MLB Division Series Preview: World Series Predictions, Odds, Analysis
Our guide to everything you need to know about the 2025 MLB postseason, from series previews, to staff World Series picks and more.
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Tomorrow, the divisional round of the playoffs begins, as we say goodbye to the Wild Card mania and begin the traditional 5-7-7 format of the postseason that has been around for decades now. One division round, a league championship series, and then eventually a World Series.
Eight teams are left standing now, as the stakes that come with playoff baseball continue to intensify!
To set the stage for all the drama that unfolds, we have got you covered with previews for every series that is about to be played in the divisional round. We also polled our staff to see who they thought would win each pennant and who would ultimately win the World Series!
Let’s dive into Just Baseball’s preview of the 2025 MLB Postseason.
Divisional Round Preview
There is nothing more unpredictable than a three-game series in baseball. So the addition of two games in the divisional round typically aids the favorites from holding off upsets.
Last year, if the Padres met the Dodgers in the Wild Card round, they would have won the three-game series. Instead, the Dodgers were able to battle back and win Game 4, forcing a deciding Game 5 back in L.A., and they came away victorious, before going on to win the World Series.
This is why teams fight for byes across the 162-game season, because you remove yourself from the randomness of the Wild Card round, and get the chance to breathe a little bit in a five-game series.
With that said, a five-game set is still not a full seven-game series where dropping two games can be made up. Here, if you drop the first two, you are facing elimination.
Let’s take a look at the four series that will decide who is going to the ALCS and NLCS this season.
NLDS 1 Preview: Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers
We love a great divisional matchup in the divisional round, and we will get exactly that with this head-to-head of NL Central foes.
The Chicago Cubs once looked like the team to beat at the start of the season, but the Brewers ran them down and never looked back, cruising to another NL Central title and the best record in Major League Baseball.
By virtue of collecting their first-ever first-round bye under the new format, the Brewers have already advanced further than they did after winning the division in 2023 and 2024, before losing in the Wild Card round.
Now, in the past, teams that won in the Wild Card round have ridden that momentum through the DS. We saw it last year with the Mets, who beat the Brewers, then blew past the Phillies into the NLCS.
The Cubs are riding high after knocking off a very talented San Diego Padres team in the Wild Card round.
ALDS 1: New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays
The New York Yankees trade one division foe for another, as they are set to face off the Toronto Blue Jays, after knocking off the Boston Red Sox in the Wild Card round.
While the Blue Jays hold home-field advantage after beating the Yankees in the AL East (via tiebreaker), but it is fair to say the Yankees hold some momentum.
That was a hard-fought series they just won against the Red Sox, and they were also riding an eight-game winning streak entering the playoffs as well. Boston took Game 1, but the Yankees rallied back to win the final two games to advance.
The Blue Jays have been waiting around, maybe expecting the Yankees to come knocking on their door. Now they are what stands in the way of Toronto returning to the ALCS for the first time since 2016.
NLDS 2: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Philadelphia Phillies
While this might not be a battle of division rivals, this is a clash of the titans.
You can make a case that whoever wins this series will be the favorite to win the World Series. Very similar to when we saw the Padres and Dodgers get entangled in the NLDS last year.
Having home-field advantage was a luxury that aided the Dodgers in that series last year, but this time around, they are going to have to do it on the road.
Meanwhile, the Phillies have been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to open the gates to Citizens Bank for another “Red October”.
This team really sprinted through the tape at the end of the season, winning their second-straight NL East title, as well as another first-round bye.
The Phillies hope this time they can take advantage and finish off unfinished business that now dates back four seasons to their last World Series apperance in 2022.
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ALDS 2: Detroit Tigers vs. Seattle Mariners
How far can Tarik Skubal take the Tigers?
Not to minimize the rest of this Tigers roster, but all eyes are on the soon-to-be back-to-back Cy Young winner in this series.
Skubal will be lined up to start Games 2 and 5, giving the Tigers a roadmap to upset the favorites in this series in the Seattle Mariners.
Meanwhile, the Mariners find themselves in an unfamiliar role, not as the underdog just happy to be in October, but as one of the favorites to win it all.
You can read our staff poll below, where the majority of our writers have tabbed the Mariners as the favorite to make it out of the American League. You can also find the betting odds, which suggest the same thing.
2025 MLB Postseason Bracket
2025 MLB World Series Odds
Reviewing the World Series odds, the Philadelphia Phillies find themselves atop the list as a slight favorite to win the World Series at +450, but the Dodgers are not far behind at +500.
Considering the fact that the Dodgers don’t have a bye, it is a bit surprising to see them considered that much more a favorite than the Brewers (+800), who had the best record in MLB and have a bye. Still, this is a reflection of the Dodgers’ ceiling due to their immense talent.
The Seattle Mariners are the slight favorite in the American League, which makes sense because they have the bye, and also would not have to face the Yankees if they advanced past the Red Sox.
The only two teams that aren’t listed on the graphic above are the Cleveland Guardians and the Cincinnati Reds, who are seen as longshots at +2500 and +3500, respectively.
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Just Baseball Staff Playoff Predictions
Prior to the beginning of the playoffs, we polled our staff of talented writers and asked them to pick their World Series matchup and who they thought would ultimately win it all.
Based on our results, Just Baseball’s World Series prediction is for the Philadelphia Phillies to square off against the Seattle Mariners in the 2025 Fall Classic.
AL and NL Pennant Predictions
The Phillies earned 40.6% of the vote on who would win the NL pennant, with the Dodgers, Brewers, and Padres all receiving at least 15% of the vote, accounting for roughly 57% of the vote combined between those three teams.
The Cubs did not get much support amongst our staff, garnering only 3.1% of the vote, and nobody was bold enough to pick the Reds to win out in the National League.
On the American League side, you can see that our staff was largely split between two teams, with the Mariners receiving 53% of the vote, and the Blue Jays accounting for another 31.3%.
The Yankees are the biggest surprise here, as there weren’t many on our staff who believed in the reigning AL champs. The Tigers got just as much love as the Yankees, and the Red Sox were not all that far behind.
Nobody picked the Guardians to win it all, but they just might be the team of destiny with how they finished their 2025 regular season campaign.
World Series Predictions
Looking at a field of 12 teams who could still win the 2025 World Series, our staff only cast votes for six teams that we thought would win it all.
The field is headlined by four teams from the National League, with only the Reds and the Cubs not receiving any votes to win the World Series. On the American League side, only the Mariners and the Blue Jays got picked to win the World Series by a member of our staff.
Only time will tell if these predictions prove to be right, or if an underdog can find their way through October to pull off a World Series upset win.
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Ryan Finkelstein has led editorial for Just Baseball since 2021 and officially became the Editor-in-Chief in 2025. He also hosts Locked On Mets, the No. 1…