On Opening Day, everyone begins at zero. Thirty teams all angling for the same thing: the pileup on the field after the last out in a World Series clincher.
In a just universe, this would mean each of the 30 franchises would own a 1-in-30 shot at earning that celebration. That's a 3.3% chance. Alas, the sports universe is not just and the realistic odds from team to team vary a great deal.
As we do every season, we're focused on the odds in that category -- title probability -- at the outset of the season, using those forecasts to slot teams into World Series tiers.
Last season ended with the preseason Tier 1 Los Angeles Dodgers beating the Tier 2 New York Yankees. In 2023, it was the Tier 3 Texas Rangers topping the Tier 4 Arizona Diamondbacks. Could this be the year a team emerges from Tier 5 to win it all? Maybe not, but these results show that the system yields a forecast, not an immutable destiny.
Where does your team stand in the pecking order for 2025 World Series hopefuls?