Wow, what an amazing finish to the MLB regular season! Now it’s your turn, October.
The 2025 MLB playoffs start Tuesday (1 p.m. ET on ESPN), and we’re here to get you ready for what is setting up to be a thrilling postseason.
Will Shohei Ohtani’s Los Angeles Dodgers meet Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees in a World Series rematch? Is this the year the Seattle Mariners and Milwaukee Brewers finally get to the Fall Classic? Will the Philadelphia Phillies make another deep run after a strong regular season? Or will the chaos that ruled September continue to reign?
MLB experts Jorge Castillo, Bradford Doolittle, Alden Gonzalez, Jeff Passan and David Schoenfield get you ready with odds for every round, why every team could win it all — or go home early — and a name to watch for on all 12 World Series hopefuls.
Note: World Series and matchup odds come from Doolittle’s formula using power ratings as the basis for 10,000 simulations to determine the most likely outcomes. Team temperatures are based on Bill James’ formula for determining how “hot” or “cold” a team is at any given point; average is 72°.
Insider intel | Schedule | Bracket | ESPN BET
Jump to a team:
TOR | SEA | CLE | NYY | BOS | DET
MIL | PHI | LAD | CHC | SD | CIN
American League
No. 1 seed | 94-68 | AL East champs
ALDS opponent: Yankees (46.7% chance of advancing) or Red Sox (51.3% chance of advancing)
Doolittle’s WS odds: 11.4% | ESPN BET Odds: +750
Team temperature: 91°
Why they can win the World Series: The Blue Jays don’t strike out, and they field as cleanly as any team in the postseason field. Toronto has scuffled lately, yes, and the culprit is a punchless offense. But Toronto has spent much of the season with one of the game’s best units in runs scored as well as wOBA, and although Bo Bichette’s return from a knee injury is questionable, the Blue Jays still have enough to mash their way past teams. They’ll need good pitching, and while there isn’t a clear ace or lockdown bullpen…
