National League
While the American League has been home to a scant few upsets, it’s been business as usual in the National League.
The Dodgers dismantled an upstart Cincinnati Reds squad in the wild card thanks to stalwart pitching performances from Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and just dispatched the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Division Series (NLDS). Three-time league MVP Shohei Ohtani has been ice-cold despite his team’s hot start, batting a paltry .173 average and pitching to an unremarkable 4.50 ERA thus far in the playoff gambit.
The opposite can be said for Mookie Betts, whose .409 batting average (pre-NLDS) currently stands as the team’s best. His efforts have been supplanted by Teoscar and Enrique Hernández (no relation), who have accounted for over 50% of the team’s RBI total.
Bullpen woes were the Dodgers’ biggest concern entering the postseason, but they appear to have been remedied thanks to an unlikely hero: Roki Sasaki. After one of the most disappointing rookie seasons in recent memory, Sasaki altered his mechanics and switched his position to team closer in a last-ditch effort to make the team’s playoff roster.
So far, it’s been a smashing success — Sasaki’s velocity has risen to a blistering 100 mph average, and he hasn’t allowed a single run in four postseason appearances. While the Dodgers’ bullpen is still marked by uncertainty, Sasaki may be the piece de resistance for a possible championship repeat in LA.
With the Dodgers’ ticket to the NLCS punched for a second straight season, all eyes turn to the Brewers and Cubs series to see which NL Central Club will face the Blue Crew in the semifinal.
The series is currently at two games apiece heading into a decisive Game 5.
Despite Chicago finishing a distant five games behind Milwaukee in the regular season, they’ve managed to massively outperform postseason expectations thanks to standout hitting performances by Michael Busch and Nico Hoerner, whose hitting prowess managed to oust the powerhouse San Diego Padres in the wild card round. On the mound, Jameson Taillon has dazzled for the Cubs, sporting a 2.25 ERA through two postseason starts.
Milwaukee’s postseason offense has been the epitome of feast or famine thus far. Jackson Churio, William Contreras and Andrew Vaughn have been fantastic at the plate, but they currently account for more than half of Milwaukee’s runs scored. Top-heavy offenses tend to flame out come playoff time, and Milwaukee must develop a more balanced scoring approach if they hope to reach the World Series for the first time in franchise history.
The Brewers’ pitching performance is also somewhat worrying, as none of their starters have pitched six innings this postseason. This has led to a heavier workload for the team’s bullpen, which isn’t exactly ideal in a playoff race that tends to be more of a marathon than a sprint. Even if the Brewers manage to outlast Chicago, defeating the Dodgers with a worn-down pitching group will be a truly herculean task.
After a four-game rout of the Brewers, the Dodgers are on their way to their second consecutive World Series. Brewers bats were simply no match for the Dodgers star-studded rotation, as the Brew Crew hit .118 as a team — the lowest mark of a team in any postseason series of three games or more. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and the magnificent Shohei Ohtani all impressed. Yamamoto went the distance in Game 2, throwing a three hit shutout, just one night after Blake Snell delivered eight dominant innings. Those 17 combined innings from the first two starters are the most of any postseason team since the 2005 White Sox. Roki Sasaki has solidified himself in the closer role, having earned the save in the series clinching Game 4.
Ohtani, unsurprisingly, was the star of the show. The two-way legend lived up to his name as the $700 million man — delivering one of the greatest performances in the history of sports. With an opportunity to win and advance to the World Series, Ohtani pitched six shutout innings with 10 punchouts, allowing only two hits. He also belted three home runs that traveled a combined 1,342 feet. The lights never seem to be too bright for the Greatest Shoh on Earth. If the Dodgers repeat, there will surely be extended discourse about a salary cap (and salary floor) when the MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement expires after the 2026 season.
American League
After a true rollercoaster ride of a season, the Boston Red Sox were eliminated from playoff contention following a thrilling Wildcard series in the Bronx. The team died how they lived, ultimately letting down rookie starter Connelly Early with a cacophony of defensive mistakes in Game 3. With this loss, the Red Sox are the first team to lose a Wildcard series after winning the first game since the playoffs expanded in 2022.
Injury may have been the final nail in the coffin. After losing stud rookie outfielder Roman Anthony to an oblique strain in August, the offense lost all its sparkle. Mired in a prolonged slump since his return from injury in July, Alex Bregman was unable to be the offensive cornerstone the team needed.
It would be a shame not to acknowledge the steps forward this team took in 2025. Garrett Crochet has been exactly as advertised — and more. As the true ace of the staff, Crochet posted massive numbers in his first year with the team and dominated the Yankees in Game 1 of the Wildcard. The rookies continue to improve, especially on the mound, with Early and Payton Tolle poised to become stars. After three seasons of mediocrity and injury, shortstop Trevor Story showed his full potential, leading the team in RBIs with 96. The offseason will be full of questions — the main mystery being what will be done with the funds that were “saved” on trading superstar Rafael Devers in the middle of the season.
Yankees rookie hurler Cam Schlittler dazzled in Game 3, dismantling the Sox’ bats for eight innings of shutout ball. 2025 AL MVP recipient Aaron Judge did his best to beat the allegations of disappearing in the postseason by hitting multiple singles. This was enough to best the dejected Red Sox, but the Bronx Bombers ran into a buzzsaw in the Division Series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Toronto had their way with the Yankees, who narrowly avoided getting swept, and instead lost in four games. Judge again tried his best to finally make his mark on the postseason by hitting an ultimately meaningless game-tying (wind-aided) three run homer in Game 3. Instead, the Blue Jays powerhouse silenced Judge and the Yankees’ Game 3 comeback, running them over in Game 4. Jays’ superstar Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was at the forefront of the offensive onslaught, batting .529 with multiple home runs over the series and a dramatic grand slam in Game 2. The Blue Jays will be going to their first ALCS since 2016.
The other AL wildcard matchup began with the Tigers and Guardians, two AL Central teams who experienced dramatically different ends to their regular seasons. The Detroit Tigers led the Central for most of the season, until complete collapse struck in the home stretch, causing the Tigers to go 2–8 in their last 10 games. The Guardians surged as the Tigers sank, going 7–3 to win the division. Ultimately, the Guardians paltry offense was not enough for the Tigers bats and likely AL Cy Young Tarik Skubal, as the Guards fell to the Tigers in three games.
With renewed confidence, The Tigers turned to face the Mariners in the Division Series. A team that has always been dominant on the pitching front, the boys in Seattle finally went all in at the trade deadline to acquire some offense—coming in the forms of Josh Naylor and homerun leader at the time Eugenio Suárez. Combined with one of the best catching seasons of all time by Cal Raleigh in which he hit 60 home runs (only two shy of Judge’s all time AL record 62 in 2022), the Mariners finally had the thump to make a deep run.
After a thrilling 15 inning battle in Game 5 at T-Mobile park, the Mariners came out on top over the Tigers. The five-game war featured fireworks on both sides, punctuated by unsung hero Jorge Polanco delivering the series winning walk-off hit. Mariners fans were delighted to see their team advance to the ALCS at home for the first time since 2001. In a matchup of AL juggernauts, the final stage was set: Blue Jays versus the Mariners for a chance to play on the biggest stage in baseball.
Sports are, above all else, a game of emotions. It’s a truly incomparable medium, capable of transforming vibrant optimism into sheer mortification in the span of seconds. Perhaps no team embodies the fickle nature of sports more than the Seattle Mariners, who routinely torment their fans in ways so inconceivable they can only be referred to as art.
Just one week ago, the Mariners were on top of the baseball world. Fresh off a dominant two-game road stretch against the Blue Jays, Seattle’s squad appeared poised to march into the first World Series in team history. Toronto stormed back to tie the series in Games 3 and 4, but the Mariners struck a seemingly decisive blow in Game 5 when struggling slugger Eugenio Suarez blasted a grand slam to put the Mariners on the precipice of the promised land.
Toronto decisively captured the Series’ sixth game thanks to the heroics of superstar first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., leaving Seattle with one final opportunity to break their half-century long World Series drought. The Mariners rocketed out to a 3–1 lead late in Game 7 thanks to Raleigh crushing an AL-record 65th home run, and long-suffering Mariners fans awaited their seemingly inevitable vindication.
But one swing can change everything.
Toronto outfielder George Springer — a longstanding Mariners nemesis dating back to his days as a Houston Astro — obliterated a three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, ripping the hearts out of every Seattleite. The next two innings saw an utterly despondent Seattle squad roll right into their grave thanks to some truly apathetic at-bats. Game over. With a chance to launch themselves into a new era, the Mariners instead plummeted back into the comforting embrace of eternal despair.
The Blue Jays now have their eyes set on championship glory. While they don’t equal the Dodgers on paper, this past series has illustrated Toronto’s apparent ability to will itself back from the brink of defeat. This is a team that can never be counted out of any contest, but now they must face their tallest task of the season with the defending champion Dodgers standing in the way of eternal glory. Will Toronto’s miraculous run propel them to the top of the mountain, or will they be crushed by the Dodger machine?
Contact Mac Ribner at ribner@oxy.edu and Ben Petteruti at petteruti@oxy.edu
