10 Bold Predictions For The MLB Postseason And Predictions On Every Playoff Series

By The Daily Wire (World News) | Created at 2026-09-29 16:55:50 | Updated at 2026-09-29 19:30:12 7 hours ago

This article was written by Jason Foster and published on Sport & State, a new media company founded by Clay Travis that is built around sports, culture, original voices, and live conversation.

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Watch postseason baseball for any significant time, and you quickly realize that there’s often no rhyme or reason to anything. Good teams flop, mediocre teams surge, All-Stars stink, and replacement-level guys become heroes.

All that to say, trying to predict the MLB postseason will always be a fool’s errand. So, of course, I’m gonna do it anyway.

Before the postseason starts Tuesday afternoon, here are my bold predictions for the next month, followed by my general predictions for how every series will play out.

Feel free to keep score and laugh at me later.

The Dodgers will not win the World Series

Sorry, LA. There will be no three-peat. As my colleague Matt Foley pointed out recently, even the best teams have, at best, around a 23 percent chance to win the World Series. That means there’s a greater than 75 percent chance that a team other than the Dodgers will be the last one to pour champagne. In a short series, anybody can beat anybody. This is a feature of baseball, not a bug. But if you want drama …

Every Wild Card Series will go the distance

Yes, the Wild Card round will provide some of the greatest drama of the entire postseason. Every series will go down to the wire, making everything absolutely excruciating for fans of the Phillies, Braves, Cubs, Padres, White Sox, Astros, Red Sox and Yankees. For people with no rooting interest, this may prove to be the most enjoyable round of the whole thing. Speaking of enjoyable …

Red Sox vs. Yankees will (finally) be epic

It’s been a while since the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry has felt meaningful to anyone outside those fan bases. For the average fan, it’s been, what, 22 years (2004 ALCS) since it really felt like a big deal? Well, their AL Wild Card Series will reignite what was once considered the greatest rivalry in sports with three games that will really bring the goods. We’re talking a back-and-forth, roller coaster ride the whole time. It’ll also lead to a groundswell of support among fans to turn the Wild Card round into a best-of-five.

The biggest salary cap talking point will take a hit

The Rays and Brewers, both of which won the most games in their respective league, despite having the 19th- (Brewers) and 25th (Rays)-ranked payrolls, will really put a kink in the idea that MLB needs a salary cap so small-market teams can actually hope to win the World Series. While both teams already do a good job of bringing that point into question, their showing this postseason will make it a lot harder to sell the idea that the Dodgers have ruined baseball with their bottomless pit of money. Milwaukee and Tampa Bay will have some help with this because …

The Guardians will reach the ALCS

There’s a Cinderella team in every postseason. This year’s version will be the Guardians of the mediocre AL Central. Their scrappy brand of 84-win baseball will elevate the Guardians to Why not us? status as they pick up a slew of bandwagon fans along the way who long for a small-market team — even a mediocre one — to upset one of the hated big boys. But speaking of mid …

The Astros will advance

Actually, it was Houston that was the definition of mediocre this season, winning the AL West with an 81-81 record — the first time ever that an MLB team won its division without finishing above .500. Despite that, the Astros will advance past the Wild Card round. Yes, the host Astros will bounce the 84-78 White Sox and advance to the ALDS to face those AL Central-winning Guardians. It may not seem sexy on the surface, but it doesn’t mean their series won’t be entertaining. Remember: Baseball loves to be weird, especially in October.

Someone who started the season in the minors will have a huge moment

Baseball history has shown us that postseason stardom is rarely limited to, well, the stars. The October spotlight loves to smile on guys who most fans have never heard of to give them a place in postseason immortality — or at least a place on postseason highlight montages for a few years. Count on it happening again this season. But let’s get specific: There will be a player who started the season in the minor leagues who delivers a big clutch hit, a big inning on the mound or a game-changing defensive play. Could be a rookie, could be a journeyman. But speaking of big moments …

Someone will have a three-homer game

Three homers in a playoff game used to be pretty rare. From 1926 through 1978, it happened just five times. But it’s happened eight times since 2002, most recently last season, when Shohei Ohtani launched three dingers against the Brewers in the NLCS. But it’s not always a big name who does it. Remember Adam Kennedy’s three-homer game? Or Chris Taylor’s? Anyone can do it in October, it seems. I can’t wait for this year’s big reveal.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto will pitch another complete game

Yamamoto did it TWICE last season for the world champion Dodgers, once in the NLCS and again in the World Series. Before that, it hadn’t happened since Justin Verlander went the distance in Game 2 of the 2017 ALCS. But Yamamoto will do it again this October. It could come in the NLDS, the NLCS or the World Series, but it’s gonna happen. Book it. He’s just built differently. Speaking of good pitching …

Someone will flirt with a perfect game

There have been three no-hitters in postseason history: Don Larsen’s perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series, Roy Halladay’s no-no in Game 1 of the 2010 NLDS and the Astros’ combined no-hitter in Game 4 of the 2022 World Series. But someone will toy with our emotions this postseason and flirt with perfection. What do I mean by “flirt?” A minimum of six innings. That’s enough to get people thinking, “Man, this could really happen.” Alas, the perfecto bid will be wrecked at some point in the seventh inning or later, probably by a Really Annoying Postseason Guy.

Bonus: Someone will hit for the cycle

It’s been nearly a decade since Brock Holt of the Red Sox produced the only cycle in postseason history during Game 3 of the 2018 ALDS. But Holt will get some company this postseason after someone delivers a truly epic game. There are seemingly dozens of players who are a genuine threat to do this. It could be Ronald Acuña Jr., it could be Jarren Duran, it could be Jose Altuve, it could be Mookie Betts, it could be Ohtani or it could be a slew of other guys. The mystery is half the fun.