Happy New Year, baseball fans!
What the future of sports holds as the calendar turns to 2026 an epic 2025We asked our MLB experts to give us their boldest predictions about what the new year will bring.
From breakout teams to the topics that will rule the next 12 months, let’s take a look into the crystal ball of the topics we’ll all be talking about in 2026.
judging teams
baltimore orioles will win the 2026 world series
The Orioles finished last in the AL East in 2025, but their 75 wins were the most for fifth-place entrants. Since then, the franchise has added a contingent of veterans around its young core, including 1B pete alonsoOf taylor wardrhp shane falcon And zach eflin be close to Ryan Helsley,
Gunnar Henderson He should return to his 2024 form. trevor rogers Can continue with your 2025 form. top prospect Samuel Basal Will be a breakout star. The Orioles aren’t messing around, and don’t be surprised when jackson holiday Legit becomes an AL All-Star and he goes 30/30. , Eric Carabelle
seattle mariners Will win the franchise’s first World Series title
this will be the year julio rodriguez Fully emerges as one of the best players in the game, cal raleigh His reign as the best catcher in the majors continued and Colt Emerson was promoted to the big leagues in May and won the AL Rookie of the Year award. The Mariners are in the early stages of an extended period of dominance that will be similar to what the Astros achieved from 2015-24. — Buster Olney
Dominican Republic spoils Japan-US WBC final rematch
Defending champion Japan will join shohei ohtani And yoshinobu yamamoto For the 2026 World Baseball Classic. USA’s roster will be filled with more choices than ever aaron judgeRaleigh, bobby wit jr, kyle schwarber, tariq skubal And Paul SkenesEverything points towards a rematch of the 2023 final,
Except that the Dominican Republic would win. Its powerhouse lineup features a pitcher’s nightmare juan soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., jose ramirez, Geraldo PerdomoJulio Rodriguez, Ketel Marte, junior caminero, Fernando Tatis Jr., eli de la cruz and maybe manny machadoManager Albert Pujols will have a difficult time deciding who to play,
However, the key will be a better staff that can include christopher sanchez, freddy peralta, framber valdez, luis castillo, sandy alcantara, jhon duran And brian abreu –If they all commit to playing. After winning in 2013, DR had early exits in 2017 (second round) and 2023 (group play) and went only 6–4. Looking for some memorable home runs, some big bat flips and maybe an undefeated run to the championship. –David Scoenfield
Year of the Pirates?
pittsburgh pirates Will reach postseason for first time since 2015
The top priority for the Pirates this offseason was clear: upgrade an offense that ranked last in the majors in runs scored wherever possible to avoid wasting another year of Paul Skenes and the rest of the strong pitching staff. so far so good. The Pirates have failed to land one of the top hitters available this winter after showing genuine interest in Kyle Schwarber Josh Naylor among others, but they still managed to significantly boost the lineup with the first baseman/designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn and second baseman brandon lowe plus fast outfielder jake mangum and announced outfield prospect jostinxon garcia Rider.
The numbers indicate the potential for substantial improvement:
spencer horwitz Led the Pirates with a 119 wRC+ and joey bart Was the only other Pirate above league average with a 101 wRC+ last season. Meanwhile, O’Hearn, a first-time All-Star in 2025, posted a 127 wRC+. Lowe recorded a score of 114.
O’Neil Cruz tops Pittsburgh with 20 home runs brian reynolds Finished second with 16. Lowe alone hit 31 home runs and O’Hearn drove in 17.
Then there’s shortstop Connor Griffin, who will turn 20 in April and could be on the Pirates’ roster by then after reaching and starring in Double-A last season.
Pittsburgh remains 12 games behind 83-win cincinnati reds For the third wild card spot. Chances are 83 wins won’t be enough to reach the postseason in 2026, so the Pirates will need to make a big jump to end their postseason drought. But if the pitching staff continues where it left off — the group posted the seventh-best ERA in baseball, with Skenes compiling a 1.97 ERA and winning the NL Cy Young Award — and the lineup additions play up to their potential, the Pirates could make real noise. –Jorge Castillo
Connor Griffin wins the 2026 NL Rookie of the Year award, and the Pirates win the NL Central
Griffin, baseball’s top prospect entering 2026, has already been discussed as a candidate to earn the Opening Day shortstop job, and he’s a five-tool player who should force his way into the Pirates’ lineup, perhaps on a Paul Skenes-like May timetable, quickly.
Griffin’s arrival will continue the Pirates’ youth movement, and while the team will need to make the right free agent moves through the rest of this winter as well as the offseason before the trade deadline, they should take a notable step forward in 2026. With the NL Central wide open in my estimation, the early Pirates surge gives them momentum heading into October. – Tristan Cockcroft
blockbuster moves
skubal will be traded los angeles dodgers in july
For a variety of reasons – from the rarity of a three-peat to the possibility of a new economic landscape starting in 2027 – the Dodgers will surely push all of their chips into the middle of the table in their quest for another title.
If this move leads them to a third consecutive championship, they could also afford to trade for Skubal as a rental, whereas almost any other team would need to immediately sign him to a long-term deal to justify giving up those prospects, which would undoubtedly be required to land a back-to-back Cy Young Award winner. If the Tigers fall out of the race, L.A. would make a lot of sense as a landing spot for Skubal — assuming he isn’t traded in the coming weeks. –Jesse Rogers
kyle tucker Will settle on ‘pillow contract’
Entering the offseason, Kelly McDaniels projected an 11-year, $418 million deal for Tucker, the consensus top free agent on the market. But history suggests caution: Most free agent mega-contracts are completed in the early winter, Manny Machado (February 21, 2019) and bryce harper (March 1, 2019) stand out as notable outliers. As 2026 begins, if Tucker turns his attention toward a shorter, higher-AAV deal, nearly every big-market club will have a reason to get involved. — Paul Hembekides
Themes that will rule 2026
This will be an important year for small market clubs
At least half of next season’s 12-team playoff field will include teams from the bottom half of the payroll rankings, including at least three teams from the bottom 10.
Leading bottom-10 low-paid contenders: pittsburgh pirates, miami marlins, cleveland patron, cincinnati reds and athletics, although the actual payroll hierarchy remains to be seen. But there are plenty of small-market teams that seem to be making an effort, and it would be great to see the rise of such teams next October. And it will be really interesting to see what kind of impact a massive decline in the postseason by revenue-sharing recipients has on disappointing labor negotiations. — Bradford Doolittle
Moving from the basement to the postseason will become the latest trend
The two teams that made the 2026 playoffs will be in last place in their division in 2025 — and neither will the Orioles. While worst-to-first turnarounds are not unheard of, last year’s six Cellar residents averaged just 64.5 wins and 28.5 games to first. Earning a wild-card spot will likely require an improvement from 18 to 20 wins.
For Baltimore, just a year removed from a 91-win season, turning things around isn’t so easy. Wild About a concept, even playing in a stacked AL East… but we’re going to go out on a limb and predict at least a pair of postseason appearances ahead chicago white sox, Los Angeles Angels, Washington Nationalspittsburgh pirates and colorado rockies, — AJ Maas
Anyone who hits less than 40 in 2025 will have a 50-homer season
This time last year, predicting that Cal Raley, with a career-high 34 long balls, would hit 60 homers in 2025 would have drawn a lot of laughs. Although I’m not willing to go that far, I would say that history repeats itself by giving us a new member of the 50-home run club who has never been out of the 30s before.
Three main candidates will be in focus: james wood, riley green And Nick KurtzGreen hit 36 home runs last season and Wood hit 32, even though they both finished in the bottom five in K%, While neither of them are going to lead the league in batting average, they are both still young and if either of them can raise their strikeout rate from the low 30% range to the Kyle Schwarber or Cal Raley range (26-27%), 50 home runs could become a distinct possibility,
Kurtz, on the other hand, is a simple math bet coming off a rookie season in which he hit 36 home runs in just 117 games. –Dan Mullen
Shohei Ohtani will win NL Cy Young
He won the World Series in his first trip to the postseason – then another – and started the 50/50 club in a year in which he could not pitch, becoming the first full-time designated hitter to win MVP. He now has four of those trophies, all in a span of just five years. But there is one thing left for Ohtani to do to establish himself as the greatest baseball player of all time, and that is to assert his dominance as a pitcher.
Don’t think for a second that he hasn’t noticed this. Because of the praise he has received for his offensive dominance and two-way personality, Ohtani’s pitching has long been considered inferior to his hitting. Some wondered whether he should abandon it altogether. This year, sharing the rotation with his two countrymen and benefiting from the Dodgers’ resources, will be the year Ohtani dominates the mound like never before.
By the end of it, there will be no doubt – no one will or will ever be like Shohei Ohtani. – Alden Gonzalez
