The 2026 MLB playoff field was nearly cut in half Wednesday night. The Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees and San Diego Padres were all eliminated, while the Cleveland Guardians were the only team that had been trailing and still advanced.
The World Series champion will not be crowned for a while yet, and impatient fans may want to know who it will be. Here is what the latest expert predictions and oddsmakers’ lines suggest.
A First-Time Title in Milwaukee?
Five MLB franchises have never won a World Series. A few experts from ESPN think the Milwaukee Brewers could remove themselves from that group.
In a recent set of bold playoff predictions, three of ESPN’s experts built their forecasts around the Brewers winning big. Tristan Cockcroft predicted that Milwaukee’s breakout star, Jackson Chourio, would “become the 10th player to win LCS and World Series MVPs.” Eric Karabell predicted a combined no-hitter from Jacob Misiorowski, Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill in Game 1 of the World Series. AJ Mass had predicted that the Brewers would “trail in every playoff game en route to a championship,” but Milwaukee already broke that forecast by never trailing in Wednesday’s win.
That is considerable support for a team that has never won a championship, and the praise is not unearned. The Brewers won an MLB-best and franchise-record 103 games this season. They also have this postseason’s highest OPS (.688) and second-lowest ERA (1.80).
Two-Time Defending Champs Aren’t the Favorites?
Ahead of this postseason, more than 20 of The Athletic‘s MLB experts made World Series predictions. They did not make the Los Angeles Dodgers, winners of the past two World Series, the most popular pick.
The Brewers led the poll with 56 percent of the vote. The Tampa Bay Rays finished second with 24 percent, while the Dodgers received just 16 percent. The Brewers and Rays are both reasonable picks, but the Dodgers’ support is still lower than you would expect for a club with this much star power and this level of recent dominance.
“No team carries as much October hype as Los Angeles,” Katie Woo wrote. “There are rightful concerns over the drop-off in production from Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman, but their rotation of aces should carry them through any qualms on the offense. It’s the Dodgers’ title to lose, and they know it.”
Oddsmakers agree with that assessment. If the majority of Woo’s colleagues are right, however, this year’s title won’t return to Los Angeles.