Every year in every sport, one team emerges seemingly from nowhere. Afterwards, the rhetorical question is asked, “How could we have seen the Royals coming?”
Really, how did we not?
In the National Football League, players drafted during one off-season can have a direct impact on a team the following season. Only five players from each basketball team man the floor, allowing each individual to have a greater impact on the game. In baseball, the long lead times from when a player is drafted to when he starts for a Major League Baseball team, coupled with his role on a large roster, forces organizations to truly rebuild.
After a while, the building is complete, and the public unveiling is ready.
For this reason, upstart MLB teams are arguably easier to foresee, as their ascension is rarely overnight. While teams may take a little longer to hit their strides, their day is coming.
For the following five MLB teams, it may be arriving in 2015.
