The best MLB trades have led to strongest seasons

The Padres and Dodgers are serious World Series threats partly thanks to all their terrific deals. The NL West rivals are the leaders on our list of the best acquisitions for 2024:

1. Braves acquire Chris Sale for Vaughn Grissom: Did anyone see Sale reclaiming greatness, and even improving on it?

2. Dodgers sign Shohei Ohtani for $700M (deferred): They always had a hometown edge since the Angels apparently wanted to avoid a third mega-contract.

3. Cubs sign Shota Imanaga for $53M: Imanaga has outperformed even the $325M Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

4. Yankees acquire Juan Soto: He’s putting together his best full season, but they did give up Michael King, Randy Vasquez, Jhony Brito, Kyle Higashioka and Drew Thorpe, who the Padres smartly turned into Dylan Cease. Great for both teams.

5. Royals sign Seth Lugo for $45M: Did anyone (besides Lugo) see the ex-Mets reliever leading MLB in innings?

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6. Braves sign Reynaldo Lopez for $30M: Before heading to the IL, he was nearly as good as Sale.

7. Mets sign Luis Severino and Sean Manaea: The co-aces will be free agents. (Manaea will surely opt-out but said, on The Post podcast “The Show,” he’d love to return.)

8. Padres sign Jurickson Profar for $1M: He’s third in win probability added behind Soto and Aaron Judge.

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9. Orioles acquire Zach Eflin: Eflin’s brilliance in Birdland has given them a chance after rotation injuries decimated them.

10. Dodgers sign Teoscar Hernandez for $23M: Hernandez lengthened the best top of a lineup ever.

11. Astros Acquire Yusei Kikuchi: Giving up three good young players was a gamble, but Kikuchi was a godsend.

12. Yankees acquire Jazz Chisholm: He’s added energy and lengthened the lineup.

13. Padres acquire Luis Arraez: He’s set a tone for contact throughout the only lineup with fewer than 1,000 strikeouts.

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14. Dodgers acquire Jack Flaherty, Michael Kopech and Tommy Edman: Flaherty has been huge for a rotation decimated by injuries, Kopech apparently just needed to get out of the South Side, and Edman gave them yet another versatility champion.

15. Padres acquire Tanner Scott, Bryan Hoeing and Jason Adam: Shutdown bullpen!

16. Diamondbacks acquire A.J. Puk: Not only does he have 31 strikeouts, two walks and 0.47 ERA, they’ve got another two years of control.

17. D’backs sign Joc Pederson for $9.5M: The clutch slugger could be an October threat after a nice year.

18. Giants sign Matt Chapman to $54M deal (with two opts): Extending him later for $151M shows what a smart deal that first one was.

19. Padres acquire Dylan Cease: They were very busy, and the result is a better record with a payroll lower by $85M.

20. Brewers acquire Aaron Civale and Frankie Montas: They rebuilt a rotation with two solid pickups, but their best move was probably signing phenom Jackson Chourio for $82M.

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