The 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks were a club that few expected to make the playoffs, coming off an 88-loss season the year before. They managed to make the 12-team playoffs with an 84-78 record and rode that momentum all the way to the World Series.
They swept the 92-win Milwaukee Brewers in the wild-card series, the 100-win Los Angeles Dodgers in three games in the division series, and then the Philadelphia Phillies in seven games in the NLCS, becoming only the second team to reach the Fall Classic despite having a negative run differential during the regular season.
Were they the top team in the National League for 162 games? No, that would be the 104-win Atlanta Braves, who were eliminated from the division series by the Phillies for the second year in a row. But the Diamondbacks were the greatest when it counted the most. That’s why I refer to the MLB postseason as the “great equalizer.” All of the benefits that a high payroll may provide during the regular season are negated in October, when it’s all about winning short series and being hot at the right time.
“The one thing I can say is there’s a reason why every team makes the playoffs,” Braves head of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said during spring training last week. “You’re up against good squads. Whoever wins deserves it. “If you make the playoffs after 162, you deserve to be there.”
The postseason structure provides a potential for a surprise team such as the Diamondbacks. After all, they were doing something right by making the playoffs and then reaching the World Series. It also raises the possibility that another surprise team will emerge in 2024, one that no one is currently projecting to win the World Series.
So it’s time to have some fun predicting who that club might be, based on the recipe that led to Arizona’s unexpected success.
It should be noted that this exercise is not intended to overlook the Rangers, who moved from 68-94 in 2022 to World Series champions the following year. They arguably qualify as a surprise champion, but they did so at a high cost through free agency.
