The Best of the Rest: 2018

This has become a blog-tradition that I've really enjoyed doing every year, because it's kind of fun to do superlatives for teams that nearly made the playoffs, or weren't even all that close. Because, baseball is the kind of sport that can reward 10 teams, and consistently besiege the other 20.

When making this list, of superlatives for the teams that didn't make the playoffs, it's best to keep in mind that things can turn around, even for the teams being lampooned on here. Three teams, the Brewers, Braves and A's, were on this list in 2017, with the Brewers even landing 'Most Likely to Not End Up On This List Next Year', along with the Mariners, who...well, who did.

So, here's the accolades the other 20 teams receive in 2018.

Most Likely to Succeed (According to Winter Meetings Execs): San Francisco Giants

Best Team That Peaked Way Too Early: Los Angeles Angels

Best Team That Peaked Way Too Late: Chicago White Sox

Best Squanderer of Hopes Their Fans Had in 2017: Minnesota Twins

Best Squanderer of Hopes Fans Had in July: TIE- Seattle Mariners and Philadelphia Phillies

Best Example of a Team that Completely Gave up in August: Pittsburgh Pirates

Best Example of Injuries Severely Hurting a Potentially Great Team: TIE- Los Angeles Angels and Minnesota Twins

Best Strategy of Using Youth Movements from Other Teams So They Don't Have to Pick from Their Own One: Toronto Blue Jays

Best Pitching Staff for a team that Didn't Make the Playoffs: Philadelphia Phillies (no contest)

Worst Pitching: San Diego Padres (Which means the Reds are finally off the hook!)

Weirdest Team (and this one is no contest): Tampa Bay Rays

Most Likely to Prevent Buck Showalter's Induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame: Baltimore Orioles

Team in Most Desperate Need of Youth, For God's Sakes: San Francisco Giants

Best August Cockiness: Arizona Diamondbacks

Most Depressing Team to Talk About Every Few Weeks: Detroit Tigers (narrowly beating the Padres)

Most Fun Last Place Team: Cincinnati Reds

Best Cosmic Justice, Third Year Running: St. Louis Cardinals

Best Backfiring of 'Titanic Will Never Sink' Mentality: Washington Nationals

Most Unwilling to Recapture the Lightning in the Bottle: Texas Rangers

Best Bad Team That My Cousins Kept Trying to Convince Me Were Good: New York Mets

Team That Would Have Had a Chance if They Played in the NL: Tampa Bay Rays

Team That Has No Idea What it Wants: Miami Marlins

Best Overall Team That Didn't Make the Playoffs: Tampa Bay Rays (I did not expect this)

Team That Desperately Needs a Better Farm System: Kansas City Royals

Most Likely to Not End Up on This List Next Year: Seattle Mariners and Washington Nationals

Those are the 20. It's been fun customizing them this year, but until I do Uncustomed Heroes in December, this is the last you'll be seeing of them.

Tomorrow, once we get some definite matchups, I'll go over my playoff predictions. If, by some reason, we have some tiebreakers, expect that post on Tuesday, I guess.

(EDIT, 7:30- ...well, shit...)