Bradford Doolittle, ESPN Staff Writer 11d

2025 World Series contender tiers: When will your team win?

MLB, San Francisco Giants, Milwaukee Brewers, Tampa Bay Rays, Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Cardinals, Athletics Athletics, Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Angels, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Guardians, Arizona Diamondbacks, Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami Marlins, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals

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?

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