The MLB playoffs begin today. Who takes home the World Series trophy?
At long last, it’s time for some playoff baseball. The best-of-three Wild Card Series will kick off the festivities, beginning at 1:08pm ET today with an AL Central grudge match of the resurgent Guardians and slumping Tigers, who could flip the script back their way with just a couple good games. And of course, all eyes in Yankees Universe will be on their rumble with the Red Sox tonight.
We’d be remiss if we didn’t offer our playoff predictions before the fun gets started, though! We have 14 different writers looking into the crystal baseball. Here’s how we see the first round going:
No, none of us were down enough on the Yankees to pick* the Red Sox over them, and as much as plenty of us would love to dream the dream of a colossal upset in LA, the Reds probably aren’t getting it done. Maybe if they had made an actual comeback to impact the NL Wild Card race, but they just kind of kept playing .500-ish ball while the Mets wet their pants. Oh well. The two other series led to more split votes, but our consensus channeled the 1984 Fall Classic, picking the Tigers and Padres.
*Vote in the PSA community poll on that series here, by the way.
Next up, the rest of the pre-World Series rounds:
We all have the Yanks taking out another AL East foe in the Blue Jays, and 10 of us forecast a return to the Fall Classic (though the Mariners got some votes to win their first-ever pennant). Giancarlo Stanton got three votes to repeat as ALCS MVP, though Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger also got multiples.Over in the NL, the possible Dodgers/Phillies NLDS—which feels like it could be a classic—has the edge going to the Phillies. Regardless, we have the winner of that going to the World Series, save for Madison. It’s a dead heat in the Brewers’ mere NLDS, as they could only split the 14 votes with San Diego.
It’s tough because I think of all the non-Yankees teams in the field, I’m most sympathetic toward the Brewers, who have never won the World Series and haven’t been to the Fall Classic since 1982, when they were still in the AL. The Mariners and Padres have never won it all either, but the Brewers have also been a remarkably consistent presence in the playoffs since 2018, missing out just once. If you’ve ever been to Milwaukee, you know how much they love this team, especially with the Uecker of it all. But aside from a run to Game 7 of the NLCS against the Dodgers in that first effort, this generation hasn’t had much postseason success. I’d love to see them in a Fall Classic and while I have the Padres beating them, Milwaukee could easily dispatch them; it’s just a tough draw to solve the Phillies or Dodgers. I’ll be rooting for the Brew Crew.
Oh, and for the NLCS, technically Kyle Schwarber and Shohei Ohtani split the most MVP votes (three), but since the staff pick was for the Phillies to win it, I just put Schwarber as the staff pick. I will say that if the Dodgers do what no one wants and go back to the World Series, this coud be the real Autumn of Shohei, as he was only actually good in last year’s NLCS. The Padres held him to four hits in the 2024 NLDS, and he was clearly impaired with a shoulder injury during most of the World Series. We could very well see him take over, as he did for Samurai Japan in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, especially since he’s pitching now, too.
Start spreading the news from the consensus Yankees/Phillies World Series rematch from 2009! We have decided that the Yankees are winning a 28th title because why the hell not? If they can get past this Wild Card round—a big if, considering the capriciousness of a best-of-three—they’re probably at least the best AL team in the field. Our World Series MVP pick is split between Stanton, Judge, and Bellinger.
Those are our picks! But what does your playoff bracket look like in comparison? Let us know in the comments!
Category: General Sports
