For several lucky MLB franchises, the cooler temperatures of September indicate that playoff baseball is right around the corner. On the other hand, the season’s final month can mean something completely different for underachieving teams.
Over the next few slides, we’ll identify a handful of those teams that will be thankful to see the 2015 season come to an end. Despite the disappointment of a lost season, the following squads should feel confident about their chances of breaking out in 2016.
Although each team on this list has a .500 record or worse, they have vastly different stories.
The Arizona Diamondbacks are a young team that’s slowly coming into its own. The Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians underachieved in 2015 but have talented enough rosters to return to contention next season. A talented Oakland A’s team was done in by a woeful bullpen, while the Tampa Bay Rays were decimated with injuries.
Let us know what you think about our choices in the comments section below. How confident are you that these teams will bounce back in 2016? Which contenders will take steps back next year? Which team did we leave off?
Every season, we witness teams play well down the stretch and carry it over into the next year. Here are five candidates for doing just that in 2016.