OPINION: Trade Deadlines Are More Exciting Than Playoffs

Every year fans wait anxiously for trade deadlines to find out if their team is getting that much better or worse. The 2016 MLB non-waiver deadline is Aug. 1, not that I needed to state it, but this Bugs Bunny tweet from Dodgers Nation says it all.

Trade deadline is more exciting than playoffs because there are fewer options, it’s either win or lose. There is still anticipation, but there’s just less sense of urgency.

Information about possible trades hits sports fans hard as trade deadline approaches. ESPN has analyzed potential last-minute MLB trades and will no doubt continue to update them until the last minute. Cincinnati Reds outfielder Jay Bruce will likely be leaving Ohio for California, only question is Northern or Southern? White Sox would hate to see star pitcher Chris Sale go, and might have them a bit confused but Sale would be replaced with some serious youngsters. Potentials for Sale are Julio Urias  and Jose De Leon from the Dodgers, Rangers outfielder Nomar Mazara and third baseman Joey Gallo, or Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi. The list goes on.

The water cooler talk around playoffs is usually based upon predictions on how many games it will take a team to win the series. Water cooler talk surrounding trades is usually more involved because possibilities are endless. Even if your team is losing the best pitcher in the league, it’s disappointing, but it’s like watching a train wreck, you can’t take your eyes off of it or stop talking about it.

NBA trade deadline is mid-February, NHL is late February and NFL is mid-October. Big NFL mid-season trades aren’t as common as the other sports, a little less juicy. Soccer is more complicated, if the season starts in August or September like many of the European leagues the transfer window occurs in January. If the season starts and ends in the same year, like MLS, transfer window is July or August.

There are rankings for everything in sports, so lets take a look at some of the craziest mid-season trades.

In 2010 Mariner’s pitcher Cliff Lee was traded to the Texas Rangers, who really couldn’t afford him, but they needed him to make playoffs for the first time in ten years. He took the Rangers all the way to the World Series where they lost to the Giants, but hey, they had a good run.

In 2003 Seattle Sonic’s guard Gary Payton was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks for Ray Allen who was 7 years younger. The Bucks had money to spare that the Sonics didn’t. The Bucks haven’t won a playoff series since Payton in 2003.

This past year’s NHL trade deadline saw Maple Leafs’ goaltender James Reimer and minor league forward Jeremy Morin traded to San Jose for Alex Stalock, right wing Ben Smith and 2018 conditional fourth-round pick. Reimer was the Leafs’ best goalie, he got more time in Toronto than he did in San Jose as the back-up for Martin Jones but the playoff experience he got was a first.

Buffalo Bills running back Marshawn Lynch proved to be one of the best in-season trades in the NFL of all-time for the Hawks in 2009. The unfortunate part was the Bills hadn’t had a running back like Lynch since Thurman Thomas in the 90s. It was more of a tragedy for the Bills to lose a player like him than vice versa. Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll was in his first year in Seattle and he gave up a first round pick in 2011 and fifth round pick in 2012 to get him.

In 2013 in the Premier league Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge was traded to Liverpool, which has proven excellent for him as he is currently Liverpool’s leading striker with a record 36 goals in 52 games for the club. It’s now rumored he may be leaving Liverpool for Arsenal.

By the time playoffs roll around it’s a little easier to predict how a series is going to play out, no pun intended.