How All 12 MLB Playoff Team Rosters Were Built For 2025

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Jose Ramirez (left) and Steven Kawn (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)

Building a successful MLB playoff roster requires being open to acquiring talent through any and all means. And this year’s postseason rosters feature players who took many different paths to success.

The Brewers, for example, picked up infielder Isaac Collins as a minor league Rule 5 pick in December 2022. At the time, it looked like just a useful MiLB roster addition. But Collins kept hitting and getting on base, and this year he proved to be a very valuable part of the Brewers’ outfield.

In Boston, waiver claim Romy Gonzalez helped the Red Sox fill the hole created by Triston Casas’ injury while MLB Rule 5 pick Garrett Whitlock is a key part of the team’s bullpen. Reds center fielder TJ Friedl was also a very astute pick-up as a non-drafted free agent.

And while MLB free agents like Shohei Ohtani, Bryce Harper, Max Fried and Cody Bellinger are vital to their teams’ playoff hopes, under-the-radar MiLB free agent acquisitions like Tobias Myers, Gavin Sheets and Jake Bauers have also contributed.

With that diversity in mind, we’re presenting a look at how all 12 MLB playoff teams were built this season. Since all rosters are not officially set (and teams with first-round byes wonâ€t set them until the end of the week), we are using the final 28-man rosters from Sunday.

For this exercise, we are looking at the way the team acquired a player initially. For example, if a player was originally acquired by trade and then re-signed as a free agent, weâ€re treating that as a trade acquisition.

Also, for Japanese and Cuban free agents, we are treating those as international signings. If you’d rather consider those players as MLB free agents, add another free agent signing for the Blue Jays (Yariel Rodriguez), one for the Red Sox (Masataka Yoshida), one for the Cubs (Seiya Suzuki), one for the Padres (Yuki Matsui) and three for the Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki and Hyesong Kim).Â

How 2025 Playoff Teams Were Built

It may surprise you, but the largest proportion of 2025 postseason rosters are not players who were drafted and signed or signed as MLB free agents. Instead, these players were mostly acquired via trades. More than one out of every three players on 2025 playoff rosters were acquired by trade.

ACQUIREDNUMBER OF PlayersPercentageTrade12436.90%Draft7221.43%Free Agent6017.86%International339.82%MiLB Free Agent298.63%Waivers102.98%NDFA51.49%Rule 520.60%MiLB Rule 510.30%

The Brewers roster the most players acquired by trade with 15. And those trades were more than just peripheral additions, too, as those players helped to establish the core of the 2025 team.

When the Brewers acquired Christian Yelich, they were getting an established MLB regular, although he blossomed further as a Brewers. But in many cases, the Brewers have made trades that were more subtle and later turned into key moves, such as landing players like Freddy Peralta, Trevor Megill, Quinn Priester, Caleb Durbin, Chad Patrick and Andrew Vaughn.

The Mariners (14 traded players) were right behind the Brewers when it came to making trades. The acquisition of Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suarez at the trade deadline helped fix holes in the club’s lineup, but it was past moves involving the likes of Randy Arozarena, Andres Munoz, Luis Castillo and J.P. Crawford that played an even bigger role in the Mariners winning the AL West.

The Most Homegrown Team

The Guardians are, without a doubt, the most “homegrown†of all 12 playoff teams. Cleveland has 18 players who originally signed with them still on their roster—no other team has more than 13.

And itâ€s not just about numbers to fill out a roster. Between ace Gavin Williams, all-star Steven Kwan and all-time Guardians great Jose Ramirez, the bulk of the teamâ€s star power comes from players who have been part of the Cleveland organization only as pros.

The Guardians could send out a lineup featuring homegrown talent at every spot around the diamond from catcher (Bo Naylor) to first base (C.J. Kayfus), second base (Daniel Schneemann), shortstop (Gabriel Arias), third base (Ramirez), left field (Steven Kwan), center field (Angel Martinez) and right field (Jhonkensy Noel, Jonathan Rodriguez or George Valera).

And with 2022 first-round draft pick Chase DeLauter added to the postseason roster, it only deepens Cleveland’s homegrown persona.

But teams donâ€t have to be homegrown to be able to make the playoffs on a limited payroll. The Brewers only have six homegrown players slated to be on their roster, and they had the best record in baseball with a bottom-third payroll.

Which Org Produced The Most Players On Playoff Teams?

Thanks to their 18 homegrown players, the Guardians got a nice head start on producing the most postseason players. There are 27 players who first signed with the Guardians on playoff teams. The Dodgers are second with 23, followed by the Padres (20), Mariners (20) and Cubs (18).

Of the 20 Padres players on playoff teams, only six are still with the organization.

Of the 30 MLB teams, the Rockies are last with three original Colorado players on playoff rosters: Ryan McMahon, Trevor Story and Isaac Collins.

Original TeamPlayersOriginal TeamPlayersCleveland Guardians27Texas Rangers9Los Angeles Dodgers23Athletics8San Diego Padres20Baltimore Orioles8Seattle Mariners20Chicago White Sox8Chicago Cubs18Kansas City Royals8Cincinnati Reds17Pittsburgh Pirates8New York Yankees17Tampa Bay Rays8Detroit Tigers14Miami Marlins7Milwaukee Brewers13St. Louis Cardinals7Arizona Diamondbacks12Atlanta Braves6Boston Red Sox12Washington Nationals6Houston Astros12New York Mets5Philadelphia Phillies11San Francisco Giants5Toronto Blue Jays11Los Angeles Angels4Minnesota Twins9Colorado Rockies3

Teams That Struck Gold In The Draft

Each playoff team features key players landed in the draft, but some rely more on the draft than others. The homegrown Guardians led the way with 12 draftees, but the Reds and Tigers are also particularly well-stocked with drafted talent.

The Reds feature first-round picks from 2015 (Tyler Stephenson), 2017 (Hunter Greene), 2019 (Nick Lodolo), 2021 (Matt McLain) and 2024 (Chase Burns) on their roster in addition to 2022 supplemental first-round pick (Sal Stewart), 2015 second-rounder (Tony Santillan), 2021 second-rounder (Andrew Abbott) and a pair of sixth-round picks (Graham Ashcraft, 2019 and Zach Maxwell, 2022).

In addition to the likely back-to-back Cy Young Award-winner in Tarik Skubal (2019 ninth round), the Tigers have 2018 first-rounder Casey Mize, 2019 first-rounder Riley Greene and 2020 first-rounder Spencer Torkelson on their roster. The team also has catcher Dillon Dingler (2020, second round), outfielders Parker Meadows (2018, second round) and Kerry Carpenter (2019, 19th round) and pitchers Brant Hurter (2021, seventh round), Troy Melton (2022, fourth round) and Will Vest (2022, 12th round).

Teams That Nailed The International Market

The Dodgers have the most international signings, but as we noted at the top, three of those are players who were already established in foreign professional leagues. Andy Pages and Edgardo Henriquez are the team’s international amateur acquisitions.

The Blue Jays have three international amateur signings. It’s hard to do better than the 2015 signing of first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. followed a year later by inking catcher Alejandro Kirk.

Teams That Hit On MLB Free Agents

The Phillies lead all playoff teams with nine MLB free agents. Philadelphia has made a point of supplementing its roster with stars, and it’s hard to complain about the results. The team’s four most productive position players this season were all free agents: Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto. Though he’s injured, Zack Wheeler has also been excellent.

The Yankees, meanwhile, have managed to blend homegrown stars like Aaron Judge with a free agent-led rotation. FA signings Max Fried and Carlos Rodon both stepped up this year after Gerrit Cole missed the entire season with an elbow injury. Cody Bellinger proved a vital addition to the outfield as well.

It Takes All Kinds

The Red Sox are a large-market team, but they also are the playoff team that has acquired players in more diverse ways than anyone else. Their roster consists of free agent signings like Aroldis Chapman, Trevor Story and Alex Bregman paired with international signings (Ceddanne Rafaela), draftees (Jarren Duran), trade pickups (Wilyer Abreu, Carlos Narvaez), Rule 5 picks (Garrett Whitlock) and MiLB free agent signings (Zack Kelly, Nate Eaton and Rob Refsnyder).

Savvy Traders

The Cubs have a relatively normal roster composition, but the team’s ability to acquire key regulars in trades has gotten them back to the postseason. Landing Pete Crow-Armstrong, Kyle Tucker and Michael Busch in deals gave the team the offensive punch that had been lacking.

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