With so many playoff spots available and only a few teams trailing by double digits coming out of the July 4 holiday weekend, the standings in Major League Baseball can sell a lot of hope.
Hey, it was just a year ago that the Detroit Tigers overcame a record 15 1/2-game deficit to win the AL Central. Consider that, and throw in Yogi Berra’s axiom that “It ain’t over ’til it’s over,” and you could make the worst team in the league confident enough to give it one more try.
Don’t buy it. It’s all smoke and glare from fireworks. MLB has a number of teams that are false contenders who have zero chance to reverse their fortune in the final 70-something games of the regular season.
Kansas City Royals
You don’t have to be 10 games out to feel hopeless, but it helps. If the Royals had any chance, even in a weak AL, it went out the window with the news that left-hander Cole Ragans needs Tommy John surgery for a third time.
Los Angeles Angels
Ownership has changed general managers — never a good sign for how a season is going — which indicates the front office is going to trade left-hander Reid Detmers and whomever else isn’t nailed down before the deadline. They’re years and years away from digging out.
Colorado Rockies
They have the ballpark experience down. Fans won’t have a better time than at Coors Field. They just have to ignore the results on the field.
San Francisco Giants
They were never going to be contenders, but the level of dysfunction has been surprising. They even screwed up Pride Night somehow. Do the Giants have the front-office leadership, or in the dugout, to pull out of this dive?
New York Mets
They have Juan Soto, Nolan McLean and a good farm system. And with Steve Cohen in the owner’s box, they’re always one good offseason away from getting back into the World Series hunt. But that’s next year at the soonest.
Boston Red Sox
Could the Red Sox face the Giants in a World Series of Dysfunction? Would nobody win? Boston could have a better second half, but they have too many teams to jump over and too many holes to sustain a run.
Baltimore Orioles
Underachievers or just overrated? Maybe both! Owner David Rubenstein needs to find the will to make significant front-office changes. Whomever is running things needs to figure out how to build a pitching staff.
Athletics
The working conditions are not ideal, and they’ve had some bad luck with injuries. Amid all of that, they’ve shown flashes of progress, but any facade of pseudo-contention is just the American League having few good teams. At least the Las Vegas ballpark is coming along.
Minnesota Twins
Their offense has been better than expected, but only the Rockies and Athletics have allowed more runs. They never bothered to replace the relief pitchers they traded a year ago. It doesn’t make sense for them to keep Joe Ryan at the trade deadline. They’re probably as close to .500 as they’re going to get.
Cincinnati Reds
They’re not a bad team, but they’re definitely in the wrong league. Having to pass six teams to get into the playoff field is way too many.
Detroit Tigers
Anybody putting them on a list of hopeless causes should feel very uneasy about it. But they are hopeless if they trade ace Tarik Skubal, which all indications are they will.
