With the season getting closer and closer to Oct., the Major League Baseball playoffs are beginning to shape up. This year has not been like any other. For the first time since 2014, not a single team is on pace for 100 wins. There are eight teams that still have the chance of reaching the century mark, but all will have to lose three or less games with a month to go. This seems nearly impossible to do.
Last year’s World Series winners, the Texas Rangers, appear to be falling short of clinching a spot into the playoffs. As of right now, they are sitting six games below .500 and are eight-and-a-half games back from the third wild-card spot.
The MLB playoffs have looked different in the past years. In 2012, the playoffs consisted of five teams per league, two wild-card teams and three division winners. Then in 2020 during the shortened season, the playoffs expanded to eight teams for just that year, three division winners and five wild card teams. The year after that, they reverted to the usual five team playoffs. However, recently in 2022, the MLB decided to expand the playoffs to six teams, adding another wild card team. So now 12 teams in total, six from each league, will compete for all the marbles.
Sadly, our hometown team, the Tampa Bay Rays, seem to be out of the playoff hunt. Although they are only six-and-a-half games back from the last wild card spot, they would have to virtually win out to secure that spot. They have been more than disappointing to the fans this year, especially when expectations were high. It seems that the front office seemingly gave up at the trade deadline selling players like All-Star Isaac Parades (Chicago Cubs) and hometown favorite Randy Arozarena (Seattle Mariners). This will be the first year that the Rays have not made the playoffs since 2018.
Chase Andress, a junior at Wharton High School, said the Tampa Bay Rays are, “a battling .500 team and got rid of some of our guys, but we’ll figure it out.”
The number one team favored to win the World Series has been the same all year, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Since signing star Shohei Ohtani in the offseason for a ten-year $700 million contract, they have looked like the clear favorite for this year’s playoffs. As of right now, Hard Rock Bets have the Dodgers listed as the heaviest favorites with odds of +325, the closest team to them are their inner-conference rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies at +475 odds. At the beginning of the year, the Dodgers opened as the second favorite team at +700 according to Vegas Insider. The favorites at the beginning of the season were the Atlanta Braves at +600 but have seemingly fallen off due to multiple injuries from their star players.
Daniel Duno, a junior at Wharton High School, commented, “I believe that the New York Yankees will win this year. They have a loaded lineup with players like Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, no reason why they should lose.”