The “How Entertaining Would You Be In the Postseason” Matrix

With the expanded MLB Postseason, aside from jockeying for playoff seeding, really the only thing left to watch at this point is the fight for the final Wild Card spots.

There are a select few that feel a little too far gone for their games to matter at this point (sorry, Royals, A’s, Angels, Rockies, Giants, Mets, and Reds!).

In the NL, the Cubs and Brewers have cemented their spot with the division and one wild card, leaving the last two spots to be determined, and in the AL, the Rays, Yankees, and Red Sox have likely opened the door for one last team that may or may not be above .500! We wanted more postseason teams, and boy, did we get them!

That being said, we’ve seen a plethora of wild card teams that have snuck in just by getting hot at the right time and went on a run. Think 2023 Texas Rangers or 2019 Nationals. It’s ultimately an entertainment product, so let’s give the teams that are jockeying for position a report card on how entertaining they would be should they earn their way into the dance this last month.

We’ll rate it based on the following factors:

• Star Power
• Are you actually a threat?
• Is there a story?
• Matchup Potential

These things matter.

There’s a mystic romanticism when it comes to baseball, and we want October to be as entertaining as possible.

San Diego Padres

• Star Power: A
• Are you actually a threat?: B+
• Is there a story?: A-
• Matchup Potential: A+

The San Diego Padres are playing their best ball at the right time and have suddenly morphed into the exciting team we’ve been accustomed to over the last 7 years. The first half, homerless Fernando Tatis Jr. and slumping Manny Machado were one of the toughest watches in the league, where Ty France was the only bat in the lineup producing. When Petco is rocking, when Fernando Tatis has his mojo back (and he does, improving his OPS by .200 and tweeting a Gladiator gif for the first time in years after a two-homer and home run robbery game in New York), and Mason Miller takes the reins to close, they carry themselves like they could throw punches at anyone, even the Dodgers up the road.

The story would be the World Series-less team turned their season around after Tatis improved his bat speed; they decided to hold the line and NOT sell at the deadline, and we get Don Orsillo screaming “FERNANDOOOOO” again like all is right in the world.

St. Louis Cardinals

• Star Power: C
• Are you actually a threat?: C
• Is there a story?: B
• Matchup Potential: D

No one, not even the Cardinals, could have expected this. They sold before the season started, and suddenly Jordan Walker is the most-improved player and star of the Home Run Derby; the crowd started the tarp-off movement, and your NL MVP JJ Wetherholt is the foundation going forward. They’re ahead of schedule, but they acted like it by giving away Dustin May and Lars Nootbaar at the deadline. They’re above .500 and not totally out of the NL Wild Card picture, but a 10-18 July made it feel like they fell back to Earth as the rest of the NL got their acts together.

Walker, JJ, and Burleson are something to build on going forward, but it just wouldn’t get the juices flowing in terms of the state of the team come October if this team had to face a serious team over the course of a full series.

Philadelphia Phillies

• Star Power: A+
• Are you actually a threat?: A 
• Is there a story?: A-
• Matchup Potential: A+

No one was more in for a “one last ride” than the Phillies entering this year; Dave Dombrowski even came out and said that Bryce Harper is no longer elite, to put a chip on the 33-year-old’s shoulder. They’re a top-heavy team where all the stars are past 30 and have been there, done that. Even firing Rob Thomson was a move that said: “we need to fix this before the end of the season NOW.”

The turnaround for a team that was in the World Series not too long ago after Wheeler got back and Don Mattingly took over was unprecedented if you asked a psychotic Philly native in May. They’re getting hot at the right time after the addition of Luis Arraez at the deadline and have led the league in walks, and the stars that hosted All-Star Weekend are built for October. We’ve already seen them punch above their weight as a Wild Card in the past, and playing the underdog role of “everyone counted us out behind the Braves!” is exactly what they want. Ask the Dodgers if they’d like to face Wheeler, Sanchez, and Luzardo.

Arizona Diamondbacks

• Star Power: B-
• Are you actually a threat?: B
• Is there a story?: D
• Matchup Potential: A-

The Diamondbacks are currently trying to find their superstar, Ketel Marte, who was on the non-roster list, put on the IL for some reason, was seen gambling while on the list, and no one has explained anything. Now, when all is right, they do play the Dodgers competitively. Still, no Marte, a volatile rotation that’s been up and down, reliance on Corbin Carroll triples, and a coach who may or may not be on the hot seat after a disappointment isn’t exactly inspiring right now.

Miami Marlins

• Star Power: C+
• Are you actually a threat?: B
• Is there a story?: B+
• Matchup Potential: B

Is it safe to say this feels like the year before the year for the Marlins? They finally did what we wanted them to do at the deadline, which was NOT sell at the deadline all of their franchise players like Sandy Alcantara, so now the young core is set, and they’ve got what would be one of the most dangerous rotations to play in a series: Sandy, Eury Perez, and Max Meyer. The fish did flounder in July after Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards alone weren’t able to carry the roster that’s second-youngest in baseball. Kyle Stowers has been on the IL and is slated to come back, but how cool is it that Griffin Conine, son of Mr. Marlin, has come up in the show and has 14 homers?

The youth movement of Miami being better than we thought and sticking to the plan for next year is the story, and maybe they get matched up against a Braves team that they loathe. Being ahead of schedule would make them a fun addition, given the lack of seriousness this franchise has exuded in the past. If this team didn’t have maybe the most consequential losing streak of the season, where they lost 12 in July, the season would have an entirely different tone.

Minnesota Twins

• Star Power: D
• Are you actually a threat?: B
• Is there a story?: B
• Matchup Potential: B+

The Twins going from selling off 11 starters at the last trade deadline to now being in contention for either the Central or one of the last Wild Card spots feels unlikely, considering the two stars of the team that everyone wanted traded, Byron Buxton and Joe Ryan, have been on the shelf and largely nonfactors. It’s Josh Bell on a 1-year flier deal mashing doubles, Luke Keaschall hitting for average, and Kody Clemens turning into a masher for a top American League offense.

The terrible graphic of their deadline last year has made their watchability one of the best stories of the season, but the Minnesota curse still feels like it will loom large if they get a Yankees matchup, and the trust in a team that had the worst bullpen in baseball before making some additions remains to be seen. However, they do have what a lot of front offices of teams don’t this time of year: effort towards going for it and winning!

Texas Rangers

• Star Power: B-
• Are you actually a threat?: D
• Is there a story?: B-
• Matchup Potential: A

Jacob deGrom, Corey Seager, and Nasty Nate Eovaldi in October theoretically should be a draw for October- it’s just that they’re stars that would rather be left alone in the wilderness rather than talk to anyone in the real world at all times. The Rangers have been largely an “on-paper” this should be good team, and that is precisely the issue. When deGrom is your most available superstar, there’s an issue there, and it’s been seen in the lack of momentum on all fronts for a team that’s been around .500 all season. Is Joc Pederson pumping his chest the most entertaining part of this team aside from… the idea that deGrom could get a ring? Maybe there’s a Rangers-Astros matchup with bad blood?

Toronto Blue Jays

• Star Power: A
• Are you actually a threat?: B
• Is there a story?: A+
• Matchup Potential: B+

The team that was an out away from beating the Dodgers last year spent this season selling off assets after the whole roster has been injured and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has had a power outage. They’re dead last in almost every offensive stat. 

And they’re still in it. And it would still be amazing to see Canada rocking in October.

How the ship in Toronto is still afloat can be traced back to Dylan Cease as the likely AL Cy Young Winner and a red-hot August where they won some division games that they shouldn’t have. Guerrero will be on the shelf for a while, but with the division familiarity and what we know about Toronto when they’re capable of being their best, they’d be a miraculous story that could still make some noise. We’ve tried to kill them all year, and they just won’t die.

Baltimore Orioles

• Star Power: B+
• Are you actually a threat?: C
• Is there a story?:  B-
• Matchup Potential: D

The Adley Rutschmann trade should have been the nail in the coffin and the end of an era for Orioles baseball. The opportunities they’ve had to go all-in with the prospect assets they held on to for this iteration to feel as lifeless as it has been should be considered malpractice. It wasn’t as if they weren’t trying to win, either, with the veteran signing of Pete Alonso to try and rally the young baby birds after several seasons of disappointment since their AL East crown.

After selling off Taylor Ward as well, they, for some reason, had an August where they were 15-8; Gunnar found his swing again, Alonso went on a massive hit streak, and they just won’t die. The pitching is still as volatile as ever, and Aaron Judge LOVES playing the Orioles should that matchup arise, and they’re below .500 against the entirety of the division. Mike Elias was right in that they’re certainly still not dead!

Cleveland Guardians

• Star Power: B
• Are you actually a threat?: C
• Is there a story?: A+
• Matchup Potential: B

The Guardians now have a bona fide ace in Gavin Williams the way he’s been pitching this season. Still, there’s been a lack of Jose Ramirez this season after his injury, which has made the Guardians much less imposing, as the lineup still has pop problems and had to make a move for Jo Adell in the lineup. They’re always going to be the prohibitive Cinderella story with the new longest drought streak in baseball. Jose is consistently the bridesmaid and never the bride in the MVP chase, but they’re getting worse month to month, which is a shame for a team that has called up the youth movement and seems to be building something for the future.

Williams and Messick would be a great 1-2 punch to watch in the postseason for an operation that has always punched above their weight class if they were to potentially face a division rival with some familiarity, but it feels like the same song and dance minus Jose this time for the Guards.

Detroit Tigers

• Star Power: C
• Are you actually a threat?: D
• Is there a story?: A+
• Matchup Potential: D

The only team with a positive run differential in the AL Central? That would be your Detroit Tigers, who went on a miniature run after selling off Mize and Skubal. The issue? Having the most 1-run losses in baseball, which is kind of important in October.

It would be phenomenal to turn the season around and make the postseason after the story was the Skubal saga, but that’s not a team you can trust. The youth movement starts next year with McGonigle and Max Clark.

Houston Astros

• Star Power: C+
• Are you actually a threat?: C
• Is there a story?: C-
• Matchup Potential: D

The Astros era is officially beginning to feel like whatever morsels of fear they exuded into the opposition is a big D for dead. There was only so much Yordan Alvarez could do to keep them alive in an AL West that no one wants to win, but it turns out when you have a pitching staff with the worst command in the league and do nothing to solve the problem at the deadline, you end up with a fired GM and a blown lead where they lost 6 of the last 8 games to teams that they should be defeating if they want to be taken seriously.

Seattle Mariners

• Star Power: A
• Are you actually a threat?: B+
• Is there a story?: A+
• Matchup Potential: D

The ALCS participant Mariners who went all-in this year feel dead. Sure, they called up Kade Anderson, but the most recent 22-run loss to the Brewers cemented the underperformance of the star-studded lineup (aside from Randy Arozarena, who’s having a pivotal year ahead of his free agency). They’re up there with the Guardians as a cursed franchise, and the stars didn’t exactly LEAVE the team- they’ve just all had career-worst years at once, it would appear.

To limp into the playoffs, they’d still be must-watch after all the team has been through, but this team feels like it needs to regroup instead of being led to the slaughter by Dan Wilson’s pitching management one last time.