MLB Playoff Picture: Brew Crew Is Hot, Dodgers Are Dangerous, and the Yankees Have Judge

The AL has two contenders, Seattle and Detroit, without much history of postseason success. In the NL, the Phillies have a three-headed monster of starters.

Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers celebrates his 50th home run of the season against the Philadelphia Phillies at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Sept. 16, 2025. Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

If the Brew Crew can pancake the best of the National League and top off a fantastic regular season with champagne and beer showers in October, most fans of the team will be foaming at the mouth right along with them.

The reigning World Series-champion Los Angeles Dodgers will likely have a say in the NL as the postseason plays out, but the Philadelphia Phillies will have ample opportunity to make a run.

The American League features a couple of strong contenders without much history of postseason success in the Detroit Tigers and the Seattle Mariners. The Tigers last won the World Series in 1984, and the Mariners have never won it. Either or both might have to take out the New York Yankees, who have survived an up-and-down season to edge their noses into the fray.

Here are the teams that figure to be in the final four for the ultimate goal:

The Dodgers have been an enigma this season. They kicked off the year by working over the Chicago Cubs in Japan at Tokyo Dome in the quick two-game Opening Series, using that to jump off to a strong start.

But they have been around .500 since the All-Star break and haven’t looked like a team that can figure things out in the postseason. The Dodgers keep running out left-fielder Michael Conforto, whose wins above replacement (WAR) is -0.6 mostly because of a batting average in the .190s. He has been a ball and chain to the team’s offense.

But the Dodgers remain dangerous because they’ll be able to start Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, and either Clayton Kershaw or Tyler Glasnow. Shohei Ohtani also might break through on the postseason mound.

The other issue for L.A. is its hot-and-frozen bullpen. Southpaw Tanner Scott, who came over in the offseason to help bolster the pen, has done the opposite. His nine blown saves are tied for the worst in MLB, and he has an ERA of 4.82 with a 1.22 WHIP.

And L.A. is among the worst in the majors in blown leads this season with more than 40. But the trio of previous MVP winners—Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Mookie Betts—makes the Dodgers dangerous, if not feared, in the postseason.

The Brewers, meanwhile, have put together their best season in decades. They have the best team batting average and ERA in the NL,  and they’re second in team hits and first in stolen bases.

Christian Yelich (R) of the Milwaukee Brewers is congratulated by teammate Sal Frelick after hitting a two-run homer against the Los Angeles Angels at American Family Field in Milwaukee on Sept. 16, 2025. John Fisher/Getty Images

And with postseason games being packed with pressure, the Brewers have 27 victories in one-run games this year, second most in the NL—behind San Diego.

Milwaukee also swept the season series against L.A. and has been great against winning teams. Milwaukee has a .612 winning percentage against teams above .500, topping the majors.

This is a team that scrambles up offense because of a lack of power, but has an NL-best plus-180 run differential this season that could end the playoff run with pops of a different kind.

The Phillies, who on Monday night clinched the NL East Division crown with a 10-inning, 6-5 victory over the Dodgers, have power, pitching, and defense that have led them to more than 90 victories this season. Trea Turner, the league’s leading hitter, is on the injured list but is aiming to return for the playoffs.

They have a three-headed monster of starters for the postseason mounds (Jesus Luzardo, Cristopher Sanchez, and Ranger Suarez, who had a strong outing against the Dodgers this week), and slugger Kyle Schwarber—and his league-best 53 homers—and Bryce Harper appear ready to make a strong postseason push.

The American League features the Toronto Blue Jays, who deserve a lot of respect for a strong season, but the Bronx Bombers, who struggled through an August funk, figure to be in the hunt with their torpedo bats and big swingers. The Yankees threw the ball around and couldn’t pitch well in clutch situations this summer, but to think they won’t be a home run away from turning around a game in the postseason would be the wrong approach to playing New York.

Aaron Judge, the reigning AL MVP and among the top three candidates to take the honor again this season, has put together one of the best offensive campaigns in history. He leads Ohtani in WAR by about a tape-measure shot (8.5 to 8.1) but is behind Seattle Mariners slugging catcher Cal Raleigh in homers (56 to Judge’s 48). The Yankees leader tops MLB in hitting at .329, slugging percentage with a .679 mark and OPS at 1.132.

None of those stats will matter if he doesn’t produce next month. And the mound men will also have to exceed their regular-season production to advance.

Meanwhile, southpaw Tarik Skubal is the big name in Detroit’s rotation, and the team’s 85 victories are impressive. But the Tigers need to prove themselves in the playoffs, and that’s something the franchise hasn’t figured out since winning it all in 1984.

The 89-win Blue Jays would have to pull a huge upset, and only Las Vegas is counting on that.