Powerhouses Aplenty

The contenders have made their moves, and the tankers gladly emptied their stars in hopes of rebuilding from the ground up.

An extremely dramatic trade deadline spearheaded by several all-stars moving away from struggling teams to mighty ones certainly moves the needle for some teams. The preliminary buzz of the trade deadline before all the madness came with two Tampa Bay transactions that were notable. The Rays were able to acquire old-time slugger Nelson Cruz from the Twins, giving them a great power hitter at the DH spot. Shortly thereafter, TB shipped Rich Hill to Queens, giving the Mets another big arm in their impressive rotation. Still gonna need to score more runs though, Metropolitans. We'll get to their blockbuster pickup in a second.

Third place teams don't sound too impressive without context, and the Padres are one of the best teams in baseball, currently sitting 2.5 games back of the Dodgers for second in the NL West and 5.5 back of the Giants for the division best. An already impressive infield led by Tatis Jr., Machado, and Cronenworth just added the starting 2B of the 2021 All-Star Game, Adam Frazier from the Pirates. San Diego is looking to leap their rivals to the north, but even with the acquisition of Frazier, didn't make as much of a splash as the Dodgers or Giants.

Speaking of third place teams, the A's are nervously watching over their shoulder at the up and coming Mariners who are angling to move into second place in the AL West as they keep surging. Oakland is 5.5 games back of Houston for the division lead, and didn't make a big enough splash to increase their odds of springing forward, but still managed to pull Starling Marte from the Marlins in exchange for LHP Jesus Luzardo. Luckily for the A's, the third place Mariners didn't make a splash either.

Now for a fourth place team. The Yankees have outplayed the Blue Jays as of late, and now Toronto has dropped to fourth in the AL East. They're only a game back of the Yankees, and are currently 4.5 games out of wild card position. Canada's baseball team that's playing in New York in 2021 made two solid trades for pitchers. The first was for Nationals reliever Brad Hand, and the second and more notable was for Jose Berrios of the Twins, an arm so many teams were looking to add to their rotation. Whether or not these moves were enough to compete in the extremely good AL East remains to be seen, especially with the Yankees going all in at the Deadline.

The Bronx Bombers were able to get their hands on Joey Gallo, who will have to shave his beard with the Yankees. Gallo had been linked to NY for a while, and now the Yanks have a tremendous outfield as they look to inch towards Boston and Tampa Bay in the closing months of the regular season.

I've talked about all the contenders making moves, but every buyer needs a seller, and two sellers were extremely giving this year. I mentioned Brad Hand being dealt from Washington to Toronto (Buffalo), but arguably the three best players on the Nationals outside of Juan Soto were also traded in a massive fire sale.

In big market fashion, the Dodgers were able to land Max Scherzer and Trea Turner from Washington, making them look very solid on their quest to repeat. Scherzer is more of a replacement rather than an addition when you take note of the Trevor Bauer debacle, but is an amazing pitcher and leader to have on the team, and Dodgers fans can now root for another legendary pitcher of this generation. Trea Turner, one of the most underrated players in the Show, will also provide them with much needed offense when they struggle. The Turner addition poses questions about infield positioning since reigning NLCS and World Series MVP Corey Seager is already the starting shortstop. Perhaps one of the two could move over to 2B since Justin Turner is likely locked into 3B until the DH comes around next year. It's a great problem to have for Dave Roberts and the Boys in Blue.

The hottest leadoff hitter on the planet a short while ago when he turned into the Human Torch is on his way out of Washington and into Boston. Kyle Schwarber will give Boston another great hitter to add to its impressive team in 2021.

The Cardinals were able to land Jon Lester from the Nats, and hope he can rejuvenate himself in their rotation.

The Nationals gave away their best, and so did the Cubs. The heart and soul of the North Side and the greatest Cubs team ever has officially been broken up, and Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, and Javy Baez all went their separate ways. Kris Bryant was having an MVP caliber start to the season before cooling down, and is now a San Francisco Giant. The Giants have been a great story all year, and now add a reliable batter to a first place team. Anthony Rizzo and Javy Baez are going to play in the same city, but in different Burroughs. Rizzo already hit a big home run for the Yankees, and is another huge bat alongside Gallo that the Yankees desperately needed. Baez is a New York Met, and also has a chance to compete in the playoffs this season. Chicago also sent Craig Kimbrel to the White Sox, a big move for the South Siders, adding one of the best closers on the market.

Under the radar deals always happen, and some may be more impactful than one would think. Heavily overshadowed by the Scherzer/Turner for prospects blockbuster was the Royals sending SP Danny Duffy to the Dodgers, who need as much starting pitching as they can get given their injuries. Kansas City also sent Jorge Soler to the Braves, a massive power hitter who will certainly aid their offense in the absence of Acuna.

The Phillies made an excellent move with the Rangers, acquiring starter Kyle Gibson and reliever Ian Kennedy. Philadelphia is only 3.5 GB of the Mets for first in the NL East, and needs to win a lot to make it into the wild card, so their best bet is jumping New York in the division race.

The Playoffs are gonna be crazy with all these teams fully loaded.