Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Three current MLB playoff teams face serious questions about their championship credibility this season.
- Each team benefits from weak divisions or favorable schedules but lacks the offensive firepower to survive deep playoff runs.
- The trade deadline could expose these teams as pretenders, with potential moves determining whether they stay contenders or fall back.
The MLB playoffs won’t be decided for nearly three more months, with the Aug. 3rd trade deadline as the next major checkpoint as to who’s going to play in August and September for nothing more than bragging rights. The expanded postseason has helped breathe oxygen into more than half the league, essentially creating a seller’s market as long as enough teams are willing to believe they are good enough to make it to October and give themselves a chance at a championship.
Of the 30 MLB teams, only 12 will make it. The dozen currently holding a playoff spot include expected contenders like the Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers and even the free-falling New York Yankees. They should all have enough fortitude to make it.
What about some of the other clubs? These current MLB playoff teams are shaking like a three-legged chair.
Chicago White Sox
Sorry, but even as the current leaders in the AL Central, it’s hard to imagine this Chicago White Sox team making a deep run. The Cleveland Guardians have a knack for always winning out the division. In a year where the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals have underachieved and the Minnesota Twins have done nothing more than tease, the White Sox should get a tip of the cap for playing this well.
The White Sox are a product of playing in a bad division and an overall weak American League. Their lineup doesn’t pack enough punch and their rotation is two (maybe three) starting pitchers short of looking like challengers. Unless they make major trade deadline additions, a trap door is going to open up under them.
St. Louis Cardinals
It was only a matter of time before reality set in for the St. Louis Cardinals, who never seemed interested in competing this year based on how they handled their first offseason under Chaim Bloom. They signed guys like Dustin May with a plan to flip them at the trade deadline, and yet they came into Wednesday holding a lead over the Miami Marlins by winning percentage for the final Wild Card spot.
If it was possible to tank in baseball like they do in the NBA, the Cardinals would be giving players load management days. You can’t do that in MLB, with starting pitchers on a tight schedule. But with several intriguing trade chips on their roster, the biggest mistake the Cardinals could possibly make is to change directions and actually think a first-round playoff sweep is best for the team’s future. St. Louis’ case to be called a contender is going to evaporate, and Bloom couldn’t be happier.
Cleveland Guardians
It’s not fair to question the White Sox without doing the same to the Guardians. Coming into Wednesday with a -13 run differential, their best advantage is the same as the White Sox have: playing in a division someone has to win. Between Steven Kwan’s miserable season and the lackluster season Jose Ramirez was putting together before landing on the IL, it doesn’t seem as if the Guardians will do anything more than tumble into the division lead and then the playoffs.
Like they always seem to, pitching has led the Guardians to a playoff position. Cheap and largely homegrown, offense is not their priority. Because they rarely seem to add big trade deadline pieces either, the Guardians are good enough to win the AL Central and get whipped around by someone else in the postseason.
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