Less than two months from the trade deadline and the season creeping toward the midway point in a couple of weeks, some MLB front offices will have to take a hard look at where their team is.
The new expanded playoff format gives teams more hope to get themselves into October baseball. As the Philadelphia Phillies showed last season, just getting into the field is enough to give yourself a chance to make a long run.
They qualified as the final wild card team in the National League. Still, they took down the Central Division champion St. Louis Cardinals in two games, before taking down fellow National League East Division foe the Atlanta Braves in four games. In the National League Championship Series, they eliminated the National League West’s wild card entry, the San Diego Padres in five games. Unfortunately in the World Series, they fell to the Houston Astros in six games, but their run proved just getting in no matter what can set a team up for success.
This season, there are several National League teams that are not living up to preseason expectations and could very well find themselves on the outside looking in for the playoffs. Three teams that made the field in 2022 are struggling and if they don’t turn things around in June, they could find themselves as sellers instead of buyers at the trade deadline.