Olney: MLB 2025 trade deadline X factors to watch

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Teams are traditionally split into two camps leading up to the Major League Baseball trade deadline -- those acquiring talent and those trading it away. But the addition of a third wild-card team for each league in 2022, which created a 12-team playoff field, has helped foster a third category: opportunists.

These clubs are on the fringe of contention, aiming to take advantage of a thin trade market by putting high asking prices on some of their players, hoping a desperate contender buys in -- for maximum value.

Adders. Dealers. Opportunists.

This is just one of a number of developing conditions that are helping to form the 2025 trade market. Let's dig into all the X factors…