What a set of series to kick off the 2025 Postseason. Three of the four series went to a decisive Game 3. Even the series that looked like a mismatch between the Reds and Dodgers had late inning drama with the Dodgers bullpen demonstrating some unreliability later in games. That sets up four divisional series and once again the Cubs are right in the mix, they’ll kick off the National League action at 1:08 p.m. CT in Milwaukee on Saturday.
So which film about great ancient Greek battles and mythology
is each Division Series comparable to? Here are my choices.
Cubs vs. Brewers: O Brother, Where Art Thou?
So admittedly, Milwaukee is not the Deep South, but the vibes are correct for this epic end to a season-long journey of National League Central juggernauts. The Cubs won this regular season head-to-head match-up, seven wins to six, but the Brewers certainly won the season with an MLB-best 97 wins. They built that record mostly on the back of an otherworldly July and August that saw them go 38-16 over that two month stretch. That’s a two-month stretch of .704 baseball for those keeping track at home.
But streaks like that aren’t destiny, nor are they a fait accompli in the Postseason. In September the Brewers were a much more pedestrian 12-12. It was their only .500 month, and something the Cubs also only did one time with a .500 June.
This baseball odyssey will feature the excellent pitching and small ball of the Brewers versus the not as great pitching, but excellent defense and power of the Cubs. It would be excellent baseball even if there were no rivalry element at all. However, given Chicagoans penchant for seeing Milwaukee as a close enough venue to score some cheap playoff tickets at Wrigley North, this matchup has epic potential.
The Cubs boast the three best hitters by fWAR in this game in 30-30 man Pete Crow-Armstrong, defensive specialist and oh-so-close-to-.300 hitter, Nico Hoerner and the acquisition of the offseason, Kyle Tucker. But the hottest hitters on the team coming out of the Wild Card round are 30-home run first baseman Michael Busch, catcher Carson Kelly and 30-home run OF/DH Seiya Suzuki. The sheer number of names there gives you an idea how deep this Cubs lineup is.
The Cubs will hope to keep Milwaukee’s small ball offense in check with their elite defense, because let’s be honest despite excellent work this season I’m not sure Colin Rea, Matthew Boyd, Shōta Imanaga and Jameson Taillon strike quite the same amount of fear in hitters as the Brewers’ pitching lineup of Freddy Peralta, Quinn Priester, and yes, even Chad Patrick. Additionally, the Brewers bullpen while not nearly as fearsome as the Padres gauntlet the Cubs just ran is the third best set of relievers in baseball by fWAR and facing down Trevor Megill and Abner Uribe in the late innings is definitely a rough assignment.
And then, there are the intangibles. Both of these teams suffered heartbreaking losses in the 2025 season. Expect tributes to the late great Bob Uecker in Milwaukee and a sea of Ryne Sandberg jerseys in Chicago. After all, it wouldn’t be the Odyssey without a bit of divine intervention on both sides.
Dodgers vs. Phillies: Clash of the Titans
The Dodgers and Phillies have two of the three largest payrolls in MLB. Both rosters are star-studded. You thought it was cool that the Cubs have multiple 30-home run hitters? The Phillies and Dodgers each have a 50-home run hitter (although, admittedly, no other 30+ home run hitters). Both teams also have some of the best starting pitching in baseball. I mean, just look at these probable starting pitchers:
Sánchez, Yamamoto, Luzardo and Suárez are all top ten pitchers in the league by fWAR. Blake Snell has a Cy Young award. Shohei Ohtani throws 100 MPH and Cubs fans know all too well how filthy Tyler Glasnow is.
This promises to be a real clash of the pitching and hitting titans in every sense of the word. The Phillies won the regular season series four games to two. The most recent series in LA was just two weeks ago with the Dodgers looking solid against both Suárez and Sánchez before their bullpen imploded resulting in Philadelphia wins.
Yankees vs. Blue Jays: Jasson and the Argonauts
Readers may be forgiven for thinking the American League East matchup is the real “Clash of the Titans” but while the Yankees are a top-five payroll in MLB, the Blue Jays are more like a top 10 payroll in MLB. Additionally, this story intersects with lots of heroes like Hercules and Hylas, and which team in baseball has more stories around their heroes than the Yankees?
Speaking of those heroes, this probably should have been titled “Judge and the Argonauts” but you’ll forgive me since a guy with a variation on the name Jason was right there in Yankees rookie Jasson Domínguez. However, the most important hitter for the Yankees is MVP candidate Aaron Judge.
He led MLB in batting average and slashed .331/.457/.688. He was fourth in MLB and second in the AL in home runs with 53. He’s a juggernaut (or dare I say a Judgernaut?) all on his own. He has a crew of experience playoff bats behind him including Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton. Their pitching is also extremely capable and experience, especially with the likes of Max Fried, Carlos Rodón and Devin Williams in the bullpen.
The Blue Jays won the division with a final record identical to the Yankees while winning the tiebreaker by winning eight of their 13 head-to-head matchups during the course of the regular season. They built that advantage on the back of a resurgent season from George Springer, who put up 5.2 fWAR with a .309/.399/.560 slashline and 32 home runs.
They’ve also gotten bounce back seasons from catcher Alejandro Kirk who was worth 4.7 fWAR this season. Their rotation is anchored by Kevin Gaussman and trade deadline acquisition, Shane Bieber, who is currently slated to start games one and five.
Tigers vs. Mariners: The 300
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the last stand of the 300, it was basically 300 Spartans holding off an army of more tens if not hundreds of thousands of Persians. I imagine that might be what it feels like being a smaller to mid-market team in MLB sometimes, and regardless of how you quantify that gap, surely both the Detroit Tigers and the Seattle Mariners qualify.
However, just like the Spartans at Thermopylae, the Tigers and Mariners have skills, y’all. One of them will unfortunately best the other in this competition to determine who gets the privilege of fighting against the Yankees or Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series.
Seattle is led by Cal Raleigh, the league’s first ever 60 home run catcher who was worth 9.1 fWAR this season, second only to Judge’s 10.1 fWAR. He’s joined by five-tool star Julio Rodríguez, who posted his second 30-30 season at the age of 24. Oh, and by the way, the Mariners can pitch. The Mariners will throw Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Bryan Woo and Logan Gilbert in this series. By fWAR they rank 2nd-5th of all the starting pitchers in this series.
That’s because Tarik Skubal will throw at least once in this series, and if it goes to a decisive Game 5, maybe twice. Tarik Skubal is basically a cheat code. Baseball’s best pitcher by fWAR had a 2.21 ERA over 195.1 innings and the only reason he didn’t lead the league in strike outs is because Garrett Crochet is also a ridiculously talented strike out machine.
Detroit’s most valuable hitters aren’t quite the marquee names the Mariners bring to the table in catcher Dillon Dingler and old pal Zach McKinstry, but the real name jumping off the page here for Cubs fans is certainly El Mago himself, Javier Báez. Báez reinvented himself this season as a utility man who showed his skills play as well in centerfield or at the hot corner as they do at shortstop. The always streaky Báez seems to be fired up for October, he slashed .455/.455/.545 in 11 plate appearances in the Wild Card Series and no, of course he didn’t take a walk.
