MLB Power Rankings entering 2025 playoffs

And just like that … 18 teams are gone from the Power Rankings. Thatâ€s right, itâ€s playoff season, which means there are only 12 teams remaining. One of these 12 teams, in a month, is going to be able to call itself champions. Which one? Our voters looked at the final 12 and ranked them in order of their likelihood to win a World Series and how itâ€s all lining up for them heading into the postseason.

These rankings, as always, are compiled from MLB.com contributors whose names you can find at the bottom of this (and every) piece, but the words are mine. If you dislike the rankings, yell at all of us. But if you dislike the words, feel free to yell at me.

In these rankings, in honor of the possibility of them winning that World Series, weâ€ll take a look at what it would mean for each team, franchise and fanbase, were they to take home the Commissionerâ€s Trophy.

1. Phillies (previously: 2)
Kyle Schwarber — you may vaguely remember a cold night in Cleveland nine Octobers ago — and Trea Turner have won World Series before, so the idea that the Phillies are a bunch of veterans trying to win that long-elusive World Series is a little overstated. But Bryce Harperâ€s career is going to feel incomplete without a ring. And this may be as good a chance as heâ€ll ever have.

2. Dodgers (previously: 3)
No one has won two World Series in a row this century, and it would be fitting if the Dodgers — undeniably the team of the century so far — were the first team to do it. Also, a title would be quite the way for Clayton Kershaw to say goodbye, wouldnâ€t it?

3. Mariners (previously: 6)
The Mariners remain the only team in baseball to never to reach a World Series, an absurd fact considering how many great players and teams they’ve have had in their history. So just making one would be the best moment in franchise history. But winning one? There might end up being statues of every player on this team in downtown Seattle.

4. Brewers (previously: 1)
It has been so long since the Brewers made their lone World Series that the team they played has been their division rival for two decades now. For Milwaukee to win the World Series with the franchiseâ€s best regular-season record, the year we lost Bob Uecker, would feel like the universe smiling on the famously loyal Brewers fans.

5. Yankees (previously: 7)
You may have noticed that the Yankees havenâ€t won a World Series in 16 years, which is like 160 for any other franchise. More to the point: Aaron Judge is an all-time Yankee already, but at some point, heâ€s going to have to win a World Series in pinstripes, isnâ€t he?

6. Blue Jays (previously: 4)
The Jays have already justified this whole new era of players with how this season has gone, but winning the first title in 30 years would erase the bad memories of the José Bautista teams never quite getting where they wanted to go.

7. Cubs (previously: 5)
The notion of the Cubs winning the World Series was a central MLB storyline for more than 100 years, so weâ€re not going to let that little 2016 title make us think it wouldnâ€t be a huge, huge deal if the Cubs won the World Series again. Maybe they could do it at Wrigley Field this time.

8. Padres (previously: 11)
The Padres are the only big four professional team left in San Diego, and the city has gotten behind them in a way thatâ€s nearly unprecedented in sports right now. Theyâ€ve of course also never won a World Series, which means their legend, were they to do so this year, would veer toward the infinite.

9. Red Sox (previously: 8)
Can you imagine if the year they trade Rafael Devers and lose two of their best young players to injury is the year the Red Sox win another World Series?

10. Tigers (previously: 10)
The fall off from the first half should not distract from the fact that this has been a breakthrough season for the Tigers, a team that was regularly losing 100-plus games not long ago. Detroit loves its Tigers, and they are long, long overdue for a champion.

11. Guardians (previously: 9)
If you were to write a script for how the Guardians finally win that World Series, and you couldnâ€t already use the Major League script, wouldnâ€t you go with “trade away key players at the deadline of a season that seems long lost … and then go on a crazy run leading into a postseason like no other?†Also: José Ramírez becomes such a Cleveland legend that they might project his image on buildings downtown for the next 50 years.

12. Reds (previously: 14)
Terry Francona has won three pennants and two World Series, and heâ€ll of course be forever known as the skipper who broke the Curse of the Bambino. But winning a World Series again? With the Reds? Forget the Hall of Fame … can he be knighted somehow?

Voters: Nathalie Alonso, Jason Catania, Daniel Feldman, Will Leitch, Travis Miller, Brian Murphy, Arturo Pardavila, Andrew Simon, David Venn, Zac Vierra.

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