MLB’s common season is formally underway, and golf equipment are already within the thick of the race to the postseason. One of many largest storylines of the season thus far has surrounded three groups which have gone streaking to open the yr. The Dodgers (8-0) and Padres (7-0) have each but to lose a sport, whereas the Braves (0-7) have but to win after opening the season in opposition to these two golf equipment. These streaks have led to all three golf equipment getting loads of consideration, significantly the Dodgers as they grew to become the primary workforce in MLB historical past to observe up a World Sequence championship by beginning the following season with eight straight wins.
Maybe much more focus has been positioned on Atlanta, nonetheless, because the membership was extensively anticipated getting into the season to be a prime contender for not solely the NL East, but additionally the World Sequence this yr. Although the membership completed second to the Phillies in a latest MLBTR ballot about who would win the division this yr, Atlanta obtained 32% of the vote, practically double the third-place Mets’ 18% determine. The playoff odds at Fangraphs advised an excellent rosier story, because the membership was given a 93.2% probability to make the playoffs previous to the season starting, in addition to a 63.7% probability at successful the division and a 15.7% probability at a World Sequence championship that was second solely to the Dodgers themselves.
The membership’s 0-7 begin has brought about these odds to plummet, nonetheless, as Fangraphs now affords the Braves only a 70.5% probability at making the postseason, with a 32.6% probability at successful the division and a 9.1% probability to win the World Sequence. It’s a steep drop for only one week of video games, and against this the Padres have seen their projected fortunes enhance simply as a lot, going from a 30.6% probability to make the postseason heading into Opening Day all the best way as much as a 54.4% probability getting into play at the moment. Even the pessimistic playoff odds the Braves are going through don’t maintain a candle to the notion of many followers and media members, nonetheless. A lot has been manufactured from the truth that no workforce in baseball historical past has recovered from a 0-7 begin to make the postseason, and that the 1980 Braves (81-80) and 1983 Astros (85-77) are the one golf equipment to even end with a successful report.
With that being mentioned, nonetheless, it should be famous that this solely applies to groups that started the season with a 0-7 report. Loads of groups have made the playoffs with seven-game shedding streaks on their resumes, significantly in recent times because the postseason has begun to develop. Simply final yr, the Royals made the playoffs with two separate seven-game shedding streaks to their names. The 2017 Dodgers infamously suffered a 1-16 stretch that included an 11-game shedding streak earlier than turning issues round and making it to Sport Seven of the World Sequence.
After all, that’s to not say the entire sentiments surrounding these golf equipment are constructed on the biases that might encompass a small-sample efficiency. The Dodgers have been seen across the league as the most effective workforce in baseball nicely earlier than the 2025 season started, not solely as a result of they gained the World Sequence final yr but additionally as a result of they aggressively improved the membership by including Blake Snell, Tanner Scott, and Roki Sasaki (amongst others) this winter. In the meantime, considerations about Atlanta’s path into the postseason this yr might be argued to have simply as a lot to do with a deep group of potential playoff groups within the NL, the PED suspension of Jurickson Profar, and shoulder surgical procedure for Reynaldo Lopez as they do the workforce’s precise report on the sphere.
It can also’t be completely dismissed that some streaks have extra affect on a membership’s future competitiveness than others. Naturally, giant swings within the standings usually tend to have a relative affect within the first half of the yr than the second half, as they will issue into the selections membership executives make over the summer season concerning whether or not to purchase or promote on the commerce deadline. That impacts the general expertise stage of a membership in a manner that streaks such because the aforementioned strings of losses suffered by the 2017 Dodgers and 2024 Royals, all of which occurred after that season’s deadline, merely can not replicate.
The place do MLBTR readers fall on this subject? Are the strings of wins the Dodgers and Padres are presently having fun with and the string of losses in Atlanta extra significant than they might be in the event that they occurred later within the season as an alternative? Or does the truth that each sport counts the identical within the standings on the finish of the season imply it’s no totally different than some other streak? Have your say within the ballot under:
