Opening Day has come and gone, and all of MLB’s teams are on to their second series, bringing the order of preseason expectations and projections into contact with the chaos of reality. In an era when the Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers or Atlanta Braves have featured in every World Series since 2017, it can be difficult to get past the icy certainty of who was good last year and who has been good the past several years.
Their dominance is such that the Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres, spending roughly a bajillion dollars on stars, counted as surprise playoff teams in the particularly stratified National League in 2022.