The only active MLB team to have never appeared in a World Series came within a single win of ending that hoodoo last October and appeared poised to go one stage further in 2026. Instead, their 76-86 clunker feels like a wasted chance for a lineup featuring Julio Rodríguez, Cal Raleigh and Randy Arozarena. BAG The Pirates could have brought real verve to the postseason with a healthy Konnor Griffin at shortstop and Paul Skenes on the mound.
Sadly the team dug too deep a hole in August and, in usual Pirate fashion, didn’t give themselves a chance. AK That has to be the Orioles, which means Pete Alonso’s F-David Stearns tour won’t see the bright lights of the postseason. The Mets’ president of baseball operations, one with almost all the money in the world at his disposal, who didn’t offer a contract to Alonso – who hit 43 home runs, arguably the second-best season of his career – is finally off the hook.
That is, at least until a would-be 2027 season. DL The American League’s No 2 seed is an 85-win division champion with a plus-11 run differential who FanGraphs suggests was closer to a .500 ball club. The Guardians have the pitching to thrive in close games, but a lineup without a 20-homer batter leaves them little room for error.
BAG The Dodgers are finally going to face the consequences that come with age, variance, and having had to play an extra 31 games over the prior two postseasons. They still have no big weaknesses, but their lineup is old (the average age on their roster is 31, making them the oldest team in MLB) and has occasionally looked the part this year. AK If you needed a team to squeak out a single run under pressure against great playoff pitching, that’s not the Yankees with Aaron Judge in the lineup.
Without him, against some superb Red Sox hurlers, the swing-and-a-miss Bronx Bombers have even less of a chance of putting runs on the board. They could find themselves bronzing in Cancún sooner rather than later. DL It seems odd to call a team with baseball’s best offense and defense a dark horse, but the Cubs’ leaky relief pitching makes them one.
Pete Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman give Chicago plenty of ways to win games. If the bullpen can keep the ball in the park, they could go far. BAG The Rays will always have a dark-horse feel, even in a year when they win the AL East.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
