Last year, in the MLB and NBA, the Kansas City Royals and Golden State Warriors each won their respective championships. The average age of each of their rosters is Royals, 27.4 years old and Warriors, 26.5 years old. Recently, we have seen younger teams that are vastly improving. This is partly due to the use of analytics and advanced statistics, especially in baseball. For many franchises, the case has been the younger, the better.
It's usually the same old teams. For the MLB, the Yankees, Cardinals, and Braves. In the NBA, the Lakers, Celtics, and Heat. And in the NFL, The Patriots, Steelers, Packers, and Cowboys. In a few years, though, these teams won't be the ones at the pinnacle of their respective leagues. It's seen as somewhat of a natural cycle in sports, but in reality, teams know how to go about rebuilding much better now than in years past.
The team that epitomizes rebuilding successfully is the Kansas City Royals. Even writer Joe Posnanski of Sports Illustrated magazine could see a few years ago that the Royals would have success, and so in a piece he wrote in 2011, Posnanski predicted correctly that the Royals would win the 2015 World Series. They did. They did it by working with their farm system, the best in league in the beginning of the decade. Instead of trading for big names, the Royals staff bred players like Mike Moustakas, Salvador Perez, and Alex Gordon into fundamentally sound baseball players. This assured that rather than taking a chance with a star player, the Royals would have assured success, considering they knew the talent of their own players. They just didn't know how much success.
The 2015 Golden State Warriors will be another example of this power shift in major sports leagues for a long time. The team had a gem in Steph Curry, who obviously will do more than just help whatever team he is on. Last year, many expected LeBron and the Cavaliers to go all the way. Little did they know, the Warriors would put together a young and consistent team that fit together like pieces of a puzzle. Literally. The Warriors, led by the young superpowers of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, all of whom have played less than six years in the league, averaged a league-high 110 points per game, and won 65 our of their 82 games -- unbelievable stats for a team that no one had batted an eye towards in the beginning of the season.
There are plenty of up and coming teams in all professional leagues. The Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees (again), New Orleans Pelicans, Toronto Raptors, Carolina Panthers, and Minnesota Vikings, are all teams that have promising young futures. You heard it here first. In fact, I will correctly predict the 2020 major sports championships right now.
2020 Super Bowl: Panthers over Jets.
2020 World Series: Reds over Astros.
2020 NBA championship: Warriors over Celtics.
