With the end of the regular season also comes the finish to another interesting race: positioning order for the 2019 drafts – both Rule 4 and Rule 5 varieties.
It wasn’t exactly a team roaring into the post-season on a roll, but the Atlanta Braves still helped themselves while dropping 4 of their last 6 regular season contests. They will draft better in 2019 as a result.
The draft order itself does not quite go by the same rules as for determining playoff seedings. In the case of the draft, ties are broken by the team’s record in the previous year. That makes a bit of a difference here as the Braves managed to play themselves out of the 1st or 2nd NL playoff seeding, and into better draft positioning.
The Braves, Rockies, Dodgers, and Indians all had 90 wins coming into the last day. The Rays had 89. Here’s how that ended up:
- Rockies*, Dodgers*, Indians: 91 wins
- Braves, Rays: 90 wins
The 2017 final standings had these results:
- Dodgers – 104 wins
- Indians – 102 wins
- Rockies – 87 wins
- Rays – 80 wins
- Braves – 72 wins
* Regardless of their tie to finish their 162-game season, this tie will be broken by their division-deciding 163rd game today – not by their 2017 finish.
If all of these other clubs had lost on Sunday, the Braves would have been ahead of each one, and thus behind all of them for draft privileges over the next year. Instead, it worked out in reverse – the Braves will now draft ahead of each one.
Here’s the full 2019 first round draft order:
1. Baltimore
2. Kansas City
3. Chicago White Sox
4. Miami
5. Detroit
6. San Diego
7. Cincinnati (‘wins’ tiebreaker w/Texas)
8. Texas
9. Atlanta (compensation pick for choosing not to sign Carter Stewart – and yes, that’s how I am characterizing the situation)
10. San Francisco
11. Toronto
12. New York Mets
13. Minnesota
14. Philadelphia (they ‘gained’ perhaps 6 positions in September!)
15. Los Angeles Angels
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16. Arizona
17. Washington
18. Pittsburgh
19. St. Louis
20. Seattle
21. Atlanta
22. Tampa Bay
23. Colorado or Los Angeles Dodgers (loser)
24. Cleveland
25. Colorado or Los Angeles Dodgers (winner)
26. Arizona (compensation pick for unsigned 2018 1st round pick McLain)
27. Milwaukee or Chicago Cubs (loser)
28. Milwaukee or Chicago Cubs (winner)
29. Oakland
30. New York Yankees
31. Los Angeles Dodgers (compensation pick for unsigned 2018 1st round pick Ginn)
32. Houston
33. Boston
So it’s an odd situation. The Braves end up with not only a Top 10 draft pick over the next year, but they are also the recipient of a pick better than all other 2018 playoff teams… and better even than Tampa Bay, who didn’t make the playoffs.
Time will tell if that loss of home-field seeding proves costly, but having picks at 9 and 21 is markedly better than 9 and 25 (what could have been after Sunday) or 9 and 28 (had the Braves gotten ahead of Brewers and the Cubs).
So go get ‘em, Brian Bridges… find me a pair of winners to fill out this club from about 2022 and onward!