From D.C. to Dodger Stadium, a lot of loaded teams are lurking, waiting for that elusive World Series win.

New Cardinals leadoff man Dexter Fowler has a clue which club might break through.

”I guess Cleveland,” he said.

Fowler got a close-up look last fall. He was part of the Cubs squad that ended a 108-year championship drought by denying the Indians their first title since 1948.

Carlos Correa, Jose Altuve and the Houston Astros seem ready to rocket into October orbit.

`Bout time for a team still searching for that first crown.

”I wouldn’t mind taking us off that list,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said.

Been a while, too, since the U.S. capital was the baseball capital – 1924, to be exact.

”It would put the Nationals on the map,” Washington manager Dusty Baker said. ”Rightfully so, this is a Redskins town. They’ve been there a long time. They’ve got a history of success.”

Coming off six straight losing years, the Colorado Rockies appear far from contending. Of course, there’s always hope, especially when every team is 0-0.

”That’s the goal for us, is to win the whole thing,” shortstop Trevor Story said.

Besides, he saw the huge turnaround in Chicago that led to a humongous celebration.

”It’s cool, especially for a team like us. We’re not spending crazy amounts of money and stuff like that. We have to draft good. It’ll be sweet once it finally happens and those years in the past will make the wins just that much more sweet,” Story said.

Let’s look at who could be next to jettison the jinx:

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JUST MISSED

The Royals’ crowning achievement in 2015 came a year after they fell 90 feet short of catching Madison Bumgarner in Game 7. So, coming close can mean there’s drama on deck.

The Indians hope so. Remember, they nearly won last November – they went into the bottom of the ninth in Game 7 tied with the Cubs, and had the top of their order up against a tiring Aroldis Chapman.

Cleveland boosted its chances during the winter by signing big bopper Edwin Encarnacion to a $60 million deal, the most expensive free agent in team history.

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BLAST OFF

Dallas Keuchel and the Astros are tired of waiting. It’s certainly been a long one – Houston began play in 1962 and has reached the World Series only once, getting swept by the White Sox in 2005.

After losing 111 games a few years ago, the Astros quickly rebuilt their front office, roster and approach. That’s a familiar formula – like the Cubs, Houston developed through the draft, made a couple of trades, then spent a lot for free agents.

Now, newcomers Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann and Josh Reddick could help bring that long overdue title to town.

”I’d like to be the first team in Texas after growing up in Dallas,” slugger Evan Gattis said. ”I think we definitely have the ingredients.”

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LONESOME STAR STATE

The Cowboys, the Longhorns, the Mavericks and more – every major pro and college sports trophy has been won at least once by a Texas team. Except the World Series, that is.

The Rangers came the closest, just one strike away in 2011 before St. Louis rallied. With young stars, a healthy Yu Darvish and a winning culture, they could end a skid that started with their move from Washington for the 1972 season under manager Ted Williams.

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WINDOW PAINS

We frequently hear that a team built to win right now is running out of time. But how often do those clubs jump through before the window closes? Uh, not many.

The Tigers (no title since 1984) and Toronto (last in 1993) both added ace David Price in recent years but lost in the playoffs.

That brings us to Washington, a city without a World Series winner in nearly a century. The current Nationals franchise dates to 1969 in Montreal, where the Expos never reached la Serie mondiale.

Bryce Harper is getting closer to free agency, Stephen Strasburg is hurt a lot, Ryan Zimmerman is wearing down. No wonder local fans worry their window could soon shut.

Baker is confident his team can stop the D.C. drought.

”I almost ended it in Chicago,” he said. ”It’s OK, we’ll end it here, too. We’ll end it here for the whole city.”

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DODGEBALL

Can a crown be bought? Not yet in LA, not by Magic Johnson and his co-owners. They’ve been baseball’s biggest spenders lately, forking over more than $250 million a year in payroll, but there hasn’t been a World Series game at Dodger Stadium since Orel Hershiser closed out Oakland’s Bash Brothers in 1988.

Some people say it’s a shame Clayton Kershaw hasn’t pitched in the Fall Classic. Maybe harsh, but the great ace has been part of the problem – he’s 4-7 (and one mighty save) in the postseason with a 4.55 ERA that’s nearly double his regular-season mark.

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OPERATION VICTORY

The Mets were all set last season to make a pitch for their first championship since 1986. With young aces Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz leading the rotation, what could go wrong?

Instead, an amazin’ string of injuries did surgery to the Mets’ plans. Proving, again, there’s no predicting the health of a ballclub – but it’s a sure bet any team that spends more time in the doctor’s office than on the diamond is sunk.

The Mets will get a great opportunity to assert themselves in the NL East. They start the season with a whopping 32 straight games against division opponents.

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AP freelance writers Chuck King and Jose M. Romero contributed to this report.

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More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball

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Fowler is the new guy with the Cardinals, but he’s already a clubhouse favorite despite spending last season helping the rival Chicago Cubs win the World Series.

”He’s got great people skills,” manager Mike Matheny said Sunday. ”Something I really appreciated is that you see him kind of mingling with everybody, and I think that’s extremely important for our club … (and) it hasn’t been anything that’s been suggested by us or forced, it’s just who he is.”

Ask the center fielder why he has been embraced so quickly by his new teammates and his broad smile disappears for a second as he ponders the question.

”I don’t know,” he says finally. ”I just tried to come in and be myself and the guys here they want to make a change from last year obviously because they didn’t have as good of a year as what they wanted. But to come in here and to see their willingness, that definitely helps.”

St. Louis right fielder Stephen Piscotty said there isn’t any big secret to why everyone is drawn to Fowler.

”He’s just a good guy,” he said. ”It’s pretty simple and I think we have a lot of those types of people in this clubhouse so he fits in great.”

Fowler joined the Cardinals on a five-year, $82.5 million contract after hitting .276 with 13 homers and 48 RBIs in his second season with the Cubs, helping the franchise to its first championship since 1908. He loved his time in Chicago, but felt this was the best decision for his future.

”I believe there’s chapters in your life and it’s a new chapter in my life,” he said. ”Those will always be my boys over there just because we won a championship and everything together. But it’s a new chapter in my life and I’m trying to make new brothers and win another championship.”

It didn’t take Fowler long to make an impression on his new teammates. On the first day of full-squad workouts, he turned rap music on during the team’s daily stretch, adding a bit of fun to the monotonous task. He didn’t realize it would be noteworthy, but his teammates enjoyed it so much that it became an example of how he’s not only fitting in with the Cardinals but changing the clubhouse vibe a bit.

”I think everybody wanted it, just nobody did it,” he said. ”You saw the smiles on everybody’s faces when we turned the music on. I think it was, I’m not going to say forbidden, but just nobody asked, I guess.”

The Cardinals are looking to bounce back after finishing 17 1/2 games behind the NL Central champion Cubs last year, ending a streak of five straight postseason appearances highlighted by a World Series title in 2011. They were hurt by injuries to some key players, but Fowler saw something else from the other dugout when he faced them 19 times with the Cubs last season.

”I think they took things a little too seriously and it needs to – at the end of the day it’s a game,” he said. ”And I think they kind of got away from that.”

While the Cardinals are thrilled about the addition of Fowler, Cubs fans can’t be too happy that he defected to their biggest rival. The optimistic Fowler thinks Chicago fans will be good to him when he returns to Wrigley Field for the first time in June when he expects to pick up his championship ring.

”They should be,” he said. ”I helped them do something we haven’t done in 108 years so I don’t think they can be mad.”

But he isn’t thinking a lot about his former team these days. He’s far too busy preparing to do whatever he can to help the Cardinals return to the World Series.

”Winning’s addictive, so I’m trying to win another one,” he said. ”You get to pick the team that you think (will win) and I think this team has a chance to win it all.”

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