Sam Linker: Sadly, the New York Mets window may have closed as quickly as it opened, and it all traces back to one player, Yoenis Cespedes. Even with time spent on the DL, Cespedes led the Mets in average, home runs, and RBIs. He was second on the team in terms of WAR behind Asdrubal Cabrera by only .22 WAR. Cespedes is a free agent this offseason and is assumed to be out of the Mets price range as showed by their midseason insurance trade for Jay Bruce. With Harvey hurt, Wheeler recovering from Tommy John surgery, and the possibility of Jacob deGrom, Steven Matz, and Noah Syndergaard experiencing more dips in production because of increasing workload, the Mets would need to rely on its offense to score enough runs. Since he came over from Detroit in 2015, Cespedes has been their most valuable offensive player, and losing him to another team combined with the question marks and injuries surrounding pitching staff, the Mets are in for a rude awakening next season.
Jacob Gross: The Houston Astros have the best chance to win the World Series next year out of all teams that missed this year's playoffs. The top of their lineup will be very scary for opposing pitchers with George Springer, Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa likely batting in that order. Last season Springer did a solid job batting leadoff for most of the year, showed some power--he hit 29 homers--and played some pretty good defense. One part of his game that he needs to work on, especially as a leadoff hitter, is his base stealing; last year, he was 9-for-19, and with his speed, he should be able to do much better and possibly swipe 20 or 30 bags. As for Bregman, after an awful start to his MLB career, he caught fire and was a major run producer-- he batted .313 over his last 163 at bats with an incredible 30 runs scored and 34 RBI. Altuve, one of the three finalists for this year's AL MVP award, had an incredible year across the board and even added some power to his already excellent offensive game with 24 homers. Correa did a great job after getting moved to the cleanup spot, where he batted .289 with an .846 OPS. If he is able to add some pull-side power without sacrificing too much in the batting average department, he could become one of the best cleanup hitters in the league. These four stars are still all very young and have room to improve, which is a little scary to think about.
While the rest of the lineup won't be as strong, the Astros will have some solid bats in Yulieski Gurriel, who hit .262 after signing with the Astros out of Cuba; Evan Gattis, who hit .251 with 32 long balls; and super utility-man Marwin Gonzalez.
The Astros' bullpen, which led the MLB by a wide margin with a 7.9 Fangraphs WAR in 2016, should once again be one of the better ones in the game led by Chris Devenski, Will Harris and Ken Giles. On the other hand, their starting pitching is a bit more of a question mark. Dallas Keuchel should hopefully be able to bounce back from his disastrous Cy-Young followup, which actually wasn't quite as bad as it seemed. Even though he finished with a 4.55 ERA, his FIP was about .7 runs lower and his xFIP was more than a whole run lower, indicating that Keuchel was a little unlucky last year and should be able to pitch more like the ace he was in 2015. Also, if Lance McCullers can stay healthy, he should be able develop into a great pitcher with his mid 90s fastball and nasty breaking ball. Collin McHugh and Joe Musgrove should make for decent back-end of the rotations guys, but the Astros will probably need to add an ace or some depth to their rotation to have a good chance to win it all.
Overall, with an incredible young core and a great bullpen--something that has proved to be extremely important in the playoffs in the recent years, especially this year--the Houston Astros could challenge for their first World Series title.
Rohan Gupta: The Houston Astros should have the best chance of winning it all next year among clubs that missed the playoffs in 2016. They have a very good core group of offensive players that can carry them, with an assortment of stars and depth. I also think they could be a sleeper for Yoenis Cespedes. The pitching staff should be better overall than it was this year, with Dallas Keuchel bouncing back and Ken Giles reverting to his dominant self. Plus, Lance McCullers has ace potential and Collin McHugh and Mike Fiers provide a better middle of the rotation than most teams have. This Astros team was ready to compete as soon as 2016 but went through some growing pains, and they'll be back with some fire in 2017.
While the rest of the lineup won't be as strong, the Astros will have some solid bats in Yulieski Gurriel, who hit .262 after signing with the Astros out of Cuba; Evan Gattis, who hit .251 with 32 long balls; and super utility-man Marwin Gonzalez.
The Astros' bullpen, which led the MLB by a wide margin with a 7.9 Fangraphs WAR in 2016, should once again be one of the better ones in the game led by Chris Devenski, Will Harris and Ken Giles. On the other hand, their starting pitching is a bit more of a question mark. Dallas Keuchel should hopefully be able to bounce back from his disastrous Cy-Young followup, which actually wasn't quite as bad as it seemed. Even though he finished with a 4.55 ERA, his FIP was about .7 runs lower and his xFIP was more than a whole run lower, indicating that Keuchel was a little unlucky last year and should be able to pitch more like the ace he was in 2015. Also, if Lance McCullers can stay healthy, he should be able develop into a great pitcher with his mid 90s fastball and nasty breaking ball. Collin McHugh and Joe Musgrove should make for decent back-end of the rotations guys, but the Astros will probably need to add an ace or some depth to their rotation to have a good chance to win it all.
Overall, with an incredible young core and a great bullpen--something that has proved to be extremely important in the playoffs in the recent years, especially this year--the Houston Astros could challenge for their first World Series title.
Rohan Gupta: The Houston Astros should have the best chance of winning it all next year among clubs that missed the playoffs in 2016. They have a very good core group of offensive players that can carry them, with an assortment of stars and depth. I also think they could be a sleeper for Yoenis Cespedes. The pitching staff should be better overall than it was this year, with Dallas Keuchel bouncing back and Ken Giles reverting to his dominant self. Plus, Lance McCullers has ace potential and Collin McHugh and Mike Fiers provide a better middle of the rotation than most teams have. This Astros team was ready to compete as soon as 2016 but went through some growing pains, and they'll be back with some fire in 2017.
Adam Kaufman: Blue Jays. If you take a quick scan of the upcoming free agents, you'll see 2 cornerstones of the Toronto franchise who are now tending with as many as 10 suitors. Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista carried that offense over the last half-decade, and it's no sure thing they'll return in 2017. Beyond the two sluggers, Toronto's rotation aside from Aaron Sanchez doesn't strike fear into their AL opponents, and while Roberto Osuna looks like a nice bullpen piece, they don't quite have the depth to call it a strength. Add these roster issues to what will likely be another challenging AL East field, and it's hard to see the Jays making the playoffs again next season.
Jack Friedman: As much as it pains me to say as a loyal Mets fan, I think the New York Yankees have a legitimate shot at the World Series next year. Much of this potential for success comes down to what GM Brian Cashman was able to accomplish at the trade deadline last season. The Yankees loaded up on prospects by dealing two closer-worthy pitchers in Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller (both of whom ended up playing in the World Series) that combined for under 3 years of service for the Yankees. In the aftermath of these trades, the Yankees still retain closer Dellin Betances for their bullpen and receive a wealth of top prospects, featuring names like Adam Warren, Clint Frazier and Aaron Judge. When it was all said and done, the Yanks finished 3 games over .500 on a "down year," when they sold off 4 solidified players for 11 prospects and at least 1 more player to be named later. With these new prospects coming up the ranks like Greg Bird, the young guns already at the major league level like Gary Sanchez, proven talent to anchor the club like Jacoby Ellsbury, and the ever-present probability of several big free agent signings in the offseason, the New York Yankees truly look like a force to be reckoned with coming into 2017.