There's nothing quite like wild-card week. The 2024 MLB playoffs began Tuesday with a best-of-three first round featuring eight teams battling to move on to their league's division series.
The first team to go? After an incredible seven straight trips to the American League Championship Series, the Houston Astros were swept in the wild-card round by the Detroit Tigers.
Whether your team's playoff departure comes in the opening days or after a long run, let's look ahead to what could be on the front office's to-do list heading into the offseason. ESPN MLB experts Alden Gonzalez, Bradford Doolittle and David Schoenfield identify the free agents to watch, key priorities and a question that will shape the coming months for each eliminated squad.
Did your favorite team miss the postseason altogether? We dove into what went wrong for each non-playoff team -- and how to fix it.
Biggest offseason priority: Fill out the corners. This need begins with the likely pursuit of franchise cornerstone Alex Bregman, who means so much to the Astros, on the field and off. He's not the kind of player you can replace easily with mere production, but you do need to replace the production if he leaves. The Astros also have a need across the diamond, as they've struggled for consistent first base impact since the Jose Abreu signing went south. You could also argue that, given Yordan Alvarez's cumbersome knees, that a full-time DH plan would make sense, and then you'd have to make sure you have enough in left field.
How high can the payroll get and how long can it remain this high? The Astros have been so good about finding pitching production that even with Verlander's apparent decline and possible departure, Houston doesn't have to break the bank to fill out the staff. Still, the Astros have been running a top-five payroll. Bregman will cost them if they are able to keep him in the fold, and they should. Kyle Tucker is one year from free agency and probably should have already been extended. Same holds true for Framber Valdez, as no matter how good your overall pitching program might be, a consistent and durable ace is a precious commodity.
The Astros are on the Gibbon trajectory (Edward Gibbon wrote "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"). They started modestly, built up into a mighty empire, but thanks to incursions from competitors, economic pressures and the natural forces of cosmic regression, the fortress is showing wear and tear. A collapse isn't looming yet, but it's out there, and you wonder how long Jim Crane might want to keep ramping up payroll to prevent the inevitable.
Offseason prediction: Bregman stays on a long-term deal. It's impossible to imagine Bregman with another team. (Though the list of "you can't see him with another team" players is as long as baseball history itself.) Still, what would they do at The Moonshiners if he left? Name his sandwich after somebody else? No, this has to work out, and Bregman has an off-the-field future with the club if he wants it. Make him a career Astro. You could see a deal surprisingly longer in duration than you might expect, but perhaps with more modest average annual values to lessen the tax hit. And there are always deferrals. -- Bradford Doolittle