There's two kinds of MLB seasons, especially in regards to my yearly 'Best of the Rest' superlatives post. There's the kind of season where I could put this out a week ago if I wanted to, because of how set in stone the whole setup has been, or there's the kind of season where I literally cannot tell who's eligible and who isn't til the final moments of game 162. And this was one of the latter. Two major spots were up for grabs with 48 hours before the end of the year, and like 7 different teams were still chasing spots with a week left. And at that point you can GUESS if you want. Like 'I SUPPOSE this team will be missing the playoffs', but you can't count on anything. The Guardians and Reds still made October, even after everything. I prepared superlatives for both just in case, and did not need them.
However, that still leaves eighteen teams that are sitting out of the next month of play, and therefore will be showcased in this 'best of the rest' post. Some of them truly made an effort to compete only to fall short. Some could not. And some genuinely thought they were playoff teams only for the door to swing shut at the final moments. It was a very poetic last day of play, and it made for a satisfying conclusion to a great year.
So here now are my superlatives for the 18 teams that didn't make the playoffs, in the same vein as your high school superlatives, like 'most likely to succeed' and 'best dressed' and all of that. Everyone here should be wishing they won't be next year, and five teams from the 2024 list are not here. Of course, five teams who made the playoffs last year are back here. Either one can happen to anyone.
Let's crack on, before any more Mets jump ship..
Most Likely to Succeed [According to the Sportswriters in January]: New York Mets
Team That Peaked Too Early: Houston Astros
Team That Peaked Too Late: Arizona Diamondbacks
Best Squanderer of Hopes Their Fans Had in 2024: Kansas City Royals
Best Squanderer of Hopes Their Fans Had in August: Texas Rangers
Best Use of Somebody Else's Youth Movement: Chicago White Sox
Best Pitching Staff For a Team That Didn't Make the Playoffs: Texas Rangers
Worst Pitching: Colorado Rockies, second year running
Most Willing to Settle: Pittsburgh Pirates
Most Puzzling Use of Money: TIE: Athletics and Baltimore Orioles
Most Depressing Team to Write About Every Two Weeks: Washington Nationals, narrowly edging out the Rockies
Most Comically-Timed Injuries: TIE: Baltimore Orioles & Atlanta Braves
Best Backfiring of 'Titanic Will Never Sink' Logic: St. Louis Cardinals
Best Attempt at Salvaging an Impossible Situation: Arizona Diamondbacks
Best O. Henry-esque Reversal of Fortune: San Francisco Giants
Team That Needs to Find a New Excuse: Los Angeles Angels
Most Fun Last Place Team: Baltimore Orioles
Most Likely to Make Teams Regret Putting All Those Players on Waivers This Time Next Year: Atlanta Braves
Most Unwilling to Recapture the Lightning in the Bottle: Tampa Bay Rays
Team That Has No Idea What It Wants: Minnesota Twins
Waggiest Tail: Miami Marlins
Most Satisfying Collapse: Houston Astros
Best Overall Team That Didn't Make the Playoffs: Texas Rangers
Most Unlikely to Make This List in 2026: Baltimore Orioles & New York Mets
From here, all that remains is to roll out the playoffs. Hoping for both my teams to do well, though will accept great postseasons from the Mariners, Brewers, Cubs, Reds, Tigers, Guardians and Padres, in that order.
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