Why White Sox, Giants & Pirates Will Be Ineligible For 2027 MLB Draft Lottery
Image credit: (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
The MLB draft lottery has officially set the order for the 2026 draft, and this year the White Sox were the big winners by securing the No. 1 overall pick.
The Pirates were among the favorites to pick inside the first six and had the third-best odds at 10%, but they slipped a few spots and will pick fifth overall. The Giants, meanwhile, were one of the biggest winners of this year’s lottery, moving up from 15th to fourth overall.
For each of these teams, picking at the top of what looks to be a strong 2026 draft class is a great sign. But there are also implications for where they’ll be picking a year later in the 2027 draft.
MLB’s lottery rules prevent teams from picking year after year in the lottery, with different regulations depending on the revenue sharing status of the team. Teams that receive revenue-sharing money are ineligible for picking in the lottery in three consecutive drafts, while teams that pay into revenue sharing are prohibited from picking in back-to-back lotteries.
It’s this rule that prevented the Rockies, Nationals and Angels from being lottery-eligible this year.
The White Sox and Giants are both big-market clubs that pay into revenue sharing. And since they have a 2026 lottery pick, they won’t be able to have one again in 2027.
The Pirates, meanwhile, are a small-market organization that receives revenue sharing. They had the sixth-overall pick in the 2025 draft and will now have the sixth-overall pick once again for 2026. As such, they will be ineligible for a lottery pick in 2027.
The earliest any of these three teams will be able to pick in the 2027 draft is 10th overall. The selection order among them will depend on their win-loss records in the 2026 season.
