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MLB: Deadline Deals Helping Shape the 2016 Postseason

By Patrick K. Flowers Sr.

Oct 19, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Cleveland Indians relief pitcher Andrew Miller (24) pitches during the seventh inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in game five of the 2016 ALCS playoff baseball series at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 19, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Cleveland Indians relief pitcher Andrew Miller (24) pitches during the seventh inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in game five of the 2016 ALCS playoff baseball series at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oct 19, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Cleveland Indians relief pitcher Andrew Miller (24) pitches during the seventh inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in game five of the 2016 ALCS playoff baseball series at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 19, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Cleveland Indians relief pitcher Andrew Miller (24) pitches during the seventh inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in game five of the 2016 ALCS playoff baseball series at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /

The annual MLB non-waiver trade deadline has become a baseball holiday of sorts for fans around the league. Regardless of what the current state of you favorite team is, there’s a chance that you could wake up on trade deadline morning to the news that your team has a new player that you’ve been longing for as a fan.

Each year the non-waiver trade deadline drastically helps reshape the landscape of Major League Baseball, whether it be for a team rebuilding who acquires new prized prospects, or a team on the verge of a pennant race who acquires that potential X-Factor for their impending playoff conquest.

Last year we saw the Blue Jays push all of the chips into the middle of the table at the trade deadline when they acquired David Price and Troy Tulowitzki, propelling them into the American League Championship Series before ultimately bowing out to the Kansas City Royals. The New York Mets landed Yoenis Cespedes and completely turned their 2015 season around, culminating in a National League Pennant.

This season is no different. Trade deadline moves have shaped the way the playoffs are playing out in front of our eyes, as well as the push for the postseason leading up to these playoffs. Some work out like the aforementioned deals by the Blue Jays and Mets, some deals can potentially become regrettable.

The Rangers needed a catcher that could produce offensively. Enter Jonathan Lucroy, the veteran Milwaukee Brewers catcher who they acquired from the Brewers in return for prospects Lewis Brinson (OF) and Dillon Tate (P). The Brewers actually won this trade in a long-term sense in my opinion, receiving two solid prospects in return for a catcher who was all but gone when free agency rolls around next winter (assuming the Rangers pick up his team option for 2017), the Rangers if they fail to re-sign Lucroy will have given up the prospects for a moderately short-term rental player. That’s just the nature of the business, and the risk that you have to take when trying to make the move to fuel a deep playoff run in today’s game.

Here’s how the 2016 MLB trade deadline has most significantly impacted the postseason.

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