October baseball is here a day early, with Major League Baseball's first postseason games scheduled to begin Tuesday afternoon.
It's a wide-open field this postseason with no clear favorites like last year's Los Angeles Dodgers. No team in baseball this year won more than 97 games, making the 2025 Milwaukee Brewers the losing-est winningest team in baseball since 2013 (not counting the pandemic-shortened 2020 season).
That means it's anybody's World Series title to claim — including, potentially, one of three franchises that have never before won the Fall Classic. We've got the coasts: New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Diego, Boston, Philadelphia. And we've got the Midwest: Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Detroit. We've even got Canada! (Sorry, Southerners.)
Still, with 12 teams in the mix, it can be a lot to sort out which to root for. Let us help.
Do you like rooting for a team that has never been here before? (In other words, are you a human with a heart?)
Of the five teams that have never won a World Series, the Seattle Mariners are the only to have never even reached the Fall Classic. We're talking about fans who have rooted for this team for 49 long seasons, watching as literally every other active franchise has taken a swing at a title. For a particularly bad 20-year stretch that ended in 2022, the M's had the ignominious dishonor of owning the longest postseason drought of any of the big four North American men's professional sports.
But the mood is suddenly sunny in Seattle, where catcher — and perhaps AL MVP — Cal Raleigh has had a historic year, becoming just the seventh player in baseball history to hit 60 home runs in a single season. Ownership bought big at the trade deadline and in September, the Mariners turned into the second-hottest team in baseball to claim an AL West division title for the first time since 2001.
The Mariners' No. 2 seed means a ticket straight to the ALDS. They'll face the winner of the Wild Card Series between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians, both of which — despite their own long-running title droughts — have at least played in a World Series (and in the last 13 years to boot).
Seattle's a no-go, but you otherwise dig that kind of underdog vibe?
Good news. Two other teams in the postseason have also never won the World Series. You can choose between the San Diego Padres, who haven't been back to the World Series since they lost in 1998, or the Milwaukee Brewers, who haven't returned since their last try 43 years ago in 1982. Fans of the Brewers and the Padres have suffered too!
Both teams have become playoff regulars in recent years but have yet to get over the hump. The Brewers emerged in July and August as baseball's hottest team. At $121 million, they are in the lowest third of payrolls in baseball, dwarfed by big spenders and fellow National League contenders like the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. The Padres are bigger spenders, and that money has brought them some of the game's biggest stars, including outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. and third baseman Manny Machado — but they keep running into their rivals, the Dodgers, in the postseason. (That won't happen this year unless both teams reach the NLCS.)
Okay, enough of the underdogs. How about a good, old-fashioned rivalry?
The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox used to be the most toxic rivalry in baseball. (The Dodgers and Padres have taken that crown for now; last year's poisonous NLDS will be tough to top.) But they have a chance to reclaim their crown when they meet for a best-of-three series in this year's Wild Card round.
It doesn't matter too much which team you choose. This is your chance to embrace the dark side. The Yankees are the Evil Empire, of course, but don't discount Boston. The Curse of the Bambino is way, way back in the rearview mirror these days, and the Red Sox have won four World Series in the past 21 years, and while yes, we are only talking about baseball, it's worth the reminder that seemingly every other Boston pro sports team has won at least one title since then too. (Honestly, this is making the Yankees seem long-suffering by comparison.)
The Yankees have a towering lineup, anchored by the otherworldly Aaron Judge who turned in yet another incredible season. His stats: .331 batting average, .457 on-base percentage, 1.144 OPS, plus 53 home runs — something he's now doing with such regularity that it's almost becoming boring. The Red Sox bring a spottier lineup but better pitching, especially in starter Garrett Crochet and closer Aroldis Chapman, who has posted the best ERA of his career in his [checks notes] age 37 season.
Do you love hitting for contact?
Only seven players finished the season with a batting average of .300 or higher — and the Toronto Blue Jays, the AL's top seed, have two of them, shortstop Bo Bichette and designated hitter George Springer. Add in first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (.292) and catcher Alejandro Kirk (.282) and the Blue Jays boast four players hitting .280 or higher. The next-most is just two.
It's not small ball, exactly, that the Blue Jays play. (Their 77 stolen bases this season was third-lowest in the majors, and most playoff teams hit more sacrifice flies than Toronto.) But the team led the league in batting average, hits and on-base percentage. They were second-to-last in strikeouts. Other teams hit more home runs and scored more runs, but the Blue Jays got men on base a ton. Now that's baseball.
Do you just want to root for a winner?
The Philadelphia Phillies could be your team. This team is a powerhouse: slugger Kyle Schwarber (56 home runs), shortstop Trea Turner (.304 batting average), outfielder Harrison Bader (who has hit .305 since joining the Phillies in a trade), first baseman Bryce Harper and outfielder Nick Castellanos (75 and 72 RBIs, respectively). Even though they lost their ace starter Zack Wheeler to injury in August, this is still a great team that can crush anyone on any day.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, their 2024 World Series rings still fresh from the jeweler, are a good choice too. The Dodgers are dealing with some injuries, including to catcher Will Smith, but what team is 100% healthy? And this top of the order will never not be crazy: Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, all three of them MVPs.
Since he returned to the mound in July after elbow surgery, the two-way phenom Ohtani has posted a 2.87 ERA as a pitcher, the second-best of his career. Yet Ohtani had to use his limited appearances this year as a sort of rehab assignment, usually pitching just a few innings, and he only lasted a full six innings for the first time last week.
That prompted questions for some about how Ohtani might fit in a postseason strategy. On Monday, his teammate Betts dismissed those concerns.
"I think with him probably being the best player in the world, he can fit in wherever he wants to fit in," Betts told reporters. "Whenever he feels like he needs to go in and pitch, I'm pretty positive nobody with a Dodgers uniform will say no."
Or do you just want to watch some great young players?
Then tune in to it all. Don't miss the Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, who is at the peak of his powers and looks destined to win the second Cy Young with his career-best 2.21 ERA. The Chicago Cubs are a likable bunch, with center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, who's due for a bounceback after cooling off from a hot start in the second half. And the Cincinnati Reds have one of the most electric players in the sport in shortstop Elly de la Cruz, who is making his playoff debut in a Wild Card series against the Dodgers. You can't go wrong.
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