One reason each MLB team can win the World Series in 2017

The 2017 MLB season will be upon us before we know it. Hope springs eternal, and each team still has a shot (however small it may be) at winning the World Series.

With pitchers and catchers set to report to Florida and Arizona this week for Spring Training, baseball season is tantalizingly close. This is the best time of the year to be a fan of the sport, with a blank slate ahead of all 30 teams. There are various levels of contenders and rebuilding teams, but every camp around the league will open with an excitement in the air.

By the time the season ends, there will only be a handful of teams with a legitimate shot at the World Series. In February and March, however, all 30 teams can dream. Stranger things have happened in sports than, for example, the San Diego Padres playing deep into October. Leicester City did, after all, win the English Premier League.

Baseball has had a funny way of delivering unlikely World Series finalists and champions over its long history. In recent history, the Colorado Rockies, Tampa Bay Rays, Florida Marlins, Cleveland Indians, and Kansas City Royals have made relatively improbable runs to the World Series.

Realistically, there are a handful of teams who will be out of World Series contention by the end of the first week of the season, but hey, Spring Training is the time to dream big. Here is one reason why each MLB team can go all the way to the World Series next season.

Arizona Diamondbacks: Greinke is an ace again

The Diamondbacks were the most disappointing team in baseball in 2016, finishing 69-93 after an aggressive offseason that had many picking them to make the jump to playoff contender. Arizona’s potent offense still finished tenth in baseball and fifth in the National League with 752 runs. Led by Paul Goldschmidt, Jake Lamb, A.J. Pollock, and Yasmany Tomas, the Diamondbacks will put up runs in bunches again in 2017.

Pitching was the biggest problem for Arizona last season, and signing Zack Greinke was supposed to address the team’s deficiencies on the mound. Greinke wasn’t terrible in his first season in the desert, but he was hardly an ace worthy of $34.5 million a year. He may never come close to duplicating his incredible final season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but Greinke still has significant room for improvement as his time with the Diamondbacks progresses. Getting a better season out of Shelby Miller could also allow Arizona to creep above .500 and into the playoff conversation.