The 2016 MLB season is finally in full swing, but it’s never too late to make some long-term predictions about how the season could shake out.
Things rarely play out as expected over 162 games with so many moving parts on an MLB roster and injuries impossible to predict.
However, even with that uncertainty, some teams obviously have a better chance of extending their seasons on into October than others.
With that in mind, what follows is a look at each team’s odds of making the playoffs in 2016.
To put this exercise into perspective, no team was given better than an 80 percent chance of reaching the playoffs here in early April, and a grand total of 10 teams were pegged with better than a 50 percent chance.
A team’s overall talent level and outlook obviously trumps anything it may have accomplished during spring training or in the handful of regular-season games that have been played to this point. Overall organizational depth to counter potential injuries and eventual prospect reinforcements also factored into a team’s chances.
Provided along with each team’s odds is a look at what that translates to in terms of a percent chance of reaching the postseason. Those percentages add up to approximately 500 percent for each league, as five playoff spots are up for grabs.