If you have given up on your MLB team's chances to make it to the postseason, maybe you can find a little hope in the most recent postseason odds posted by FanGraphs.
Sure, you may look at the MLB standings, shake your head and dream about spring training. As someone who has seen plenty of Colorado Rockies games this season, I get that completely. However, before you start thinking too much about Arizona or Florida in March, take a peek at the latest postseason odds from FanGraphs. You might find some numbers that surprise you, just like I did.
Here are 3 MLB teams who surprisingly still have a chance to make the postseason.
MLB postseason: Los Angeles Angels still have a chance
It seems weird to say this after the Angels went all in at the MLB trade deadline in an effort to not only make the postseason, but also show Shohei Ohtani the franchise was serious about winning. However, going just 2-7 in August hasn't helped the chase for the postseason at all.
The Angels enter the weekend with just a 2.4 percent chance to make the postseason, per FanGraphs. Now 6.5 games out of the Wild Card and 10.5 games out in a very competitive AL West, the Angels will have to catch fire soon in order to make their seemingly once strong postseason dreams come true.
If the Angels can improve in the standings with injured star outfielder Mike Trout still sidelined with a left hamate fracture, his return would be a huge boost for the team. Angels manager Phil Nevin said earlier in the week that Trout was "getting close" but there is no firm timetable on his return. On the injury downside, however, losing Zach Neto once again to back inflammation won't help the chances in Anaheim.
MLB postseason: FanGraphs says Detroit Tigers still have a chance
Like the other two teams on this list, the chance for the Tigers to grab a spot in the postseason may be small (1.8 percent). However, Detroit hasn't been eliminated by FanGraphs like division rivals Kansas City and Chicago, so yes, Jim Carrey, I'm telling you there's still a chance.
After all, Eduardo Rodriguez is still a part of the Detroit rotation and he has pitched well in both of his August outings, picking up a pair of wins while allowing just two runs in 13.0 combined innings. Plus the Tigers are in the AL Central, where neither team ahead of them (Minnesota and Cleveland) did much at the MLB trade deadline, so who knows what can happen?
That 1.8 percent postseason chance, by the way, is that the Tigers would win the division. Since Detroit starts Friday 12.0 games out of the Wild Card and 7.0 games behind the Twins in the AL Central standings, that makes sense. And with two games against the Twins and four games against the Guardians coming up next week, Detroit fans should know if that small postseason chance will grow or shrink very soon.
MLB postseason: FanGraphs says New York Mets still have a chance
For all of the turmoil that has happened this year in Queens, FanGraphs isn't ready to give up on the Mets just yet (even if the vast majority of the fan base already has).
At the beginning of the season, if you had told MLB fans that on August 8, the Detroit Tigers and New York Mets would have the same chance (1.8 percent) of making the postseason, very few would have believed you. However, that's where things stand in an NL East that has been dominated by the Atlanta Braves and a Mets team that never found its chemistry despite a staggering payroll.
The Mets enter the weekend 7.0 games out of a Wild Card spot (their only realistic way to get to the postseason) and with four teams between them and the Miami Marlins (who hold the final Wild Card position ahead of a brutal schedule that includes the New York Yankees and Houston Astros coming to south Florida and a West Coast trip to meet the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres), New York needs some help. While Miami may stumble, the Mets would need to finally find their rhythm while the other teams ahead of them would need to play poorly … which is something that has happened to a group that includes the Reds, Diamondbacks and Padres in the last week to 10 days.
Is it improbable? Absolutely. Is it impossible? According to the odds, no.
