The 2026 Major League Baseball regular season is fully in the rear view mirror and the playoffs begin today. Four games are on deck, starting with Braves and Phillies reigniting their postseason rivalry in Atlanta at 2pm ET. Next up is the .500 AL West champion Astros hosting the most surprising playoff team, the just-recently-doormat White Sox at 5pm ET. If you’re a Yankees fan and reading this, you already know about Yankees/Red Sox at 8pm ET, and the late game at 10pm ET has the Padres welcoming
in the Cubs for a 2025 Wild Card Series rematch, this time at Petco Park.
So now that we’ve all had a day to take in the field, it’s time for some predictions. We asked the staff for their thoughts! Here’s how the Wild Card Series should go:
Look, we’re not going to apologize for unanimously thinking that the Yankees will get past the Red Sox in the first round. Do we all likely have varying forms of uncertainty about the Yankees and at least a partial fear of them bouncing theemselves? Sure. But the Yanks are the favorites here for a reason.
Most of the staff thinks the Braves will take care of business with a Phillies team that almost backed into October, though Jake, Dan, and Kento think there’s still some of that 2022-23 Philly magic left. They may be right! As for the other two series, the margins are very close, but consensus has the White Sox trouncing the Astros for their first playoff series victory in 21 years and the Padres capitalizing on home-field advantage to get vengeance on the Cubs.
Next up, the Division Series:
Although it may be a more cautious optimism, we think that unlike in 2025, the Yankees will dispatch the team that beat them out for the AL East. If they can, it will certainly help to have a better starter than 2025 Luis Gil in Game 1.
Most are envisioning a Dodgers/Brewers NLCS rematch with Milwaukee hoping that at minimum it’s far more competitive than the four-game sweep last October. (Shouts to Dan for believing in the Phillies quite a bit.) In the other ALDS, it’s a dead heat between the Guardians and White Sox to advance. Once again, it is very silly that at best an 85-win team is locked into an ALCS spot. So it goes.
The majority are keeping the faith with a Yankees return trip to the World Series after a mere one-year hiatus, with future Cy Young Award winner Cam Schlittler earning ALCS MVP honors, perhaps à la 2009 CC Sabathia. In the Senior Circuit, the Dodgers and Brewers each received seven votes. Maybe it’s wishful thinking for a Brew Crew revenge given all the star power that the Dodgers have at their disposal, but the subset believes in Da Miz and co.
Plan the parade, pals, and pick your own heroes. That being said, while the Yankees were the common championship pick, they only earned the pluraility. The oh-so-slight majority (9-8) is taking the field.
That’s how we foresee October and beyond. Tell us what your playoff bracket looks like though, and don’t forget to vote in our Feed poll on your specific Wild Card Series prediction!
