Baseball is often a magical sport. Sometimes teams come out of nowhere to shock the league, overcoming critical perception, injuries, low salaries, and a lack of superstars. Any team can theoretically win the World Series inMLB The Show 23if they get hot at the right time.
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However, if fans are honest with themselves, Cinderella stories are massive rarities. For every underestimated team like the 2019 Washington Nationals, there are ten or twenty teams like the 2022 Houston Astros that crush them. That’s what makes underdog wins so special.MLB The Show 23recognizes the teams with legitimate hopes of winning a title and has adjusted their stats to reflect their general superiority.
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Speed
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This is the modern state of baseball. A team like the Cardinals that are below average in three of the five major categories and still be in the top ten because of their power hitting. Home runs make up for a lot of issues that used to be more problematic.
The game features players like Derek Jeter as captainsbecause the era of hitting for average isn’t entirely gone. The Cardinals are above average at hitting for contact, so they can load up the bases and hope for their sluggers to pick up the RBIs.
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The Mariners might be a “small” franchise but they have constructed their scrappy team of players with intention. Their contact, defense, and speed are all in the bottom third of the league. But the big two categories are power and pitching, which are each in the top ten.
Seattle might not be part ofthe offseason drama that makes its way into the game, but the lineup plays well as a unit. Many rosters have more superstars on the unit but they frankly don’t get the results that the surprising Mariners do.
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Outside of speed, easily the least important of the major categories as far as modern analytics is concerned, the Angels are in the top twelve in everything, including a 6th in the all-important power ranking. This is a team that always looks great on paper.
Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani are considered two of the best players in baseball. Not just active but all-time. Star power like this helpsthe game go multi-platformto fulfill audience demand. Fans have to wonder if this is the year the Angels finally go somewhere with this kind of talent.
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The National League champions last year were not given too much respect by the ratings adjusters going into this year. The Phillies are the fastest team in baseball which ordinarily isn’t too important, but they’ve got the contact and pitching to back it up.
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Bryce Harper is the clear star on the team, but they’re a complete unit. The fielding could stand to be better, but errors only ruin a handful of games each year, so as long as they keep a lid on that, there is no reason they can’t go back to the World Series.
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Fans might have been worried when the Mets lost their ace in the offseason but he was quickly replaced with Justin Verlander, fresh off a World Series win and an improbable Cy Young award as well. He’s been far too good for a long time, the Mets will hope he brings the same success to New York.
The Mets are below average in power and defense and they’re the second-slowest team in the league. But being first in contact and second in pitching will make this team a contender. If they start hitting in clutch situations, the team will be a champion.
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The Dodgers are in an interesting situation. They would have two more recent World Series wins if it weren’t for cheating tactics employed against them. They’d have even more if the team stayed healthy. They bankrolled the roster that brought them this glory.
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Now, the Dodgers aren’t spending more than some of the other teams on this list. Yet they are still one of the best teams in the league. In the last few years, they fought through adversity to get a title. All they need is a little luck that they’ve lacked to remain on top.
The Blue Jays are one of the most complete teams in the league, ranking in the top nine in every major category. This is a team that experts have expected to go far for the last couple of years, given the young, talented, and complete roster.
The team’s only real holdup has been clutch hitting. If their close losses get converted into wins, Toronto is destined for greatness within the next year or two.
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Last year’s World Series champion doesn’t top the chart going into next year but they’ve made the ratings adjusters regret their placement before. Their years of dominance were tainted by a playoff scandal in which they won a championship by letting their hitters know what pitch was coming.
The big question after the coaching staff shamefully dispersed was if they were talented enough to win without cheating. The Astros proved their skill last year by winning it all.
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The Yankees have the best-fielding team in baseball. That pairs nicely with the third-best pitching roster. Opposing teams are going to have a tough time making solid contact and in the rare instances that they do, they’ll need some luck to reach base.
Power has always been core to the Yankees, one of many reasons that they’ve had several dynasties. They could be on the verge of yet another one given the way Aaron Judge is slugging balls out of the park.
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Given that power and pitching are the most important factors in the game currently, it stands to reason that the Braves, given the highest rating in each of these, are the top dogs in baseball. Being fourth in contact almost feels like overkill.
This is a team that recently lost its superstar to injury and still won a World Series title. Most teams need good luck to get a title. For the Braves, it feels like all they need to do is simply avoid bad luck.
MLB The Show 23is available now for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
