Playing Field: Level.
Most of MLB is playoff-capable. Parity award unlocked
It’s Friday. You made it. Well done you.
As of this moment, half past two here on the Best Coast on the last day of July, fully 21 of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams are realistically in the midst of a playoff hunt.
The timing is auspicious. MLB’s trade deadline is 6 p.m. ET on Monday, Aug. 3, with much to occur between now and then. We’ll get to that in a minute. First, though, it’s important to appreciate that when more than two-thirds of your teams entering the stretch run are still fully discussing their playoff odds, you have won. As a league, you’ve won.
I mention this because MLB’s owners have spent this summer acting as though they are lost — lost without a salary cap. “Level the Playing Field” is the theme of their noxious, non-stop ad campaign that slices through every MLB-driven game production you happen to view.
But look, the field’s already level. You did it, fellas! And without a salary cap — which, we all surely understand by now, is about a lot of things, but not about a level playing field. Anytime owners talk about a salary cap, ignore everything that is said and follow the money. It’ll show you what’s most important to the overlords.
From 2000 to 2025, the NBA has had 12 different franchises become league champions, the NFL 13, the NHL 15. Major League Baseball has had 16 different franchises raise the trophy in that same span. It is the only league among those four without a salary cap.
Baseball also has enjoyed the longest streak among the Big Four of seasons uninterrupted by contract strife, more than 30 and counting. But we can do labor talk some other time. (Or never. Up to you.)
For now, let’s celebrate the reality: This baseball trade deadline arrives at a time when most of the league wants to buy, or at the very least sell a little and buy a lot.
Tremendous! Perfect. It’s what we all want: big markets and slightly less big markets alike grinding to improve their roster, keep the fans coming to the ballpark, and maybe plate a slice of that delicious post-season revenue pie.
It’s a good thing. And MLB actually did it. It may not have meant to do it, but it did.
Here’s how it shakes out:
AMERICAN LEAGUE
The Rays, White Sox and Rangers lead the three divisions. Let me repeat that: Tampa Bay, the Chisox and Texas, as of this writing. Not how you drew it up? I feel ya.
Competing for the three wild-card spots: Yankees, Red Sox, Guardians, Twins, Astros, Orioles and Mariners. And I’m leaving out Detroit, which is only 4 1/2 games out from the last playoff spot and enjoys a healthy positive run differential, but appears to be in sell mode.
All three divisions are still really up for grabs, so those top three spots may change out. Tampa needs another arm and an impact bat. The Yankees want a catcher. The Twins have added two bullpen arms in a week, and the Mariners need infield help. No one’s sure what Boston is going to do; the Red Sox already traded for an infielder (Curtis Mead) who immediately broke his wrist in Game 1 playing for them, so they’re probably searching for another.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Division leaders are the Dodgers, Brewers and Braves, all by very comfortable margins. Chasing the three wild cards: the Cubs, Diamondbacks, Phillies, Padres, Marlins, Pirates, Nationals and Cardinals.
Did you get that? Eight teams in the N.L. either currently hold a wild-card spot or are within three games of one. That’s astounding. And even cooler, two of the most aggressive deadline buyers could be two of the division leaders, the Brewers and Braves. The Cubs are also ready to be aggressive, and even the Pirates are said to be stalking a closer to bolster their pitching staff.
Marginally educated guesses:
SP Tarik Skubal (Detroit) to the Brewers. (Braves are a darkhorse.)
SP Kevin Gausman (Toronto) to the Phillies.
SP Casey Mize (Detroit) to the Dodgers.
INF Luis Arraez (San Francisco) to the Rays.
INF Gleyber Torres (Detroit) to the Red Sox.
C Ryan Jeffers (Minnesota) to the Yankees.
RP Mason Miller (San Diego) remains with Padres.
SP Emerson Hancock (Seattle) to the Cardinals.
SP Freddy Peralta (New York Mets) to the Cubs.
And we’re just getting warmed up. There’s a reasonable chance that by the time you open this, at least a couple of deals will have been made, although the more likely scenario is for a Sunday and Monday of frenetic trade work around the league.
It’s remarkable how many teams are actively in the hunt as the calendar rolls over to August — but magic it is not. MLB knew that when it expanded the playoff formula to 12 teams in 2022, it was by definition putting more franchises in play for October baseball.
That is precisely the “level playing field” of which the league speaks so wistfully — actually, a beautiful working definition of it. At the trade deadline, with only two months of regular season left, every MLB club has the wherewithal to take on a fat short-term contract (like the $9.5 million remaining on Skubal’s $32 million arbitration award) without wrecking longer-term plans.
It puts almost everyone in play. And by the way, of the handful of MLB teams that are firmly out of the playoff picture, three of them are among the biggest spenders in the sport: the Mets, Blue Jays and Giants. What can you say? That’s ball.
“A level playing field?” Hah. And now the Dodgers have added Skubal.
You're a thoughtful and talented writer, Mark. As our paths have crossed a few times socially over the years, I like to claim you as a friend. And in my dotage, I am proud to feel I've kept up with most social and cultural changes. Baseball is where I draw the line. I'm a bit ashamed to admit it, but with twenty-one teams still "in the hunt" after more than a hundred games, as a fan, I don't think of it as parity so much as hucksterism. The traditional hardcore fans of the game have been priced out of ballparks, their parking lots, and concession stands. The only way we can even watch on TV without a paid subscription is by virtue of the small bits of chum thrown to us by MLB to keep us trailing behind in the water. I understand it's a business, but baseball, The Show, has lost me. I still love the game itself at the sandlot level and in my memory.