Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani. Tim Vizer-USA TODAY Sports
With a little more than a month to play in the regular season, there are at least 10 teams that should be thinking they have a legitimate shot to win the World Series.
What there is not is a team that has clearly emerged from the pack that feels like it should win the World Series.
As noted by ESPN's Jeff Passan, there is not a single team in Major League Baseball this season that is on pace to win more than 100 games. There has been at least one 100-win team in the major leagues every year dating back to the 2014 season.
What is perhaps even more eye-opening than the lack of a 100-win pace is that the best team in baseball as of Tuesday — the Philadelphia Phillies — is only on pace to win 95 games this season.
Excluding strike and shortened seasons, that would be the lowest win total for baseball's best team since the Milwaukee Brewers won 95 games in 1982.
While it can be entertaining and exciting to see a team jump out in front of everybody else and chase huge win totals, there is also something to be said for having a playoff season where there is almost no expectation for anybody and where any team could win. It is something that has been happening more and more in baseball in recent years, especially after the 87-win Philadelphia Phillies and 84-win Arizona Diamondbacks reached the World Series in each of the past two years.
As of Tuesday there are 10 teams separated by just four wins at the top of the league table, with the 68-win Houston Astros (one of baseball's hottest teams in the second half) quickly rising behind that group.
There is almost nothing separating any of them in terms of overall quality, and it should set the stage for another completely unpredictable postseason where an unexpected team might end up playing deep into October.
