The 2015 MLB trade deadline is in the books and has been for almost a full week now. By now we can start to fully digest the plethora of moves that had big name stars relocating and either crushing the soul of one team as they give up on the 2015 season, or lift the spirits and hopes of another.
Every sport has buyers and sellers when it comes to the trade market, and several teams paid the iron price to beef up their squad to the point where they’re either strong enough to make a serious playoff push, or so elite that it’s hard not envisioning them competing for a World Series title. Only one team can win in the end, but after all the chaos, we at least have to have a leader. Let’s break down the top five contenders coming out of the trade deadline smoke and see who – once and for all – is going to win this thing this year:
Los Angeles Dodgers
Any team going full speed ahead with Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke leading the way was probably going to be a problem. Then the Dodgers traded for a surging Mat Latos and the solid Alex Wood. A star-studded pitching staff got even deeper and with a strong offense backing them, the Dodgers look ready to hold off the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants in the NL West. They may have to, after all, if they want to even get into the playoffs. As tough as just getting in could be due to their competition inside their own division, the Dodgers now have the balanced attack needed to go the distance.
Kansas City Royals
Kansas City has one of the better offenses in baseball and even with outfielder Alex Gordon on the mend (groin), they weren’t a unit anyone wanted to face. The big problem? Pitching. The Royals opted to address their big need by bringing in Reds ace Johnny Cueto, and then topped off their offense by trading for do-it-all man, Ben Zobrist. Cueto may or may not be the missing link between the Royals and a deep playoff run, but he was certainly needed on a Royals team that lacked a truly elite arm. Now they have that arm, and with a 9.5 game league in the AL Central, are fully equipped to make some noise in the MLB playoffs.
Houston Astros
The Astros were one of the more balanced teams in all of baseball, but with studly pitching, their clear weakness remained on the offensive side. It was never really a weakness, though, as their glaring hole was just how much they can strikeout at times. To be safe, the Astros brought in some extra power in Carlos Gomez and even beefed up their elite pitching rotation by landing Scott Kazmir. Already a team to fear, Houston is as balanced as ever and has a great chance at holding down the fort atop the AL West.
New York Mets
New York is pretty stacked when it comes to arms, as they already had Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard leading a solid pitching rotation. Offense was their real problem. Lucas Duda has come alive lately and getting catcher Travis D’Arnaud back to full strength helps a ton, but neither of those happenings is as big as landing outfielder Yoenis Cespedes. Yo has already made a huge impact in just a few games and he could really liven up the Mets’ bats, long-term. If this recent surge of offense holds strong, New York could potentially hold off the Washington Nationals and win the NL East. If that happens, they could be a serious title contender.
Toronto Blue Jays
Toronto already boasted the strongest offense in the league (most runs), but they lacked elite pitching. What did they do to get better? They upgraded at shortstop with Troy Tulowitzki AND went out and got an ace in David Price. The Blue Jays did a terrific job improving a major strength and then went out and picked up a stud pitcher to bolster a pitching rotation that – with an elite arm leading the way – now doesn’t look so bad. Are the Jays a legit World Series contender, though? Not just yet, but they’re close. The key will be a crucial series this week with the AL East-leading New York Yankees. How they fare at Yankee Stadium could go a long way in telling us if this team is ready for a real playoff push.
If we’re picking straight from this list, the Dodgers still carry the heaviest stick. Kershaw could be ready to finally deal some gems when it matters most and the Dodgers have a good enough offense to match just about anyone. Teams like the Giants and Cardinals didn’t do much at the trade deadline and still could be obvious trouble, but the Dodgers may take the cake and these five teams all got better. We expect the Dodgers to finally take that next step and win it all this year, but all of this trade action made one thing perfectly clear: whoever does win it all in 2015 won’t be doing so easily.
