In this, the year of the flawed team, Major League Baseball’s July 31 trade deadline was appropriately odd and incomplete, largely a slew of imperfect players heading to teams with uncertain playoff prospects, and some of the better prizes ending up in situations where October baseball, let alone the World Series, are far from a certainty.
So, who ended up in the best position for a Fall Classic run?
With organizational rosters locked – barring the odd waiver pickup the next two months – USA TODAY Sports ranks the top eight World Series contenders in the wake of the industry’s annual late-season trade show:
1. Philadelphia Phillies
Sure, they’re a half-game behind the Mets in the NL East, but suddenly look so much more secure, with Jhoan Duran providing clarity to a cloudy bullpen and Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sanchez and Ranger Suarez providing a real 1-2-3 rotation punch most of their NL rivals lack. Might have been nice to get a more offensively-inclined pickup with their much-anticipated outfield add, but Harrison Bader adds to their already elite outfield defense while providing timely pop.
2. Toronto Blue Jays
They’re 35-25 against teams with winning records and are tied with Detroit for the AL’s top overall seed; not a bad place to build from. With the playoffs firmly in sight, acquiring the nearly-rehabbed Shane Bieber and eyeing him for potential Game 3 playoff starts is a daunting look. Ty France has the best K rate of his career this season and gives the infield further versatility. And a shaky bullpen was nicely solidified with the additions of right-handers Seranthony Dominguez and Louis Varland.
3. Detroit Tigers
Talk about pitching chaos: The Tigers added seven arms to their arsenal, and now it’s up to their pitching sciences folks to make sure quantity turns into quality. But Charlie Morton and Chris Paddack are nice veteran additions to a rotation that just lost Reese Olson. Whether former Nationals closer Kyle Finnegan can be effective in pennant- and playoff-type leverage situations is an open question. But they all follow Tarik Skubal, something the rest of the league cannot say.
4. Chicago Cubs
When they acquired former Washington starter Mike Soroka the night before the deadline, there was a “Surely, there must be more” feel to the transaction. But there were no more starting pitchers headed to Wrigleyville, and so the Cubs will roll out Shota Imanaga and Matthew Boyd and then hope for the best from the Sorokas and Colin Reas and Cade Hortons of the world. Yet there’s still a lot to like about this club, particularly after the bullpen was lengthened with the Andrew Kittredge and Taylor Rogers adds, and a lineup always down to simply score more runs than the other guys.
5. Los Angeles Dodgers
Things are looking a little dicey for the defending champs, with little wriggle room at the deadline, an extended stretch of uninspired (27-24) baseball and so many unknowns with the health status of their pitching staff. But it’s tough to argue with tonnage: Blake Snell returns this weekend and the bullpen is finally almost fully healthy. Kinda wild to see zero fireworks from them at the trade deadline (reliever Brock Stewart, reserve outfielder Alex Call), but it’s time to trot out this cliché: Mookie Betts returning to form would be a huge lift. It might not matter if they have to battle all the way from the wild-card round as a third division winner.
6. San Diego Padres
Never confuse activity with achievement, John Wooden once said. We imagine A.J. Preller was more of a Bobby Knight guy, anyway. Dude went nuts at the deadline and crafted an even nastier bullpen (thank you, Mason Miller), solved his left field problem and created a devastating defensive alignment out there (hello, Ramon Laureano), and added some desperately needed left-handed slug (Ryan O’Hearn). We’d place them a little higher if not for the high probability they’ll land in the wild-card series, as well as the absence of a true No. 1 starter so long as Dylan Cease (still a Padre) remains inconsistent.
7. Houston Astros
Dang, they really wanna win this year, eh? Could not have imagined Carlos Correa ever again walking through that Minute Maid, errr, Daikin Park door again, but the club got aggressive when third baseman Isaac Paredes popped a hamstring and now they’ll pay Correa about $75 million for the next three-plus seasons. That’s so not Jim Crane. We like them to pull away from the pack in the West and, with Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown in tow, be live dogs come October.
8. New York Mets
Like their Bronx counterparts, the Mets ignored the fallow starting pitching market and instead loaded up the bullpen, giving Ryne Stanek some set-up breathing room with Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers and Gregory Soto. Cedric Mullins will look nice in that Citi Field outfield. But the health and innings track records of starters Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes and Kodai Senga behind the steady David Peterson (who has already equaled his career high in innings) creates a little too much doubt. Enough doubt to slip behind the Phillies and take their chances in the wild-card shootout.