS
The Rangers seem like they’ve played above their heads this season but nonetheless have a big lead in the AL West and a clear route to October baseball, especially after a flurry of trade-deadline additions. They’ve yet to win a World Series in franchise history, and surefire future Hall of Famers Carlos Beltran and Adrian Beltre have no rings either.
3. CLEVELAND INDIANS
Could 2016 be the year of Cleveland sports? That’d be pretty sweet. The Indians have an electrifying rotation that would make for a great postseason spectacle and one of the game’s best young stars in defensively gifted shortstop Francisco Lindor. Lindor and starters Corey Kluber, Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco are all under team control through at least 2020, so the Indians seem very much at the beginning of their window, but it’s really never too soon to end a 68-season drought.
2. BALTIMORE ORIOLES
The Orioles rank in the middle of the pack in on-base percentage and near the bottom in team ERA, but they do one thing exceptionally well: hit home runs. The Orioles hit home runs for days and days and days, and they need to, because their starting pitchers allow tons of home runs, too. Do you like home runs? You’ll love the Orioles.
1. CHICAGO CUBS
1908, man. They have the National League’s best offense, defense and pitching staff. They have budding young superstars all over the diamond, the game’s most engaging manager in Joe Maddon and now Aroldis Chapman coming out of the bullpen throwing 105 mph in the ninth inning. This has always felt like the Cubs’ year. Seeing it all the way through would be awesome.