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MLB playoff rankings: The top eight World Series contenders in the wake of the trade deadline

Kudos to the many presidents of baseball operations, general managers, assistant general managers, special assistants to the general manager, analysts, quants and support staff who orchestrated an active and generally entertaining trade deadline. Your efforts are appreciated.

Yet for all the wheeling and dealing and heavy lifting completed, there are certain factors that can’t be flipped by a few big transactions during Major League Baseball’s annual transaction bazaar. Like real estate, contending for a World Series can have as much to do with location and luck as effort.

So after franchise icons were uprooted and money laundered and hugs dispensed, which clubs emerged with the straightest line to the World Series? Let’s break down the eight clubs in primest position to reach the Fall Classic:

Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa have the Astros on top of the AL West.
Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa have the Astros on top of the AL West.

1. Astros

A team that already led the majors in runs scored and was third in the AL in ERA knew exactly who it was and what it wanted to do: Fortify the bullpen.

Enter Kendall Graveman and Yimi Garcia, giving Houston three closers along with incumbent Ryan Pressly, with reliable Phil Maton imported from Cleveland for good measure. It’s tough on opponents to shorten the game when they’re already trying to suppress an offense that rolls seven deep once Alex Bregman returns from injury.

More important, the Astros already have a 5 ½-game lead in the AL West and a favorable schedule. The path to the best record in the AL is clear.

2. Brewers

Oh, you figured one of those transaction-crazy, star-studded sexy NL squads out west would occupy this spot? Better to lay low in Dairyland, nurse a seven-game lead and rely on a dominant starting pitcher punch of Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burnes and Freddy Peralta backed by the deepest bullpen in the NL.

The Brewers will be even better off if they don’t catch San Francisco for the league’s best record. Better to let the West champ slug it out with a loaded wild card survivor while the Brewers play host to a flawed NL East champ.

Yep, it may not look like it, but the road to the World Series runs through Milwaukee.

3. Giants

Even before they added Kris Bryant, it’s impossible to ignore how well-constructed this team is. They’ve beaten back the advances of the more celebrated Dodgers and Padres and played with numbing consistency.

Notice how the Giants were one of the few contenders not to add a significant relief arm at the deadline? That’s because their bullpen leads the majors in WHIP (1.11) and ranks second in batting average allowed (.217). They catch the ball. They command the strike zone on both sides of the equation.

And they have 19 games remaining with the Diamondbacks and Rockies, more than any other contender. Oh, and now they’ll trot out Bryant anywhere he’s needed – truly a dream for club president Farhan Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler.

4. White Sox

Big bullpen moves. Bad division. Rivals throwing in the towel. Pencil the White Sox into the postseason now.

They’ll probably be able to coast in September more than any other AL club, but what happens come October? Central teams from both leagues were rudely dismissed in the 2020 playoffs, so it’s fair to wonder if the Sox are partially a product of proximity. They’re 28-8 against the Twins, Tigers and Orioles this year, and 32-38 against everyone else.

Still, there’s shutdown potential in starters Lance Lynn, Lucas Giolito and Carlos Rodon and then there’s that revamped bullpen, with Liam Hendriks and Craig Kimbrel awaiting the baton from Michael Kopech, Ryan Tepera and Garrett Crochet.

Scary, on paper.

Liam Hendriks gets late-inning help with the White Sox acquiring Craig Kimbrel.
Liam Hendriks gets late-inning help with the White Sox acquiring Craig Kimbrel.

5. Dodgers

So you thought it’d be a waltz to the World Series for the reigning champions of both the World Series, the past two off-seasons and this trade deadline?

Not so fast. Sure, the Dodgers are 10-deep in position-player All-Stars, feature the best right- and left-handed pitchers of their generation in Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw and four MVPs littering the roster.

Yet there’s only one ball, right? It will be fascinating to see these Dodgers try to develop a rhythm while integrating Max Scherzer and Trea Turner into their plug-and-play ethos. Meanwhile, will Cody Bellinger find himself? Mookie Betts shake off a hip injury and a lackluster first half?

Will the scarcity of at-bats due to Turner’s addition sit well throughout the roster?

Hey, these are “problems” any club would love to have. Yet already facing a three-game division deficit, and with nine more death matches left against the Padres, it may not come easy for the Dodgers.

6. Red Sox

We’re still not sure why they didn’t get another starting pitcher – perhaps an abundance of confidence that Chris Sale will return strongly? – but like the Giants, they’ve put sufficient hay in the barn that we believe. Can Kyle Schwarber get healthy and learn to play first base? If so, the lineup will be even more problematic.

Come playoff time, Nathan Eovaldi makes for a nice Game 1 starter, but there’s a little too much pitch-to-contact after that. Can Tanner Houck stretch out and continue his red-hot start? Can Sale come all the way back and take down meaningful innings?

If both of those answers are “yes,” the Sox will be a threat far beyond their suffocating offense.

7. Rays

They’re back on their Rays business, deleting Diego Castillo from the bullpen on deadline day and whistling into August. You just assume they know something we don’t.

For the purpose of this exercise, the Rays will be a tough October out if rookie hurlers Luis Patiño and Shane McClanahan don’t hit the rookie wall but rather power through it; they’re averaging 10.2 and 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings, respectively, and would be formidable in whatever multi-inning bursts the Rays feel they could handle then.

As it stands, Tampa Bay should have home-field advantage in the wild card game – and lurk just a half-game behind the Red Sox.

8. Padres

Trouble in paradise? Everybody’s second-favorite team has a tall second half order facing it, currently ticketed for a wild-card date against the Dodgers, the improved Reds closing fast on their playoff positioning and myriad questions surrounding a rotation bolstered by a trio of winter trades.

For a few scintillating hours Thursday, it looked like GM A.J. Preller had done it again, posting the leading offer in the clubhouse to the Nationals for Scherzer before the Dodgers upped the ante and moved it to blockbuster status. Minus Scherzer, the Padres will have to mash their way to the postseason, so long as Blake Snell (5.44 ERA) and Chris Paddack (5.13) continue struggling.

Serious question: Who starts the wild-card game? Right now it looks like it might be Joe Musgrove, the least-heralded of their winter haul but a guy striking out 10.4 per nine innings, slightly outperforming Yu Darvish. Beyond that, there’s far too many questions, though the Padres’ potency means they cannot be dismissed.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MLB playoff rankings: Top World Series contenders post-deadline