Twenty Teams Believing They Have a Chance to Win World Series Makes MLB Trade Deadline a Snooze

The added wild card may make for a more exciting October, but it sure made for a boring Aug. 1.

Justin Verlander and his teammate Max Scherzer were the only two superstars dealt at this year’s MLB trading deadline. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

We probably should have known that 2023 would be the year of the trade deadline that wasn’t. The writing was on the wall last week when an Angels “source” leaked to the media that Shohei Ohtani would not be dealt, and that the team would instead add pieces to bolster their playoff push, despite sitting just a couple games above .500 with two months to play.

The dud of a deadline was further foretold over the weekend when the Padres swept the Rangers and signaled to the media that they, too, would not be selling—despite being three games under .500 with the second-largest payroll in the game.

Had the Angels traded Ohtani and the Padres parted with, say, Blake Snell, Josh Hader and/or Juan Soto over the last 48 hours, our heads would be spinning right now. The internet would be melting down.

Instead we are left to scratch our heads, blink and squint at the rosters of teams that looked poised for deep October runs if they added X pitcher or Y hitter, and instead chose to do nothing.

It wasn’t as if these teams preferred to stand pat. Playoff-looking clubs like the Dodgers, Orioles and Reds know that they don’t have the starting rotations to carry them to the Fall Classic right now. But it’s not as if clear upgrades were widely available. The O’s added Jack Flaherty, which, fine, he used to be an excellent pitcher before injuries derailed his promising career. He threw a total of 114 innings in 2021 and 2022 combined, with middling results. He’s been healthy this year, but his 4.43 ERA is worse than any season in which he has started more than nine games.

Is he an upgrade for a young rotation without much playoff experience at all? Uh, sure. Is he who I want pitching with my season on the line? Uh, no.

But unless the Orioles were willing to pay through the nose for a couple of 40-year-old future Hall of Famers, there’s not much more they could have done to improve here.

Because, in the end,