Major League Baseball is taking a page out of the NBA’s book and implementing a Draft Lottery, per Jim Bowden. The inaugural MLB Draft Lottery will be held in San Diego during the Winter Meetings on December 6th. 

Teams such as the Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Nationals, and Oakland Athletics will certainly take notice of this news given their underwhelming 2022 seasons. Each of these teams are tied for the best chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick, as they all share a 16.5 percent chance of earning the No. 1 draft selection, per MLB Communications on Twitter.

The MLB Draft Lottery is a product of the league’s new CBA agreement. It will be implemented to help contain tanking and provide more underperforming teams with opportunities to land a higher pick. MLB is also hopeful that it will increase draft engagement from fans.

The MLB Draft tends to not receive as much attention as the NBA and NFL’s drafts. Implementing this MLB Draft Lottery will provide a new element to the process for the league. 

MLB has made a number of changes over the past couple of years. The league has added an extra inning rule, and is set to introduce a pitch clock next season in addition to various other new rules. Viewership saw an uptick in the 2022 World Series, so the league's changes seem to be working. 

It will be interesting to monitor the MLB Draft Lottery and see how it affects the league moving forward. It should lead to better competition from bottom-tier teams.