It's no longer early in the 2023 Major League Baseball season. About a quarter of this year's games are officially in the books, giving would-be contenders that much less time to make their case for the playoffs.

This, of course, makes now a good time to check in on how those cases are going.

We've rounded up all 30 teams' playoff chances according to FanGraphs, Baseball Reference, FiveThirtyEight and their betting odds at DraftKings. We then ranked the teams as candidates for the 12 postseason slots that must ultimately be filled in the American League and National League.

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Rather than hit on teams one at a time, we filtered them into eight categories that summarize where their playoff pursuits stand. These range from "Better Luck Next Year" to "The Best Bets."

 

30-27: Better Luck Next Year

FanGraphs, Baseball Reference and FiveThirtyEight all give these teams a 3.0 percent or worse chance of making the playoffs, while DraftKings doesn't even bother assigning odds.

 

30. Oakland Athletics (9-34)

  • FG: 0.0%, BR: <0.1%, 538: <1%

It's not just their dismal record. At minus-160, the A's also have the worst run differential for a team through 43 games since at least 1901. The only thing A's owner John Fisher can take credit for is executing the plan that didn't work in Major League, though the front office deserves more sincere credit for digging up major league OPS leader Brent Rooker.

 

29. Kansas City Royals (12-31)

  • FG: 0.2%, BR: <0.1%, 538: <1%

Temped to defend the Royals by pointing out that they've played 32 games against winning teams, but there's naturally a question if those teams would be winners if the Royals didn't lose games so easily. About the only advantage they have on the A's is a superior ability to pitch, at least to the extent that the club's ERA doesn't begin with a seven.

 

28. Washington Nationals (18-23)

  • FG: 0.2%, BR: 0.6%, 538: 2%

The Nationals have recently established some positive momentum in winning nine out of their last 15 games, and they have some keepers on the mound in the persons of Josiah Gray and MacKenzie Gore. If only they weren't third-to-last in the Senior Circuit in scoring, one could imagine this team at .500 or maybe even above.

 

27. Colorado Rockies (18-24)

  • FG: 0.0%, BR: 0.6%, 538: 2%

Do the oddsmakers not know that the Rockies have won 10 out of 14? Or do they just not care? We'll presume the latter is the answer, and not unjustifiably so. It's a nice run the Rockies are on, but they're still a team with non-threatening players on both sides of the ball and with bad injury luck to boot. Finishing last in the NL West is their destiny.