Sitting in fifth place in the preseason standings, Topton isn't too worried about it.
He's been in worse positions.
He went from the preseason favorite to sitting in last place after nine weeks of the 2023 JLB season, which was officially the midway point of last year's 18-week season.
At 110-126-28, he was 30 games back of first and 7 games back of a playoff spot.
But that's when he started his rise in the standings. By Week 17, he was back to .500 at 216-216, and he edged the Crox Sox by 5 games for the final playoff spot with a 227-228-49 record.
It wasn't a winning record, but he gladly accepted the bid to the playoffs.
"If last year showed me anything, it's that you can't count yourself out until your out," Tommy said. "I think I'll be able to keep competitive early, and really have this roster cranking come playoff time. Guys are gonna go down, and then you just gotta play the matchup game when they do."
Right now, a major reason for Topton to be not be a favorite of the Slammer S-Scale is because he has several starting pitchers starting the season on the IL.
So it may be frustrating to start the season, but come mid-season, when Walker Buehler, Dustin May and Jeffrey Springs return, it will be all worth it.
Until then, it will take some clever moves to keep the team within striking distance while he waits.
"Going to be a lot of managing the IL," he said, "and up and down greens for some. But at the same time, you get enough of your guys on two-start weeks and you can counter balance that. I'll have to mange each matchup extra carefully, though."
It will certainly help to have Tyler Glasnow and Cole Ragans leading the way.
And he can thank Choo for Ragans, along with a bunch of key bats.
"Choo has turned into a really great farm system for Topton," Tommy said. "I feel like half my team has came from him at some point. But then again, most of the league is the same way with Choo."
Ragans was quite the pickup for Topton after he went 5-2 in 12 starts for the Royals last year. He boasted a 2.64 ERA over 71.2 innings with 89 strikeouts to 27 walks.
Riley Greene also came over in the deal that sent sleeper, home run hitter Aaron Judge to Choo. Greene batted .288 after returning from injury, and he could be a really good addition, but the real gem of that deal has to be Wyatt Langford.
Topton will benefit greatly because of it. Langford tore up the minors last year and he was torrid through all of spring training earning the Opening Day roster spot. He's the hands-down favorite to win the Rookie of the Year at this point.
But we have to temper our expectations somewhat. Spring training Hall of Famers don't always produce.
Last year at this time, we all thought Butter had the next great hitter in Jordan Walker. He was the no-doubt-about-it pick for NL Rookie of the Year, and he fell flat on his face. He was so bad he didn't even receive votes.
Still, I'm sure many of us would agree, Langford looks to be more well-rounded and ready to take off at the major league level.
If he does, my goodness does Topton feel good about trading Judge.
"I definitely love the deal," he said. "It wasn't easy to trade Judge, but I don't think his value is going to go much higher. Just seemed like the right time for it. I'm really happy with the guys we got back and we'll see great careers out of all of them."
But will they see the JLB playoffs this year?
If Langford doesn't slow down, I'd say yes. Pete Alonso is in a contract year, and Vlad, Albies and Tatis are all 30/100 guys.
So like I said before, the S-Scale's fifth-place finish could be way wrong. It had Topton with among the best offenses in the AL, and the worst pitching. Once the pitching gets back to level, we all know that Topton can climb the standings quick.
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