From a Championship to joint bottom of the disappointing NL East, the Washington Nationals were in conversation for most disappointing team in 2020. Despite their ring, the future does not look especially promising in DC. There’s a top heavy roster and payroll, coupled with the economic impact of the pandemic and their poor farm system, suggesting a period of retooling.
Every Mets fan would have taken this outcome at the start of 2020. Having missed out on a place in the largest playoff pool in MLB history with a top five offence, this probably isn’t the expected conclusion, but it just shows the relief in Queens at the impending end of the Wilpon’s ownership.
16 teams, with records between 29-31 and 43-17 will contest the 2020 Postseason, starting with 3 game wildcard games based on seeding.
1992 was the last time a New York Yankees team finished a season under .500. An incredible feat that may be coming to an end in the 2020 season.
After an action-filled deadline just 30 games into the season, rosters are set for the most open and exciting pennant race in recent years.
Edwin Rios of the Dodgers leads off the twelfth inning with a home run. A normal event, except MLB history had been made. Rios had hit the first leadoff two-run homer in Major League history, owing to the new extra-inning rule.
The last three years in the AL West have been mostly been straightforward wins for the Houston Astros, but after a tumultuous offseason and now a difficult start to the abbreviated season, they are facing a fight to even make the expanded playoffs.
Which teams will improve the most with a DH every day?
Third base is where the deepest levels of talent in the majors reside, with two recent MVPs, multiple long-term deals, and former top five picks. In collating a top five at the position, I have had to leave out some of the most talented players in the league, including Josh Donaldson, Manny Machado, Kris Bryant and 49 homer Eugenio Suarez.
A new young crop of aces are starting to emerge in the majors, headed by Mike Soroka, Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler, but none have quite hit the hights of these five veteran $25 million per year plus starters who continue to set the starting pitching standards.
The Astros have dominated the AL West for the past few years, but their staring depth has steadily diminished over the years to the point that the Angels and their line up of superstars will provide a legitimate threat to their crown.
After successive division titles, the Atlanta Braves return for 2020 with most of their core still in place. Despite losing Josh Donaldson, they still have two of the National League’s finest hitters in Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuña.
After a disappointing 81-81 season in 2019 which cost Gabe Kapler his job, the Philadelphia Phillies bring back the key parts of that team whilst adding potential stars for both their offence and pitching. However, in a competitive NL east, Baseball Prospectus’s PECOTA projects them to win just 76.8 games.
Stephen Strasburg put himself in a position to opt out of the four years $100 million remaining on his seven-year $175 million contract by having a fully healthy and productive season. After averaging only 145 innings per year between 2015 and 2018, he pitched 209 innings and won World Series MVP, setting him up for another huge payday.
Washington DC has a World Series team for the first time in 86 years. Having not won a playoff series since their move from Montreal in 2004, the Nationals have managed to win two after sweeping the Cardinals. They will play either the Yankees or the Astros to win their first title.
