RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Tick tock. No matter how much major-league front offices would prefer to procrastinate, time is running out for them to make major upgrades to their rosters via trade before the deadline arrives at 6 p.m. ET Monday.
To be fair, these vacillating executives do have more time than ever to determine their deadline strategies. For years, the deadline fell on July 31, but now the league can place the deadline on any day between July 28 and August 3 to avoid conflicting with games. And this year, the stopping point for swaps comes on the latest possible date. This means teams this season will play more games before the deadline than ever before — roughly 112 games, which is five to 10 more on average than when the deadline was always July 31 — giving them more information to determine their plan but also fewer games on the other side to chase down a playoff spot.
Recent history indicates that the bulk of the transactions will not take place until the final 48-72 hours before Monday’s deadline. But teams need to decide soon whether their goal is to upgrade the major-league team, make moves focused on the future or something in between. With five days until the deadline, here’s a breakdown of where all 30 clubs stand, from the projected buyers to the expected offloaders.
Jump to a team by clicking on the links below:
AL East: Rays | Yankees | Red Sox | Orioles | Blue Jays
AL Central: White Sox | Guardians | Twins | Tigers | Royals
AL West: Rangers | Astros | Mariners | Athletics | Angels
NL East: Braves | Phillies | Nationals | Marlins | Mets
NL Central: Brewers | Cubs | Pirates | Cardinals | Reds
NL West: Dodgers | Diamondbacks | Padres | Giants | Rockies
The legitimate contenders
Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs
Let’s begin with the two-time defending champs. The 2026 Dodgers club has hummed along without too many hiccups but also hasn’t dominated to the degree many expected, based on their unprecedented amount of star power. Injuries, to no one’s surprise, have hampered Los Angeles’ ability to flatly overwhelm the competition, and so have lackluster seasons at the plate from proven stars such as Mookie Betts and Kyle Tucker. With one of the most loaded farm systems in the league, the Dodgers have the ammo to make any trade they want. What they believe they need in their pursuit of a three-peat will be revealed in the coming days and likely hinges on how confident they are that their starting staff will be healthy enough to carry them through October.
Atlanta is back in the mix among the inner-circle of contenders after an uncharacteristic down year in 2025. A vastly improved farm system bolstered this month by an exciting and deep draft class should give president of baseball operations Alex Anthoupolos the pieces to round out a roster that looks formidable at the top but lacks the depth of a typical World Series hopeful. Adding impact starting pitching to pair with Chris Sale should be a priority, while shortstop and left field are weak spots potentially worth addressing.
The Yankees have survived but hardly thrived with Aaron Judge on the shelf since the end of May due to a rib fracture, and now another All-Star outfielder in Cody Bellinger just landed on the injured list due to a hamstring strain . The terrific rotation is approaching full strength with Max Fried back in the fold , but the Yankees suddenly look quite thin offensively with Judge’s return timeline still uncertain . The bullpen also looks light on paper but has largely been effective, so it’ll be interesting to see whether general manager Brian Cashman prioritizes adding a bat (or two or three) over relievers, or if he’s aggressive enough to improve both areas.
The Phillies stumbled out of the gate, fired well-regarded manager Rob Thomson at the end of April and then rallied in May and June to ensure their season wouldn’t go to waste. But the offense has struggled again in July , and the pitching staff is notably top-heavy, which should prompt president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski to exhibit his usual aggressiveness and give his roster a boost before the deadline.
That the Red Sox have played their way into this top tier of buyers is an astonishing achievement. This is the same team that fired longtime skipper Alex Cora on April 26 and then continued to play poorly for another two months, sinking as low as 29-43 on June 18, with playoff odds falling below 10% , according to FanGraphs. But Boston has been brilliant since bottoming out, flying up the standings while the rest of the American League continues to underwhelm . Even more relevant for the purposes of this exercise, the Red Sox have already added, flipping a promising young arm in Connelly Early to Washington for an immediate lineup upgrade in breakout bat Curtis Mead . It’s actions over words this time of year, and president of baseball operations Craig Breslow executed the first aggressive “buy” move of the deadline . The question now is what else the Sox can get done, especially with Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony seemingly not close to returning from injury.
Rounding out this tier of buyers are the Cubs, who are in strong position to return to the postseason but are at risk of letting the rival Brewers run away with the NL Central for the fourth consecutive season. Few contenders have as urgent of a need as Chicago faces on the mound due to a slew of injuries , but with a championship-level position-player group headlined by MVP candidate Pete Crow-Armstrong, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer owes it to his team and the Cubs’ fan base to be aggressive in pursuing upgrades — or at least fixes — for the pitching staff.
Not in their DNA to go for it, but they should
Milwaukee Brewers, Tampa Bay Rays
These organizations are praised throughout the industry for their ability to compete without the payrolls of their large-market ...
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