The Most Intriguing Team of 2016:

"Second place is just first place loser." -- Dale Earnhart, whose sport has no wild card.

Save for maybe the Rockies, Braves and Phillies, a case could be made for every team in baseball this season before the first pitch is thrown in anger. You'd want odds if you were betting the Reds or the A's, but the even the single zero comes up once every 37 times on a roulette wheel.

If you listen to most ad hoc prognosticators, you generally hear a list of last season's playoff teams, salted with an occasional upstart. The most popular choices for a 2016 insurgent are the Giants (it's an even year), the Red Sox (big acquisitions + bouncebacks), the Diamondbacks (biggest free agent signing) and the Indians (weak division + strong run suppression.)

Those teams are all interesting, to be sure, though I don't put much stock in Arizona. But the teams that intrigue me most are currently slated for trade deadline selling.

Let's take a look at one of them.

Consider this squad:
Their centerfielder is a kid with pop and mad defensive skills.
Their leftfielder is a kid with pop, on-base proficiency and good leather.
Their veteran rightfielder is the game's most fearsome slugger. He's 26.
Their second baseman is a base thieving .300-hitter. The old man is 27.
Their shortstop is a second-year highlight reel who has an idea with the bat.
Their second-year backstop could be one of the five best-hitting catchers in the game.
They have the best young pitcher in baseball.
They picked up a wiley veteran arm to complement the phenom.
Their farm is stacked and might bubble up a couple of contributors.
Their manager has won division titles and is a beloved ex-player.
They get to beat up on two of the sport's worst teams, who reside in their division.

This is your Miami Marlins.

Sure, their rotation is a little thin, but there is so much potential here. Everyone in baseball would like to start a team with Marcel Ozuna, Christian Yelich, Giancarlo Stanton, Dee Gordon, Adeiny Hecchavaria, J.T. Realmuto and Jose Fernandez, not one of whom is four touchdowns old.

With Don Mattingly's quiet intensity at the helm, it will be very interesting to see what this team can do. If only the city of Miami cared.