5 teams under the most pressure to win in 2017
The road to a championship is bumpy, uphill, and full of devastating potholes. One or two bad breaks and everything goes sideways. Even when a team has a storybook season, there is no guarantee the playoffs will respond in kind.
With windows closing, these five teams are under a lot of pressure to deliver the goods in 2017, because it may be a while before these franchises knock on the postseason door again or they have failed to follow through on ample opportunity to date.
Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles missed the playoffs for 14 straight seasons from 1998 through 2011. Since then, they've followed a fairly steady formula of big power covering up questionable pitching. It's worked, as the O's have reached the postseason in three of five seasons. The pitching staff is, again, a question mark with Chris Tillman set to miss time and Dylan Bundy's durability unproven. If Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo can't put the team on their backs, Baltimore may be sellers by the deadline.
With the Boston Red Sox once again poised to be contenders and the New York Yankees on the fast track to legitimacy, the American League East appears close to returning to its former status quo.
Kansas City Royals
The Royals under-performed in 2016, going 81-81 and missed the postseason after appearing in consecutive World Series - winning one in 2015. The Royals could be a much different team in 2018 as longtime mainstays Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, and Lorenzo Cain are all set to become free agents. With a payroll just over league average, re-signing them all seems unlikely. Without this core, a rebuild is on the horizon making 2017 Kansas City's last shot at a mini-dynasty.
Texas Rangers
The Rangers' roster is actually poised to stay mostly intact following 2017, so the window isn't slamming shut. It's more a situation of bad timing. This is a monstrous offensive team. The problem is the rotation. If Yu Darvish or Cole Hamels miss any time, the bats will have to do all the heavy lifting. Texas has also had a monkey's paw existence of late. They make the playoffs - including back-to-back World Series appearances - only to have victory yanked away in painful fashion.
There's also a question of divisional competition. Both the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros look better making neither a division title nor a playoff a guarantee for the Rangers.
Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays are getting old very quickly. Every player currently projected to hit between second and seventh in the lineup is over 30. The same can be said for three-fifths of the rotation. The team isn't void of youth or potential, but the current iteration that has made two consecutive trips to the AL Championship Series can't keep fighting father time. Even though Russell Martin and Troy Tulowitzki are signed long term, Josh Donaldson could be a free agent after 2018. Following two years of nearly making it, this is the Blue Jays' tipping point.
Washington Nationals
Like the Rangers, the Nationals can probably continue to compete beyond 2017. The problem becomes the build-up of missed opportunities. The Nationals have been touted as a potential World Series dynasty centered around Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg. And yet, this team has never advanced past the National League Division Series despite three NL East division titles since 2012.
After trading three top prospects this offseason, the win-now attitude is more present than ever, and if it backfires Washington could wind up squandering one of the best lineup cores since the Yankees dynasty of the 1990s.