Call to the pen
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The Kryptonite for these top 10 MLB teams

By Bill Felber

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 04: Manager David Ross #3 of the Chicago Cubs walks to the mound to remove Craig Kimbrel #46 during the ninth inning of a game against the Kansas City Royals at Wrigley Field on August 04, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 04: Manager David Ross #3 of the Chicago Cubs walks to the mound to remove Craig Kimbrel #46 during the ninth inning of a game against the Kansas City Royals at Wrigley Field on August 04, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Ron Vesely/Getty Images)
(Photo by Ron Vesely/Getty Images) /

These MLB teams have strong playoff potential, but they also face serious problem areas.

Perhaps appropriately, in this strange 2020 season, there are no perfect teams. Even the best MLB teams have their obvious flaws.

While those shortcomings may not prevent a good team from qualifying for post-season play – especially in a format where more than half the teams earn that distinction – they are ticking time bombs poised to go off at a critical moment in the expanded post-season tournament.

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And if events of the season’s first two weeks have shown anything, those shortcomings carry the potential to undermine the efforts of even the best teams.

Let’s be clear, we’re not talking about the Miami Marlins, Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers or San Francisco Giants here. True, if the season were to end today, all four of those teams would qualify for post-season play even though all four were widely disparaged in pre-season assessments.

The likelihood is great that those teams really are about as bad as everybody expected, and that in due course their records will recede to the predictable levels. The schedule just hasn’t permitted that to happen yet.

The intriguing thing is toward the top of the game’s food chain, where most of the MLB teams who were expected to perform well have displayed weaknesses. Several of those teams have been able to overcome those weaknesses to date by dint of their overall talent.

But those weaknesses still exist and they will remain problematic right up until the team either wins the World Series or is eliminated.

Here’s a look at the pitfalls looming for the game’s elite ballclubs.

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