Four Major League Baseball Teams Whose Seasons Are Already Over
The Boston Red Sox are going to be pretty shitty this year. But if you squint enough and have nearly unlimited imagination, you can picture a way they make the playoffs. What if everything goes right? Maybe Chris Sale and James Paxton can play like it's 2017? Rafael Devers hits 50 bombs? No one gets hurt? Don't get me wrong. I'd be shocked if the Red Sox can even finish .500 but there are enough potential moving parts where it's not impossible.
There are four teams where even someone with a great imagination can't perceive any way these teams can make the playoffs in 2023. These are teams who all got here for various reasons but are entering this season with no immediate hope. The only good news they will be so bad that they'll have a high draft pick in their future.
Pittsburgh Pirates
Barstool Sportsbook Win Total Odds: Under 67.5 (-121)
Great ballpark. Lousy team. Outside of a three year stretch from 2013-15, that's the been the Pirates existence since PNC Park was built. They went 62-100 last year and spent the off-season signing old players. Rich Hill (will be 43 this season), Ji-Man Choi (32) and fan favorite Andrew McCutchen (36) would be nice spare parts for a great team but aren't going to make much a difference for a team this bad.
This is a team with some interesting parts. Bryan Reynolds is already a very good player. O'Neil Cruz is incredibly raw but has tons of talent. But even when they have talented players, they seem to take a step back. Ke'Bryan Hayes somehow seems to get worse every season. He's only 26 but he's got to start improving soon. This will be yet another lost year for the Pirates. The only question is will they lose 100 games for the third season in a row.
Cincinnati Reds
Barstool Sportsbook Win Total Odds: Under 65.5 (-113)
The Reds are going to run into the same issue this year as the aforementioned Pirates. With schedules no longer being so division-centric, this will really hurt both teams. No longer can they play the other shit teams in the Central 17 times a year. This is a team that lost 100 games last year and now has a tougher schedule.
This is the last year Joey Votto is under contract with the Reds. This should clear $25 million off the payroll for 2024 but will the Reds invest that back into the team? The only move they made this off-season that's even worth writing about was adding Wil Myers. I suppose it doesn't make sense to make improvements to such a bad team when they are going nowhere this season but I have don't have much confidence they will spend money next year either.
Washington Nationals
Barstool Sportsbook Win Total Odds: Under 59.5 (-113)
This is the worst team in the National League. They have the two worst contacts in baseball with Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin. It's bad that they owe Corbin $60 million over the next two years but so much worse that they will have shell out $140 million over the next four years to Strasburg.
The future looks pretty bleak. Their owner just died and the family seems to be taking a very leisurely route to selling the team. It's going to take years for them to be competitive in what might be the toughest division in baseball. This season will be a joke. This is a team that lost 107 games last year and that was with a half season of Juan Soto. I don't see adding Trevor Williams and Dominic Smith changing much. Of course, National fans are much better off than Pirates or Reds fans even if their team is worse. 2019 wasn't that long ago.
Oakland A's
Barstool Sportsbook Win Total Odds: Under 59.5 (-122)
This is the worst of the worst. They are +50000 to win the World Series. This off-season, they traded their best hitter (Sean Murphy), their best pitcher (Cole Irvin) and have done everything they can to move to Las Vegas. I can't think of many other cities that have worse off-seasons in recent baseball history than Oakland.
I really think the A's will be historically horrible in 2023. Frank sees them losing 120 games. I don't think he's wrong. I'm all in on watching as many late night A's games as possible as this team circles the drain and chases the 1962 Mets. That Mets team, while awful, was filled with hope and excitement for a brand new expansion team. I have a hard time finding anything potentially positive about this team. Maybe Seth Brown hits 30 home runs? Maybe JJ Bleday becomes a decent major leaguer? If you have any A's fans in your life, it might be time for a wellness check.
