Yogi Berra famously said, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” And we are pleased to pronounce the MLB offseason over. With the 2025 season set to begin on Thursday, The Ringer’s baseball staff stepped up to the plate with their takes on the most interesting players and teams, whether the Dodgers are good or bad for baseball, and their favorite under-the-radar story lines. Plus, they offer their inarguably accurate predictions for the 2025 World Series.
Which player are you most excited to watch in 2025?
Katie Baker: With a hearty welcome to Juan Soto, it’s still Francisco Lindor. When Lindor arrived in New York in 2021, it was a signal that the Mets franchise was serious about making bold strides toward a new era. And since then, both Lindor and the team have lived up to their sides of the bargain. Not every star player is also the glue guy, but Lindor is: The team counts on him whether he’s at the plate or just in the ether. And with Soto and Pete Alonso following him in the batting order to start the season, he’ll hopefully continue helping the team help itself.
Dan Comer: Mike Trout. For years, Trout was the best player in baseball, and constantly drew comparisons to all-time greats such as Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle. He ran the fastest, hit the ball the hardest, and had a throwback, blue-collar mindset that—to the chagrin of MLB commissioner Rob Manfred—made him one of sports’ most understated stars. And though injuries have hampered Trout in recent years, the talent’s still there. Before suffering a season-ending meniscus tear in early 2024, he ranked in the 95th percentile or better in barrel rate, xwOBA, and chase rate, and was tied for the league lead in home runs. He may not be the sexiest pick, but Trout will always be appointment viewing in my household, even when I know he’s not swinging at the first pitch.
Isaac Levy-Rubinett: I’m trying to figure out what it would take to knock Shohei Ohtani out of this spot. A child prodigy? Divine intervention? Victor Wembanyama taking a sabbatical to pursue baseball? Absent that, Ohtani remains the best show in sports. He’s a modern-day Paul Bunyan, adding to his legend in increasingly outlandish ways. First, he shifted baseball’s Overton window as a two-way player. Then he won two MVPs and solidified himself as the greatest player alive. Then he moved up the 5, won his third MVP, and led his team to a World Series title. What else does Ohtani have in store? In fairness, 2025 may lack the narrative stakes that defined some of Ohtani’s past seasons; at this point, he doesn’t have much left to prove. But really, who needs narrative when the swing is that majestic? Eight seasons in, Ohtani remains mind-boggling. And on top of all that, after completing the first 50-50 season in MLB history, he’s gearing up for a return to the mound in 2025.
Lex Pryor: Brand me a Yankees exceptionalist, a crude moon-shot worshiper, an eminently casual viewer if you must, but I’ll take that historic colossus in the Bronx with a proclivity for “going boom” with his bat. The question that I end up coming back to is the same one I’ve had in each of the offseasons since Aaron Judge reworked his stance, stopped swinging at breaking balls, and turned into Bonds-lite: What if he keeps this up? For a span of 400-plus games—three calendar years—no. 99 has reached the greatest (chemically and competitively unassailable) peak in the history of right-handed hitting. I don’t know much but, if that’s still going on, I know I’m still watching.
Anthony Dabbundo: Jacob deGrom is one of the most talented pitchers to ever step foot on the mound, and now that he’s not playing for a rival of my favorite team, I’ll be able to enjoy and appreciate his greatness even more. I’m a simple man who will always gravitate toward the best pitchers over the best hitters. Great pitching is like art, and deGrom is the Picasso of his generation. Injuries have robbed baseball fans of too many deGrom starts over the years, so I’m going to watch him and the Rangers as much as possible in 2025.
Ben Lindbergh: Ohtani, obviously! [Gets word that someone else picked Ohtani.] DeGrom, clearly! [Is informed that someone else picked deGrom.] There’s only one possible answer: Paul Skenes. (Honorable mentions: Elly De La Cruz and Roki Sasaki.) Sure, Skenes pitches for the Pirates, who haven’t done nearly enough to surround him with a winning roster, but the 22-year-old righty is baseball’s best young hope to be an old-school star starting pitcher. Extrapolate his rookie performance over 32 starts, and you’re looking at an eight-win season, by Baseball-Reference WAR. And that’s if age, experience, and an expanded arsenal don’t help him pitch even better or deeper into games. I can’t wait to watch his first full season. Just, please, Paul: not too much max effort. Take a cue from an older, wiser deGrom and dial down the velo just a tad in hopes of staying healthy.
Alex Stamas: Logan O’Hoppe. Heading into the All-Star break in 2024, the Angels backstop was putting up offensive numbers to rival those of AL All-Star catchers Adley Rutschman and Salvador Pérez. A late summer slump cooled off his momentum, but he finished the season strong. At his best, O’Hoppe has looked every bit like a future franchise cornerstone behind the plate, and I’m very interested to see if he can make another leap for the Halos in 2025.
Colby Payne: Ronald Acuña Jr.’s 2024 season was frustrating from the start. The 2023 NL MVP hit just four home runs in two months before a torn ACL ended his season in May. With an injury like this, it’s typically the second season post-recovery when a player returns to peak form. But how can I not be excited about a player who hit .337 and stole 73 bases in his last full season? Set to return in May, Acuña will rejoin one of baseball’s best teams in one of its toughest divisions. If he stays healthy, his quest to reclaim MVP—and Atlanta’s quest to reclaim the NL East—will be one of baseball’s best stories.
Who is the most interesting team of 2025?
Lindbergh: The Tigers. Detroit was undoubtedly the most interesting team of late 2024: After dealing Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers at the trade deadline, the Tigers improbably proceeded to rival L.A.’s record over the rest of the regular season, leading the AL in wins down the stretch and sneaking past the Twins and Mariners to make the playoffs and end the Astros’ run of seven consecutive ALCS appearances. How hard will regression bite them, after a fairly slow offseason? Can continued development by young players make up for the fact that “pitching chaos” may not be a sustainable strategy over a full season? Tarik Skubal and Riley Greene are great, but can Colt Keith, Jackson Jobe, Spencer Torkelson and Co. round out a championship-caliber core? Can Flaherty, who re-signed with Detroit after his free agent market failed to materialize, pitch the Tigers to October this time? I’ll be tuning in to find out—and, as always, enjoying Jason Benetti in the broadcast booth.
Comer: The Mets. Steve Cohen bought himself quite a lineup, but how is that pitching staff going to hold up? FanGraphs has the Mets starting rotation projected for 19th in WAR, with 33-year-old Sean Manaea serving as staff “ace” and Kodai Senga—who had one regular-season start in 2024 and was last seen getting rocked by the Dodgers in the NLCS—as the no. 2. My guess: The offense will be elite, but the pitching will disappoint all year and keep the team from reaching heights its payroll suggests it should. What’s more interesting than watching money burn?
Pryor: I don't know if it's the intrafamily ownership melee, the continued descent into payroll hell, or the sheer volume of chances the Padres have at absolutely crashing a summer-long Dodgers coronation, but they’re the squad I can’t seem to keep my eyes off heading into the season. (All it took was the biggest financial behemoth in the history of the sport to make a team with three quarter-billion-plus-dollar contracts look like plucky underdogs). Losing both Blake Snell and Tanner Scott to Big Brother Guggenheim is the kind of offseason leg sweep that’d doom most rosters, but A.J. Preller always seems to find a way to replenish San Diego's talent reserves. The odds have never been steeper; an upset might never be sweeter.
Baker: Not so much a team, but a whole division of ’em: I’m fascinated by the AL East in 2025. The Blue Jays are in put-up-or-the-window-shuts-up mode, with my guy Vladdy eyeing free agency (and the team repeatedly coming up short with other big names). The Yankees, fresh off losing Juan Soto, are trying to prove they haven’t missed their moment—you be the Judge. The Red Sox are the front-runners. The Orioles sure are orange. And thanks to storm damage at the Trop, the Rays will be playing all summer at the Yankees’ open-air spring training venue. Let’s play ball!
Dabbundo: The Arizona Diamondbacks are fascinating because they are one of the most exciting teams in the entire sport and also so clearly second fiddle (at best) in their own division. It’s unusual to go into a season thinking a team could win 95 games and still not really be all that close to a division title, and that’s exactly how I feel about the Snakes. They have one of baseball’s most exciting young stars in Corbin Carroll, added an ace in Corbin Burnes, and have some revenge to enact on the National League after losing five of their final seven games to fall out of the 2024 playoffs.
Stamas: The Oakland—oops, sorry—Las Vegas—oh, right not yet—Sacramento—wait, seriously? It’s just Athletics for the next three seasons? However you want to address them, keep an eye on the A’s as a low-key wild-card contender in 2025. Lawrence Butler backed up his strong finish in 2024 by absolutely raking this spring. He should provide even more pop to a lineup that saw Brent Rooker and Shea Langeliers combine for 68 homers in 2024. With a respectable offense, the addition of Luis Severino at the top of the starting rotation, and flamethrower Mason Miller continuing to anchor the bullpen, the A’s could be a sneaky playoff team this season.
Payne: The Baltimore Orioles are the most interesting team of 2025. A homer pick, sure—I’ve written about them before. But no one truly knows what to expect from this team. After back-to-back playoff trips without a single win to show for it, many expected an aggressive offseason. Instead, Baltimore lost ace Corbin Burnes and longtime slugger Anthony Santander. The Orioles still have one of baseball’s best lineups, but they also have the oldest rotation in MLB and recent injuries to Grayson Rodriguez and Gunnar Henderson raise concerns. The O’s could miss the playoffs or make the World Series, or anything in between. The only thing that’s certain about Baltimore’s 2025 season is that it will provide clarity about the future of the franchise.
Levy-Rubinett: Could this be the Mariners’ year? Seattle has already cleared some of the toughest team-building hurdles—Julio Rodríguez has blossomed into a bona fide cornerstone, and the team has developed arguably the best starting rotation in baseball. And yet, it’s now been a few years since the M’s established themselves as plucky up-and-comers, and their total body of work hasn’t quite measured up to their promise. Their most exciting stretches have repeatedly been undone by putrid offense. It’s now been a quarter century since Seattle won the AL West. This year’s Mariners combine watchability (if you like pitching, at least) with real potential—and mounting pressure to finally put it together in a wide-open American League.
Does the Dodgers' dominant offseason make the MLB season more or less fun?
Baker: When it comes to baseball I’m a simple gal who likes big dopey narratives and having reasons to mock the Dodgers, so giddyup, I guess! Return America’s Pastime to the monoculture! I look forward to watching Ohtani pitch again and—oh no, oh no—I just had the sickening realization that my kids are totally gonna become Dodgers fans. This is hell.
Lindbergh: For fans of other NL West teams—and fans who wish their teams had signed Snell, Sasaki, or Scott—significantly less fun. For a neutral observer, though, there’s nothing sexier than a superteam, and the Dodgers are the only one we have. The wild-card-quality rosters of the rest of the league should enhance the contrast between the Dodgers, who have the best PECOTA projection of the past 20 years, and virtually everyone else. When Ohtani returns to the mound, L.A.’s prospective Glasnow-Snell-Ohtani-Sasaki-Yamamoto-May six-man staff could be a thing of beauty. Who knows how many turns through the rotation that sextet will take together, but if those starters stay healthy—I know, I know—this club could be in for a historic run. And if you think the Dodgers are baseball bullies who are ruining the game, I’ve got good news: Chances are the sport’s supervillains won’t win the World Series, so you’ll probably get to toast their demise, which could be cathartic.
Levy-Rubinett: More. It’s always fun when one great team has a target on its back. The quest to cut down the Dodgers will be one of the defining stories of the 2025 season, and because baseball is particularly unfriendly to dynasties, there should still be plenty of competitive intrigue. Besides, L.A. has, annoyingly, assembled such a likable juggernaut that it will probably be fun to watch even if the Dodgers do roll to a World Series title.
Pryor: I guess this depends on how much enjoyment the baseball viewing public derives from outright hatery. Just thinking about the potential shit-talking menu at the internet’s disposal if the Dodgers go out sad warms this writer’s heart. Generally, I’m a firm believer that baseball finds a way to, ya know, baseball. Things go wrong. Bats get cold. Arms tire out. The only thing I trust in the modern game is its randomness. Plus, even if the Dodgers do win, this is America; I’ll just act like it didn’t happen.
Comer: In theory, L.A.’s dominance is bad for baseball because fan bases from smaller markets can’t compete with their payroll. But here’s the truth about superteams: We love to hate them. It’s the human condition. We’re here to talk shit about “bad guys” and root for underdogs. No one knows King David’s name if not for Goliath.
Payne: The Dodgers’ dominance is great for baseball. An unpopular opinion, I know, but the numbers don’t lie. The 2024 World Series between the Dodgers and Yankees was the most watched since 2017, with viewership up 67 percent from 2023. The Dodgers’ dominance brought casual viewers back to baseball at the perfect time, as the league is more talented than ever. Baseball is arguably in its best position in decades thanks to the star power of the Dodgers and the influx of young stars taking the league by storm. While a long-term Dodgers juggernaut may not seem fun, it’s hard to ignore the excitement and relevance it would bring to the sport. If their dominance fuels a new golden era for baseball, that’s a trade worth making.
Dabbundo: Baseball has a funny way of forcing parity upon us when we least expect it. In some ways, it’s fitting that the Dodgers finally won a full-season World Series in a year when the typical indicators overlooked them. Dynasties and dominant teams are good for sports, and the Dodgers are a great measuring stick for many of baseball’s upper echelon. Maybe a surprise team will play as well as the Dodgers in the regular season. Or maybe L.A. will lose in the playoffs to a team that didn’t even win 90 games. Neither outcome would surprise me.
Stamas: It depends on how things go. If the Dodgers blitz through the season en route to another World Series title, it won’t be a lot of fun if you’re a fan of one of the other 29 teams. But if they fall short of another championship, the trolls will be out in full force ready to bury them the second the “Thank you, fans” post goes live, which I suppose is at least a little fun for everyone other than Dodgers fans.
Give us one bold prediction for the 2025 season.
Lindbergh: I’m repeating a prediction I’ve made elsewhere, but: This season will feature at least 19 teams with a .500 record or better, which would be a record, both in total teams and as a percentage of teams leaguewide. In last year’s preseason staff post, I forecasted an “amorphous, mediocre middle” in the standings, which is what we got: 18 teams finished .500 or better in 2024, a record-tying total. It looks like we’re in for much more of the same. On the morning of Opening Day, FanGraphs actually projects 20 teams to win 81 or more, so this prediction is both bold (it’s unprecedented!) and bland (it’s expected). There are three tiers of teams this season: the Dodgers (and maybe Braves) in the superteam tier; the White Sox, Marlins, Rockies, Angels, and maybe Nationals in the terrible tier; and everyone else in the “pretty decent” tier. Gaze upon the parity that the expanded playoff format has wrought: Almost every fan base has hope, but very few feel confidence. This lack of great teams could be boring eventually, but it’s fairly refreshing after the sport’s recent run of perennial powerhouses. Another nice perk: The fewer clear favorites there are in October, the less whining there will be about postseason randomness.
Stamas: Mike Trout will spend the first half of the season reminding everyone that he’s still one of the greatest in the game. Then he’ll waive his no-trade clause and get dealt to a contender. This would make sense for everyone involved: The Angels desperately need to embrace an actual rebuild, and trading Trout for prospects in addition to freeing up some cash would be a great start. Plus, Trout would get a chance to play meaningful late-season baseball.
Comer: The A’s—who enter the season with a 12 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to FanGraphs—will sneak into the tournament. I might be a little fantasy baseball–pilled (draft Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler!) with this take, but the A’s are better than people think and they play in an AL West that feels eminently winnable. Though the starting rotation projects to be the worst in baseball, I could see Luis Severino and Jeffrey Springs outperforming the Mets’ top duo of Sean Manaea and Kodai Senga. My question is whether the A’s will actually be competing down the stretch of the season, and if not, will general manager David Forst sell his best assets for spare parts at the trade deadline?
Payne: The Washington Nationals will sneak into the playoffs. Fueled by young talent, they’ll boast one of baseball’s fastest offenses. They led the league in steals last year, and now they can expect even more production from CJ Abrams and Luis García Jr., along with top prospects Dylan Crews and James Wood—both of whom will play their first full major league seasons. The biggest question mark? Pitching. The staff, led by former top prospect MacKenzie Gore, must exceed expectations. A strong start could put them in position to trade for reinforcements at the deadline. It’s a long shot, but if their arms can hold up, the Nats could be 2025’s biggest sleeper. (Just don’t bet on it.)
Baker: The Pittsburgh skyline is about to sweep your timelines! Have you ever been to a game at PNC Park? With players like Oneil Cruz and Paul Skenes suiting up for the Pirates this year, even out-of-towners are going to ask themselves and their buddies that question, organize a road trip, and post to Insta: Wow, this place lives up to the hype. (Look, it really does!) (Maybe the Pirates can, too!) Just don’t forget to mix in a visit to the Andy Warhol Museum while you’re there. Feels like the guy would have dug Livvy Dunne.
Pryor: My hot take here is that both New York teams will be wild cards at best. I do not think people are prepared for how challenged the Yankees will be when it comes to consistently scoring runs; they’ve always been a Judge injury away from a ruined season, but they have so few bona fide bats—assuming they don’t get significant internal growth. The Mets are going to score a ton of runs this year, health permitting, but I simply refuse to trust a team over the long haul that has Clay Holmes as its Opening Day starter.
Levy-Rubinett: A playoff game will take place in a Triple-A stadium. (In other words, one of the A’s or Rays—both of whom will play in minor league parks this season—will host a postseason bout.)
Dabbundo: The New York Yankees will miss the playoffs for the second time in three years. The Bronx Bombers lost Juan Soto to the Mets, Gerrit Cole to Tommy John, and Luis Gil for at least a month. Meanwhile, the Red Sox might have a better roster than the Yankees for the first time since 2018, Baltimore has a much deeper lineup, the Rays are always pesky, and the AL Central teams get to play the White Sox 13 times each. The Yankees may be coming off a trip to the World Series, but their path to October is murky.
What is one under-the-radar story line you’re keeping an eye on?
Levy-Rubinett: The perfect imperfection of human umpires. I’m pretty bummed about the potentially imminent introduction of the “automated ball-strike system,” which was tested during spring training games this year and could be introduced to major league play as soon as next season. We don’t need to get every single call just right. Living with unfairness is an integral part of sports. Expanding the zone just a tad so you don’t get burned by a human ump is an integral part of hitting. And blaming the umpire is an integral part of being a fan! MLB has been refreshingly proactive about tweaking rules and gameplay to create a better product; more replay review would undo so much of that progress. I’ll be closely watching—and fervently rooting for—our human umps throughout the 2025 season. At least until they screw over my team.
Comer: I’m curious to see how Dodgers manager Dave Roberts handles his pitching staff, which features as much talent as it does injury risk. Put more plainly, I think this Dodgers team may bring the “load management” debate to baseball. All that matters to L.A. is becoming the first repeat World Series champion since the Yankees secured a three-peat 25 years ago. On paper, health is their biggest competition.
Lindbergh: The possible swan songs of Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, and Clayton Kershaw. This probably won’t be the final season for all three of the era’s best pitchers, but it wouldn’t be shocking to see the trio call it quits after 2025 (which would make for a heck of a Cooperstown class of 2031). Verlander is 42, Scherzer is 40, and Kershaw is 37. They’ve all been banged up in recent years. They’re all on one-year contracts. And they’re coming off a season in which they were collectively below replacement level, according to Baseball-Reference. Here’s hoping they all have more than a little left in the tank, but let’s savor them while we can.
Baker: You know what? I’m pretty excited to attend some VegaSacramentOakland A’s games this season at their Triple-A stadium du jour! This team’s corporate sponsor patch should be clip art of the GeoGuessr guy.
Pryor: How oppressive will the weather be at all of those games in Tampa come July and August? As someone who’s had the privilege of spending more than a bit of his childhood in Florida’s four-month hellwave that it calls summer, I wish all involved parties Godspeed in their unending battle against the forces of humidity. I can’t even imagine how many games will be rained out or how many unsuspecting players will be plagued by biblical bouts of cramping. On the bright side, the Rays might actually fill up their home stadium.
Payne: The Padres at a crossroads. On paper, San Diego has had the talent to compete for a World Series for years, but whether due to injuries, suspensions, or the ever-dominant Dodgers, it’s never gotten over the hump. After the death of owner Peter Seidler in November 2023, the franchise is now run by Peter’s brother, John. Peter was known for aggressive spending, and it’s unclear whether that tack will continue. Dylan Cease has been in trade rumors for months, and key decisions loom at the deadline. Will they sell off stars if the team struggles? Will they challenge the Dodgers and seek reinforcements? The Padres’ direction feels as uncertain as ever, with the potential to shake up the entire league.
Stamas: New City Connect uniforms! Eight teams—the Nationals, D-backs, Red Sox, White Sox, Marlins, Astros, Rockies, and Giants—will be getting new City Connect uniforms this season. Some have already leaked or been announced, but I’m looking forward to seeing the rest, even if it means we see less of the perfection that is the White Sox’s original design.
Dabbundo: The Athletics played to a .500 record in the second half of 2024 and got legitimate breakouts from Lawrence Butler and JJ Bleday. Tyler Soderstrom and rookie Jacob Wilson have a chance to add real depth to this lineup, and Brent Rooker is a bona fide middle-of-the-order slugger. I think the A’s will have an above-average offense and surprise a lot of teams this season with how many runs they can score.
Who will win the World Series?
Lindbergh: Dodgers over, well … woof. We can’t just do Dodgers vs. Braves? No, I suppose L.A. has to have an American League opponent in order to become the first MLB team to successfully defend its title since the 2000 Yankees. According to FanGraphs, the Dodgers’ odds of winning the World Series are more than four times higher than the odds of any individual AL team. What with the weakness of the AL West, the Rangers are probably the best candidate, and the AL East winner will probably be the best junior circuit squad based on true talent. But what the hell—the margins are so small that I’ll throw a bone to a downtrodden division and long-suffering fan base and take the Twins, despite their depth issues and their latest quiet winter. 1965 rematch!
Baker: Am feeling spiritually drawn to the clownish aesthetic of a really hostile Braves–Red Sox World Series. But! Also have a clear and competing vision of Jacob deGrom’s Texas Rangers defeating the Dodgers. Either way, don’t you worry. I will definitely figure out a way to make it all about the Mets.
Pryor: I’m picking chaos. Bryce Harper makes it back to his second World Series. The whole internet points at the Dodgers and laughs hysterically like the crowd did to me as I crawled out of Chavez Ravine after a certain Game 1 walk-off (DO I SOUND HURT???). It turns out Bobby Witt Jr. is really the best shortstop since A-Rod. Unfortunately, he’s no match for the Phanatic, who trips him in the dugout before Game 7, thereby guaranteeing the year’s second Broad Street parade.
Comer: Braves over the Red Sox in seven. The Red Sox are a sneaky good team with a balanced lineup and one of the two best rotations in the AL. I think they’ll win 90-plus games and put up quite a fight against the Braves in the World Series. But ultimately, Atlanta’s taking home its second trophy in five years, due in large part to its three aces (Spencer Strider, Chris Sale, and Spencer Schwellenbach) and some October heroics from Ronald Acuña Jr.
Dabbundo: I could be that contrarian who picks against the Dodgers, but there’s only one team I could even think about picking to beat them in a seven-game series. That team is the Atlanta Braves, whose ceiling is as high as the Dodgers’, in my opinion. Still, I think the Dodgers will be challenged but ultimately prevail in a highly competitive National League before pushing aside the Texas Rangers in the World Series. Texas has a ton of upside and championship pedigree, and the combination of youth (Wyatt Langford and Jack Leiter) plus experience (Corey Seager and Jacob deGrom) will get the Rangers through a wide-open American League before they lose to the Dodgers in six.
Levy-Rubinett: The Dodgers are just impossibly stacked. The National League is loaded with worthy challengers, but I’m not picking against a team that has made the playoffs for 12 straight years and has now put together its strongest roster yet. The American League, by contrast, seems totally up for grabs, so I’ll make a left-field pick and go with the Kansas City Royals to win the AL pennant. This team jumped from 56 wins in 2023 to 86 last season. Bobby Witt Jr. is a cofavorite (along with Aaron Judge) to win MVP, budding ace Cole Ragans is on the short list of AL Cy Young candidates, and the front office has done a nice job filling out the rest of the roster. That said, this hypothetical World Series matchup isn’t particularly close. The Dodgers are in a league of their own.
Payne: The Dodgers will defeat the Rangers. If health stays on their side, the Dodgers will have the depth to repeat as champs. Choosing an American League winner was tougher—every contender has at least one glaring flaw that could derail their pennant hopes. Given all the injuries to the Yankees (and to avoid jinxing my O’s), I landed on the Rangers. The 2023 champs blend young talent with proven stars, giving them the depth to navigate a wide-open AL. But against a powerhouse like the Dodgers, they will fall short.
Stamas: Diamondbacks over Rangers. The Dodgers are rightfully overwhelming favorites to become the first back-to-back World Series champions since the Yankees won three straight from 1998 to 2000, but for the sake of parity, I’m going to zag here. The D-backs led MLB in runs scored in 2024 despite a well-documented sophomore slump from Corbin Carroll. I expect Carroll to return to the superstar level we saw in 2023, when this team swept the Dodgers in the NLDS en route to the NL pennant. When you combine Arizona’s prolific offense with a formidable starting rotation that just added Corbin Burnes, the D-backs should be able to hold their own against anyone. As for the Rangers, I expect a similar bounce-back for their offense in 2025, as well as hopefully better injury luck. Give me a 2023 World Series rematch, with Arizona getting its revenge in six games.
