A surprising amount of competitive balance, and underperformance, across MLB is creating yet another highly muddled trade market.
With a little more than a month remaining before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, 15 MLB clubs are within six games of .500, and all but six across the league are within five games of a playoff spot entering Monday’s games.
Closely resembling the uncertain situation ahead of the 2025 trade deadline, this year’s situation involves many teams trying to determine whether they are buyers or sellers. That’s particularly true in the American League, where just four teams have winning records.
“I know our record is backwards, but apparently, this is infecting a whole bunch of other teams, too,” said Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Ellas. “I can’t explain it, and I wish we were arriving at [the trade deadline] in a much different way, and the context around that is unusual.”
The biggest prize on the market is likely Tigers ace Tarik Skubal. The two-time defending AL Cy Young Award winner is back in action, ahead of original projections, after missing five weeks following arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies from his left below. Skubal’s return, however, hasn’t changed the fortunes of a Tigers club that had big ambitions entering 2026 but has the next-to-worst record in the AL.
