December 4th, 2023
Once upon a time, Major League Baseball’s last regular standings would determine the following year’s Draft order based on the reverse order of standings. In 2015, the script changed with the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement. Now, non-playoff teams participate in a lottery for the top 6 Draft picks. The lottery will take place at the Winter Meetings on Tuesday, Dec. 5 and will be broadcast live on MLB Network starting at 5:30 p.m. ET, with a simulcast on MLB.com. This year, 17 of the 18 non-playoff teams are eligible for the lottery, ranked by their winning percentage.
Here are the qualifying teams and their winning percentages:
- Athletics – 18.3% (.309)
- Royals – 18.3% (.346)
- Rockies – 18.3% (.364)
- White Sox – 14.7% (.377)
- Cardinals – 8.3% (.438)
- Angels – 6.1% (.451)
- Mets – 4.3% (.463)
- Pirates – 3.0% (.469)
- Guardians – 2.0% (.469)
- Tigers – 1.6% (.481)
- Red Sox – 1.2% (.481)
- Giants – 1.0% (.488)
- Reds – 0.9% (.506)
- Padres – 0.7% (.506)
- Yankees – 0.6% (.506)
- Cubs – 0.4% (.512)
- Mariners – 0.2% (.543)
Washington is disqualified from this year’s lottery due to their “payor club” status and their previous selection in 2015. The Mets, Yankees, and Padres are also affected by the competitive balance tax, with their first overall choice being dropped 10 places unless they get a top 6 pick in the lottery. Beyond those conditions, any team not landing in the top 6 will pick in reverse order of standings for picks 7-18.
The order of the postseason teams is determined by their elimination and revenue-sharing status. Those 12 teams will pick in the following order, with payee clubs selecting before non-payee clubs in case of similar winning percentages.
