2020 MLB season: Don’t sleep on these teams
With each year comes promise and opportunity. Which team deserves more attention and has a chance to take the crown during the 2020 MLB season?
While the season is not quite around the corner, all teams have done their fair share this offseason in preparation for the 2020 MLB season.
After the headline signings of Gerrit Cole, Anthony Rendon and Stephen Strasburg in the winter, plus the trade of Mookie Betts last month, plenty of attention has been given to the Yankees, Angels, Nationals, and Dodgers respectively.
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We love to talk about which teams are going to be good this season and we can easily predict ahead of time a Yankees/Dodgers World Series – that you also predicted last year but did not get.
Simultaneously, we can easily predict that the Orioles, Tigers, and Marlins will be drafting in the top five again. But what about the teams that have been sitting in the middle or aren’t necessarily generating buzz in the offseason?
It could be argued so many different teams have a shot at their division this season, but which team from each division should we be paying a little more attention to? Based on how the teams spent their offseason and how their team is composed is how I determined each division’s sleeper team for the 2020 MLB season.
2020 MLB season: Don’t Sleep On These Teams
Toronto Blue Jays – 2019 record: 67-95
Sorry Yankees fans, no one is sleeping on that team…ever.
This team got more intriguing as the year went on and more and more second-generation players were added to the big-league roster.
The Blue Jays have a young, but solid, core of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Cavan Biggio. They went to help cement the lineup by taking a shot at Travis Shaw to play first base.
Where the Blue Jays improved the most was their pitching. They signed Cy-young candidate Hyun-Jin Ryu and Tanner Roark, plus the return of Matt Shoemaker gives a solid top three, assuming Shoemaker can match his production pre-injury.
The Blue Jays won 33 of their 67 total games after the all-star break alone. Their 33-38 record in the second half was in improvement on their 34-57 start. Is this the sign that the best is yet to come with this team?
Playoff baseball in Toronto was fun this past decade. Don’t be surprised if this team ends up adding a piece at the deadline… or at the midway point in the season.
The division is a daunting task behind the Goliath Yankees but the wild card is most certainly attainable for this team.
2020 MLB season: Don’t Sleep On These Teams
Cleveland Indians – 2019 record: 93-69
Wait, what? Your sleeper team is one that had 93 wins last year? What about the White Sox who did way more this offseason to improve the team?
Yes, I know. I’ve written about the White Sox before, on multiple occasions (here and here) and I am aware of how they could be deemed sleeper.
But they can’t be a sleeper team if everyone is high on their outlook this season.
The Cleveland Indians do not have a high outlook this season and have had their franchise shortstop as the subject of trade talks for the entire offseason. That is already an assumption they’re on the verge of a rebuild.
They traded away Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer (at the deadline), but this team has plenty to move forward with including the guys behind them in the rotation in Shane Bieber and Mike Clevinger.
The offense is still threatening with the rise of Oscar Mercado and the resurgence of Carlos Santana. The Indians may have missed out on the postseason last year, but don’t count them out this year if they have a fully healthy team.
2020 MLB season: Don’t Sleep On These Teams
Texas Rangers – 2019 record: 78-84
The AL West is by far the most intriguing division.
The Oakland Athletics have a great core and continue to play Moneyball to a tee.
The Houston Astros will have more eyes on them than they do cameras on the catcher’s signal.
The Los Angeles Angels have the best player in baseball and added a World Series hero in Anthony Rendon.
The Seattle Mariners… also play in that division.
But the Texas Rangers, oh man I can’t wait to see this team play (and everyone else) in 2020.
They surprised a lot of people this past year but they just couldn’t hold it together down the stretch. Hey, it’s hard to do when two teams in your division make the postseason with 97+ wins.
The Rangers have one of the more exciting players in Joey Gallo plus they added Kluber to the top of a rotation that featured breakout campaigns of Lance Lynn and Mike Minor.
While the Rangers may not intimidate on paper, they have great pieces and their aggressiveness this offseason should say enough about them wanting to win this year. They’re going to win this year too.
2020 MLB season: Don’t Sleep On These Teams
Washington Nationals – 2019 record: 93-69
Wait, what?
The World Series champions are your sleeper team for 2020? Come on!
Well yes here’s why.
The Nationals are now competing with a Braves team that is young and very talent-heavy, a Phillies team with a new direction and new pieces in the lineup and rotation as well as the Mets who are intriguing enough to back again this season.
The Nats have their work cut out for them and despite getting Strasburg back they are now with one less power bat in the lineup.
Eric Thames is a comparable replacement but not nearly at the same production level that Rendon was at.
The Nationals do have of course an outstanding pitching staff as well as the very exciting Juan Soto in left field. They have as good a chance to repeat but not many are giving them the same projections.
Never forget, this was the best team in baseball following Memorial Day last year and look where it got them.
They were able to do very well without Bryce Harper on their roster last season. Will the lack of Rendon make them even better?
2020 MLB season: Don’t Sleep On These Teams
Cincinnati Reds – 2019 record: 75-87
Just the names of the people added this offseason by the Reds has me bought it:
Mike Moustakas, Nicholas Castellanos, Shogo Akiyama.
Add that to a lineup that already has Eugenio Suarez, Joey Votto, and Aristedes Aquino.
No baseball is safe in Great American Ballpark.
On top of that, their rotation is solid on top with Sonny Gray, Bauer and Luis Castillo covering three of every five games. Tough to beat that.
The Reds played very middle of the road for a lot of last year but it was their first season with a new manager. More importantly, it was their first season surpassing 70 wins since 2014.
The NL Central may be the most up for grabs division of the six. the Cardinals weren’t very loud this offseason even though they won the division.
The Brewers subtracted more than what they gained so who knows if they can retain a wild card spot.
The Cubs have been confusing with rumors of trading a disgruntled Kris Bryant and just an underwhelming 2019 season.
The Reds have stockpiled their team to compete now, and given the youth that supports most of the roster, they could be the best in the Central for a while.
2020 MLB season: Don’t Sleep On These Teams
San Diego Padres – 2019 record: 70-92
Here’s the deal with the Padres.
Every year they make a transaction under AJ Preller that has me excited and convinced that they could compete. The problem is, I follow that statement with ‘ok but who else are they going to get?’
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Instead of making all of those moves within one year, they spread it out over a couple of years: Wil Myers, Eric Hosmer, Manny Machado and this year the trades they made with the Rays and Brewers put on the finishing touches.
This team has what it needs to push for a wild card spot and a postseason it has not seen since 2006.
Having Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. on the left side of the infield ensures no ball gets into left field; where new addition Tommy Pham will be patrolling.
Chris Paddack broke onto the scene last year and easily has opening-day locked up. The addition of Emilio Pagan makes the back end of the rotation scary paired with Kirby Yates.
Even waiting in the wings, the Padres have some of the most highly touted future big-leaguers in Mackenzie Gore and Taylor Trammell.
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Yes, they say patience is a virtue, and we shouldn’t have to be waiting much longer to see what the Padres can accomplish in 2020.