The MLB Draft Lottery is not a place any team would like to be. Composed of the 18 teams that did not make the postseason in the previous season, it’s a consolation prize, a consortium of teams who simply were not good enough to get the job done when last presented with the opportunity.
The new lottery system imposed this year is, at least, a way to attempt to stem the wave of mass tanking across the league. Rather than simply dole out the top pick to the team that tried hardest to be terrible, the lottery at least gives chances to a) get lucky with the 1st overall pick even if you did try to win the previous year and just came up short and b) get penalized into picking 6th overall if you had the worst overall record while tanking and didn’t get lucky.