World Series favorites, the Top 5
We've finally heard the sweetest words of the spring -- pitchers and catchers report -- and that brings with it the end of what's been something of a wild and crazy offseason. (To say the least.) That means the 30 teams have their rosters more or less set, barring a non-roster invite here or a Kris Bryant trade there, and so we can look ahead at who's best positioned to do the only thing that matters: win the World Series.
So, as we've done in the past for World Series rosters and 2019-20 free agents, MLB.com's Will Leitch and Mike Petriello got together to draft the 30 teams based on one simple question: Who would you pick to win the World Series in 2020? Will gets the first pick, because Mike is so magnanimous. No snake drafts this time, just a straight one-through-30. This starts out pretty fun. Then it gets through all 30 teams.
1. New York Yankees
Leitch: I’m not going to overcomplicate this. They’ve got that incredible lineup -- is Luke Voit really going to bat ninth? -- that billion-dollar bullpen and, now, at last, the ace they’ve been missing. (Importantly so, since James Paxton will miss a few months and Luis Severino is shut down with right forearm foreness.) The Yankees famously didn’t make a World Series for the whole last decade. With the Red Sox apparently taking a step back, the Astros in limbo and the Twins (maybe the second-best team in the AL right now?) forever getting kicked around in The Bronx come October, it has been a long, long time since they were more primed to win one than in 2020.
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
Petriello: Remember when we spent all winter talking about how the Dodgers had done just about nothing -- one-year deals for pitching projects Blake Treinen, Jimmy Nelson and Alex Wood aside -- and that the team was content to sit on their laurels and ride that streak of seven straight division titles without actually getting that ring and ...
... now they have Mookie Betts. (And David Price, who deserves to be noted as more than a throw-in.)
Betts doesn't fix the bullpen, or replace the swingman depth they lost in Kenta Maeda, or even really improve their already-excellent chances of winning the division. He's still literally Mookie Betts. If the Dodgers don't win it all in 2020, it might never happen.
Feb 5, 2020
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Dodgers have unique 5-tool duo
3. Houston Astros
Leitch: Well, this one’s going to make me popular.
It has, uh, obviously been a bit of a tumultuous offseason. But there is still a ton of talent here. I suppose it is possible that the Houston Astros players had no idea how to play baseball and only succeeded because of a series of bangs on various trash cans, and maybe that’ll all be revealed this year. But to me: It looks like they’re going to win their division and be a terrifying out in October. It will also be amusing to see an ALCS in which America is rooting for the Yankees.
4. Minnesota Twins
Petriello: Look, if you didn’t pick the Astros, I was probably going to. They’re unpopular, to say the least, but they’re still so good. (Very much looking forward to Baseball Twitter tearing itself apart over “go Dusty!” vs. “boo Astros!”) With the Big Three above, you might say this is the start of the "second tier," but that’s also pretty unfair to the Twins, who just set the all-time record for home runs and then went out and added Josh Donaldson, who just popped 37 and should help on defense, too. Oh, and the Mitch Garver breakout seems terrifyingly legitimate. This team is going to mash.
No, they didn’t get the top-end starter they really needed, but Kenta Maeda is super useful, they brought back Michael Pineda and Jake Odorizzi, and the idea of Rich Hill coming back in the second half of the season to be the “I’m only throwing 50 innings, but they’re going to be great” guy is a lot of fun to think about. If not? Well, that's what July trades are for.
5. New York Mets
Leitch: No, Mike: This is the start of the second tier. I know it seems crazy to pick the Mets -- the Mets! -- this high. But, hear me out:
1) I think they’re the best team in the NL East. This is where I plug my big NL East preview that recently went up. (Mike interrupts to say: you're not alone on this, Will.)
2) You’ve got to pick a division champ before you start grabbing any Wild Cards, and the first four teams picked look like solid chalk for division champs. But the NL East and NL Central? Who knows?
3) Mets fans deserve this. Darn it, Mike, they need it.
You gotta have a team every year that you’re higher on than everyone else. For me, that team this year is the Mets. (We can make all these articles disappear after six months, can’t we? I’ll check with our editor. There has to be a way.)
