While there are 12 teams continuing on to the postseason to compete for a World Series title, the other 18 organizations are looking to the future, including where they might pick in the 2023 Draft.
In the past, at the conclusion of the regular season, a rough pass at the first-round order was possible based on the reverse order of the standings. But thanks to the newest Collective Bargaining Agreement, there’s a new wrinkle in play when it comes to the Draft.
For the first time, the order of the top six Draft picks will be determined by lottery instead of simply being the reverse order of the previous year’s standings, with the lottery expected to take place at the Winter Meetings in San Diego in early December.
The teams with the three worst records in 2022 -- the Nationals, A’s and Pirates -- have the best chance (16.5 percent each) to get the No. 1 overall pick via the lottery, though all 18 non-playoff teams will have the chance to land it. The other teams will have declining percentages in reverse order of their records, down to 0.23 percent for the non-playoff club with the highest winning percentage.
As in previous years, any tie in regular-season record is broken by the record in the previous year, continuing with each subsequent prior year's record until the tie is broken.