Who are the 90-loss teams in the NL?

[NYChez]

It appears that 6 of the worst 8 teams in MLB will be in the AL, and none will be in the NL Central.

 

Baltimore, Seattle, Detroit, KC, Texas, and Toronto appear to be in rebuilding mode, while only Miami and Arizona are taking themselves out of contention in the NL. Also, Minnesota, SF, and SD appear capable of losing 90 games.

 

It’s possible that NL East and NL Central contenders could struggle to win 90 games due to the number of games against competitive teams.

[clancyphile]

The Reds are a mirage, IMO.

 

Much depends on Puig and Kemp not falling apart, and Wood being a mainstay of the rotation. Post-2019 they could very well collapse.

 

The Cubs are just patching and patching with free agents - and it's not working that well.

 

The Cardinals look strong for 2019.

 

The Pirates... they're in a tear-down mode.

 

Oddly enough, the Brewers look the strongest over the long haul in the division. 2019 may be a year to take a step back to secure that 2020-2024 dominance, but they could set themselves up nicely if they use 2019 to get the young guns (Burnes/Woodruff/Peralta) into dominant shape, break in Hiura, and to move some assets (Nelson, Davies, Anderson, Thames, Aguilar) for prospects to reload the system.

[torts]

Pirates for sure

[wntrtxn21]

The Cubs still have a very good team, and aren't done yet this off season. Plus they have the one thing the other teams don't have; BIG money to spend! They can afford to even exceed the limit for a year or so. No other team in the division has the $$ to do what the Cubs can do. Unfortunately, that's part of baseball.

[long ball]

Marlins and Giants feel like the best bets to me

[jerichoholicninja]

Marlins for sure. Maybe the Giants but having the rebuilding DBacks in the same division might keep both those teams from having truly horrendous records. I'd say the Pirates are certainly "contenders" to lose 90 as they are clearly the worst team in a very talented division and they should be selling whatever players they have at the deadline and will be pretty bad the last two months of the year.

[CrewFanBrewMan69]

Marlins, Giants, Padres, D’backs, Reds, Pirates and Mets if all their pitching breaks again like it has a few times the last few years are the most likely for me (not necessarily in order).

[CrewFanBrewMan69]

The Cubs still have a very good team, and aren't done yet this off season. Plus they have the one thing the other teams don't have; BIG money to spend! They can afford to even exceed the limit for a year or so. No other team in the division has the $$ to do what the Cubs can do. Unfortunately, that's part of baseball.

Yeah they might not be the 100+ win juggernaut some thought they could be. But they still won 95 games last year with a lot of things going wrong, the whole offense is still in prime years, the pitching is good enough and they have the ability to add still, there’s a lot of money coming off the books the next 2 years for them so they can get creative in adding stuff. They’ll probably project for the best record in the Central at start of the year.

[owbc]

If Harper heads west I would put the Nationals on this list as well.

[NYChez]

Let’s say the Pirates and Reds each go 76-86 and the Cubs go 92-72. That’s a combined .500 record, and it’s a lot of games the Brewers and Cardinals need to make up against out of division opponents to each finish with 90 wins.

[3and2Fastball]

If Harper heads west I would put the Nationals on this list as well.

 

The Nationals, with Scherzer, Strasburg, & Corbin are going to lose 90 games?

[Ennder]

Marlins should be terrible. Pirates will likely be mediocre at best. Reds won't compete this year. Diamondbacks won't compete but won't be awful either. Padres are still going to be bad, they just aren't making good moves. Giants may lose 100 if their pitching doesn't get healthy.

[CrewFanBrewMan69]

If Harper heads west I would put the Nationals on this list as well.

Without Harper I think they’re still the best team in that division. They have a ton of talent still. Soto and Rendon are legit 5-7+ WAR potential players, they’re going to add a 2B, Turner, Zimmerman, Eaton, Robles, Suzuki/Gomes catching platoon are all really nice complimentary pieces. They’ve made some good bullpen moves Doolittle/Rosenthal/Barraclough is a solid core 3 of RPs. Scherzer/Strasburg/Corbin/Sanchez/Ross is a well above average to potentially great rotation.

[Ennder]

The Cubs still have a very good team, and aren't done yet this off season. Plus they have the one thing the other teams don't have; BIG money to spend! They can afford to even exceed the limit for a year or so. No other team in the division has the $$ to do what the Cubs can do. Unfortunately, that's part of baseball.

 

 

I said this last season and got blasted but the Cubs are already on the decline. They made too many bad deals and traded away all of their minor league system. Their window is 2 or 3 years tops at this point. Their last 2 years have been a disaster, they went from a force for a long time in the NL to a really good team with a short window incredibly fast. They won a world series so it was worth it no matter what and they will be serious players for 2 or 3 more years so if they win another it just makes it even more of a win for them, but the way they built the team has seriously taken its toll on their future.

[RollieTime]

The Cubs still have a very good team, and aren't done yet this off season. Plus they have the one thing the other teams don't have; BIG money to spend! They can afford to even exceed the limit for a year or so. No other team in the division has the $$ to do what the Cubs can do. Unfortunately, that's part of baseball.

 

 

I said this last season and got blasted but the Cubs are already on the decline. They made too many bad deals and traded away all of their minor league system. Their window is 2 or 3 years tops at this point. Their last 2 years have been a disaster, they went from a force for a long time in the NL to a really good team with a short window incredibly fast. They won a world series so it was worth it no matter what and they will be serious players for 2 or 3 more years so if they win another it just makes it even more of a win for them, but the way they built the team has seriously taken its toll on their future.

 

Very true. The Cubs really shortened their competitive window with the trades they did the last few years. The Cubs will be a competitive team the next couple years, but they will begin to decline possibly as early as this season.

[JohnBriggs12]

I could see the Reds hanging in there. They were above .500 from May through July. If they do that again but start out 6 or 7 games better in March and April than they did in their 7-22 start last year, they'll likely be buyers, not sellers at the deadline. Their infield might be the best in the division, and now they've solidified their OF. I'm sure they'll still add a couple arms too.

[CrewFanBrewMan69]

The Cubs still have a very good team, and aren't done yet this off season. Plus they have the one thing the other teams don't have; BIG money to spend! They can afford to even exceed the limit for a year or so. No other team in the division has the $$ to do what the Cubs can do. Unfortunately, that's part of baseball.

 

 

I said this last season and got blasted but the Cubs are already on the decline. They made too many bad deals and traded away all of their minor league system. Their window is 2 or 3 years tops at this point. Their last 2 years have been a disaster, they went from a force for a long time in the NL to a really good team with a short window incredibly fast. They won a world series so it was worth it no matter what and they will be serious players for 2 or 3 more years so if they win another it just makes it even more of a win for them, but the way they built the team has seriously taken its toll on their future.

 

Very true. The Cubs really shortened their competitive window with the trades they did the last few years. The Cubs will be a competitive team the next couple years, but they will begin to decline possibly as early as this season.

Agree with these two posts. But I would say, they do have a ton of money coming off the books over the next two years. Obviously talent is lost and needs to be made up for but as of now for the 2021 season they have under $60 million committed and have over $60 million coming off the books after the 2019 season. They should be able to keep adding FA, obviously they need to hit. But they have their new tv deal coming, if they’re able to get Harper there’s ways they can stay pretty good for a while yet through FA. They also were still a 95 win team this year, a year in which a lot of stuff went wrong for them and large parts of the core are still around for 3+ more years. There’s no impact coming up in the system right now but maybe if they get lucky with some dudes popping up and hit better in FA they still have a 5+ year window. I wouldn’t bet on it but I also wouldn’t necessarily be buying in to them being bad relatively soon either.

[owbc]

Winning 95+ games in consecutive years is really hard, even for big market teams. The Astros were the only team in MLB to win 95+ games in both 2017 and 2018. The Nationals were the only team in MLB to win 95+ games in both 2016 and 2017. The Cubs were the only team in MLB to win 95+ games in both 2015 and 2016. Things might not work out in a given year but it's hard to see the Cubs not continuing to be a 95+ win threat.