DiamondCentric Staff Predicts the 2025 MLB Season

[Twins Daily Admin]

Gather round, read it here first. The season will go like this, see.

Image courtesy of © Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images

Ok, soothsayers we (probably) aren't, but 33 writers across the DiamondCentric family of sites tried their hands at predicting the season to come. Here's how it shook out.

The Standings
AL East
There's no question that the Red Sox won the winter, among the teams vying for supremacy in the league's traditional powerhouse division. They traded for Garrett Crochet to raise the ceiling on their starting rotation, then signed Walker Buehler to fortify the back end of the same group. The coup, though, came when they won a multi-team bidding war for Alex Bregman. With Bregman and Rafael Devers as the anchors of the lineup, the team is more well-rounded than it's been in the past. They also have three of the best prospects in baseball.

That said, this remains an intensely competitive group. The Sox won the plurality of votes from our writers, but every team except the Rays garnered at least one vote. Even after losing the Juan Soto sweepstakes, the Yankees had an active winter. Without Gerrit Cole, they're not the favorites, but New York remains dangerous. It's the Orioles, though, whom our group collectively views as the greatest threat to the Sox. Their young hitters will have to make up for an underwhelming pitching staff, but Baltimore gets Félix Bautista back as the anchor of their bullpen.

AL Central
We have a lot of Twins familiars in our sample, but in this case, there's no detectable bias in the predictions. Maybe that's the result of many Minnesotans being frustrated by the team's lack of high-visibility additions and uncertainty about the sale of the club, but it's also about the shifting power dynamic throughout the division. Everyone but the White Sox has a chance to win this division, and everyone but the White Sox got some support.

The Tigers got nearly as much support as Minnesota, thanks (presumably) to defending AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal and reunited partner in crime Jack Flaherty. Their offense remains high-variance (to put it mildly, and perhaps too nicely), but Detroit proved they have lots of ways to beat you. The Royals, too, have a superstar at the center of their success, but a bit less depth and a bit more risk of regression than Detroit. Undersold here, perhaps, are the defending champion Guardians.

AL West
Somewhat stunningly, this is the one division where all five teams earned at least one vote in the survey. I wouldn't have guessed that even the Angels' mothers love them that much, by now, but someone who works here loves them enough to believe they'll shock the world and get back to October. If they do, DIsney should make Angels in the Outfield 2, and every deadbeat dad should be required to relinquish his parental rights to a golden-hearted stranger who really loves their kid.

In fairness, though, if there's been any division in the history of baseball the 2025 Angels could actually win, it might be the 2025 AL West. The Astros aren't intentionally leaning into a rebuild, but they might end up in one by the All-Star break. The Rangers seek a rebound after a disappointing defense of their first-ever World Series title. Some major offseason investments have turned the West Sacramento Athletics into a more competent version of themselves, and they're a relocated version of themselves, but they're still very much themselves. The Mariners, meanwhile, did nothing this winter to supplement their roster, but it's a good roster; there's a reason they've won 353 games over the last four years.

NL East
Juan Soto defines the Mets' offseason, but it's Clay Holmes who might define them as a team and a project. He was fairly expensive, by any standard this side of New York, but he's also unproven in his new role. He's indispensable to the New York starting rotation, and they're a smart and well-equipped outfit. They might very well turn him into the frontline starter they envision, even though his success to date has come as a late-game reliever. The Mets are a very high-upside, very modern, slightly strange outfit. At least that last thing reassures us that some things never change.

They're not the favorites in this group, though, at least by the reckoning of our pundits. Instead, the defending champion Phillies and the Atlanta club that backed into (and then fizzled out in) the playoffs last year are more or less the co-favorites. Both of those semi-dynastic teams are getting a little harder to hold together, but each currently has enough youth coming up to reinforce their veteran cores.

NL Central
Nationally, the Cubs are considered obvious favorites, but it's the Brewers who have had the run of the place in recent years. That could certainly change, but it's not guaranteed to be a change in favor of the Cubs. The Reds hired Terry Francona last fall to increase the viability of their own designs on the division, and will have the benefit of dynamic infielder Matt McLain back after he missed 2024 with various injuries. Even the Pirates have support in some corners, presumably because Paul Skenes is Paul Skenes. He won't be enough to get that anemic offense over the hump this year, but the division just gets more chaotic by the year. Our group still feels the Cubs are most likely to win, but the voting reflects the unpredictability of the whole network.

NL West
So many of the divisions yielded fascinating vote distributions. So many of the divisions offer at least some degree of fascination. This one is the exception. I can't even bring myself to show you this chart. It's just a circle. All 33 writers voted for the Dodgers, which is really the only rational prediction. The defending World Series champions added the defending NL Cy Young Award winner, re-signed their slugging corner outfielder and brought in another. They won the non-monetary bidding war for Roki Sasaki and the very monetary bidding war for both Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates. There's no other team in the league who can match them for pure talent. That doesn't mean they'll win it all, but expecting anyone else to win—at least in the division, over 162 games—would be foolish.

AL Wild Card Berths
With the Rangers, the Red Sox, and the Twins as our projected division winners on the junior circuit, the competition for the other three places in the American League playoff bracket still looks intense. The AL is such a muddle that only the barely-lovable Angels and the White Sox failed to secure at least one vote as a playoff hopeful. My biggest takeaways are:

1. Collective confidence in the Rays is surprisingly low. After not getting any votes as division champions, they also only received five tallies as a Wild Card contender. They're always easy to underrate, but this also seems fair. It's hard to argue that they're better than any of the Orioles, Red Sox, and Yankees, and once you're fourth in your division, there's zero margin for error on the path to the postseason.
2. Our writers see the Rangers either as a boom or as a bust. Unlike the Twins (7) and Red Sox (9), Texas only got four votes as a Wild Card team. If they don't win the division, our staff seems to think, they're out altogether.

NL Wild Card Berths
As a group, we're much more confident about who will take the remaining spots after the division winners in the NL. New York, Philadelphia and Arizona are the kinds of teams you're used to seeing win division crowns, and although none of them are technically likely to do so this year, we still view them as having a very strong chance to make the tournament. That's bad news for our writers and fans of the Cubs and Brewers, since the lane for either of them to make it seems narrow—but by the same token, that raises the stakes of the showdown between those two teams for the NL Central title. We largely view the league as follows:

• Locks for October: Dodgers, Atlanta, Mets, Phillies
• Very Likely, But Frozen Out from Certitude by Dodgers: Diamondbacks
• Others in the Mix: Cubs, Brewers, Padres, Reds

If it's just one playoff spot to divide between those last four teams, it'll have to be the winner of the Central, which is bad news for the Padres.

Pennant Winners
We asked our writers to predict who will play in the World Series, and as you'd expect, it was a true free-for-all in the wide-open American League. In the NL, by contrast, chalk prevails—although several brave souls dared pick against the Dodgers.

Since the legend doesn't quite show all the teams who got support, here's how voting broke down on the AL side:

• Red Sox/Orioles: 9 votes each
• Yankees/Rangers: 5 votes each
• Royals/Tigers: 2 votes each
• Twins: 1 vote

This chart is absolutely screaming for the first Mariners pennant ever, or the Guardians to sneak through somehow. It's the most logical distribution, though, based on the makeup of this weird, wild circuit. Maybe it's best to just think of the AL Central collectively as a wedge the same size as those of the Yankees and Rangers.

This captures the difference between the two league dynamics nicely, doesn't it? No chaos here. The Dodgers got 25 of the 33 votes; the Phillies took half of the remainder; and the Brewers, Mets, Diamondbacks and Atlanta claimed just one vote apiece. It's the Dodgers' world. We're all just living in it.

Can the Dodgers Repeat?
Next, naturally, we asked who will win the Series. Given that our voting shows a lack of profound faith in any particular American League team, it's probably not a surprise that writers also showed a strong belief that (should they get that far) the Dodgers will finish the job in the Fall Classic. Of the 25 voters who said they;ll win the pennant, 19 see Los Angeles taking home the piece of metal at the end of the season. 

If they don't, things get more interesting. Somehow, the Phillies got more support (five votes) as Series champs than as pennant winners (4). I'd say we'll have a stern talk with the writer who chose them to do the former without the latter, but who knows? Maybe they're projecting some kind of vacated championship situation. It's that, or Google Forms is a frightfully limited piece of software. You decide.

Also receiving support as predicted champions:

• Red Sox - 3
• Orioles - 2
• Yankees, Blue Jays, Mets, Brewers - 1

As was true with the Twins, I'll remark that our heavy representation of Cubs knowers didn't seem to engender undue confidence in them. No one selected Chicago to win the pennant, let alone the Series.

Awards
We got a wide variety of answers on who will win each MVP award, including a whopping 12 different players in the American League. Only three players got three or more votes, though, and one lapped the field:

• Bobby Witt Jr.: 13 votes
• Aaron Judge: 4
• Gunnar Henderson: 3
• Julio Rodríguez, Mike Trout, Corey Seager: 2
• Adley Rutschman, Alex Bregman, Brent Rooker, José Ramírez, Rafael Devers, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: 1

In the NL, the field was more limited, because it was even more dominated by the favorite:

• Shohei Ohtani: 19 votes
• Juan Soto: 4
• Bryce Harper, Kyle Tucker, William Contreras: 2
• Elly De La Cruz, Francisco Lindor, Ketel Marte: 1

Since Ohtani is (ostensibly) going to pitch again this year, he really is hard to pick against. That Witt gained such a commanding upper hand (in our estimation) over Judge is a mild surprise, but then, Judge will turn 33 years old in April. It might be about time for age to lend Witt the edge.

Another 12 different people received votes for each Cy Young Award, and again, there was a much more even mix of opinions in the AL than in the NL.

American League

• Garrett Crochet: 7 votes
• Logan Gilbert, Tarik Skubal: 6
• Cole Ragans: 4
• Eight others: 1 each

National League

• Paul Skenes: 14 votes
• Zack Wheeler: 5
• Shota Imanaga, Corbin Burnes, Spencer Strider: 2
• Seven others: 1 each

Crochet's status as the favorite is in keeping with our group's general confidence about the Red Sox. That Skubal and Ragans got so much support is a good reminder of how tough (if only inconsistently so) the AL Central is. Catch either of those guys, Seth Lugo, Joe Ryan, Pablo López, Bailey Ober, or Tanner Bibee, and you're in for a long 0-4 day.

Skenes's phenom status is untarnished, so far. If he can stay healthy, it's not at all unfair to expect that he'll contend for this award. However, he'd be the first player to actually win it in their first full season since TIm Lincecum in 2008. 

The Rookie of the Year votes were equally interesting and even more varied, but there are too many names to walk through all of them. Let it suffice to say that Jackson Jobe (5 votes), Roman Anthony and Jasson Dominguez (4 each) are the co-favorites in the AL. Roki Sasaki (13 votes) is a relatively prohibitive favorite in the NL, but Matt Shaw (6) and Dylan Crews (5) are both viable candidates, too. Sasaki seems to have some important hurdles to clear en route to becoming the frontline starter the Dodgers expect him to be, but his raw stuff is too good to ignore—not least because we've already seen how well it plays against high-level pros in Japan.

Alex Cora (6 votes) has the narrowest possible lead over A.J. Hinch and the Mariners' Dan Wilson (5 apiece) in the voting for the AL Manager of the Year, while Craig Counsell (8 votes) beat out Terry Francona (5) and Torey Lovullo (4) more handily in the NL. No matter what the question, our group is more certain of the answers in the National League—not because we're any less familiar with the American, but because that league is so much more balanced and (therefore) unpredictable right now. When it comes to the Manager of the Year Award, specifically, though, the right answer might be the one one writer gave to both league's questions: "Who cares?"

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The season ahead will be full of extraordinary performances by talented young players. and with good races in tight divisions. These predictions won't all come true, but trying to guess what's coming is part of the fun of this game. The good news is, starting Thursday, the bigger, more constant fun of the game is on tap: Games. Glorious, everyday, non-hypothetical games. Happy Opening Day.

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[mikelink45]

So anxious for the real season - so many forecasts and none will be remembered in November.

[Old Twins Hat]

In other words, the Twins, their coach, hitters and pitchers,  are not seen as likely achieving highly in any aspect of the 2025 season -- not rookies, not veterans, not highly paid superstars, not anyone.

Twins Daily throws us completely under the bus and collectively says, let the good times roll right over the home fellas.

Needed that boost before the season begins.

[MMMordabito]

Atlanta Braves.

[Vanimal46]

My bold prediction is the Dodgers breaking the modern day wins record of 116 by the 2001 Mariners. They’re going to be a freight train that can’t be stopped. 

[Parfigliano]

Vegas has the Twins O/U at 84.5

[Fatbat]

12 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

My bold prediction is the Dodgers breaking the modern day wins record of 116 by the 2001 Mariners. They’re going to be a freight train that can’t be stopped. 

Records are made to be broken.  Twins beat the Dodgers in the world series in 7 games.  We will then have a huge influx of Japanese players wanting to sign with us because they want to play against the Dodgers every October. World wide merch sales increase and the Pohlads sell the Twins for $2B in 2027.  
yeah. Not gonna happen 🙅‍♂️ 

[Vanimal46]

3 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

Vegas has the Twins O/U at 84.5

I was in Vegas less than a month ago and took the under on the Twins (83.5 at the time), over on Dodgers (101.5 wins) and over on the Cubs (85.5 wins) 

[CRF]

LET'S EFFING GO!   Play ball!!!

[jmlease1]

AL East is a really interesting division this season. The NY club is in a bit of trouble with injuries already and their lineup needs guys like Bellinger and Goldschmidt to really step up or their offense is asking a lot of Judge. feels like a race between Balto & Boston to me, but the people writing off TB seem to be ignoring history.

I think the AL Central is going to be a fun race; no team is perfect, but there are 4 teams that are all pretty good. My gut says Detroit played over their heads last season, and while they have a heck of an ace, the rest of their team doesn't scare me. Cleveland always seems to find pitching, but their insanely good bullpen last season masked a mediocre starting crew and I'm not sure they'll get that much bullpen production and health 2 years in a row. I think it might be Twins & KC battling it out? KC still feels one bat light, twins have a lot of uncertainty about health, but both have strong rotations.

[TopGunn#22]

I agree with the sentiment that the Dodgers could very well break the all time season wins record.  They are GOOD and they are DEEP.  I also predict the Dodgers will win back to back World Series Championships for the first time in their franchise history.

I pick the Twins to win 87 games and eek out the division championship over the Tigers and Royals.  I pick the defending division champs, Cleveland, to finish 4th as their talented bullpen regresses to just being "good" (as opposed to "epically great") and their rotation comes up short.  The Guardian-Indians will have trouble scoring runs.  The Twins, Tigers and Royals will all out hit them by a comfortable margin.

Bobby Witt Jr. A.L. MVP.  Shohei Ohtani N.L. MVP.  It's hard to pick against either.  

It could be a Dodgers vs. Red Sox World Series, which would have Fox doing cartwheels !!  Especially if the Dodgers win in 7 games.  I've got my MLB Network Twins package, and I'm ready to watch some BASEBALL !!!

[bean5302]

If the Dodgers played in the AL Central, I'd say the 116 win record was in danger, but the NL West should be strong this year so feasting off the division will be hard. In addition, both the Phillies and Braves look to have overpowering rotations, though you have to think the Braves could have 3+ candidates for the award. That team could be a juggernaut when it comes to pitching.

AL East - This should be another brutal division. The Red Sox look to have assembled a very real threat this year. The Yankees and the Orioles have their work cut out for them. The Blue Jays are dangerous, too. More than they get credit for. The Rays should be an also ran here. Just too many question marks.

AL Central - The stat padding division for the AL. None of the teams look dominant. The Royals could be powerful, but it depends on their young guys stepping up. The Tigers have a higher floor than the Royals, but I'm not as convinced of their ceiling. The Twins have the highest floor of the bunch, but also the most limited ceiling above the floor. I heard MLB is going to swap rosters in the White Sox organization between the Charlotte Knights (AAA) and White Sox so Chicago plays better.

AL West - Seattle has the rotation, but more questions at the plate than I'd like. The Rangers' rotation depends on the health of the most made of glass pitcher in MLB. The Athletics aren't there even despite the survey voter who picked Brent Rooker as the 2025 MVP. Homerism you say? Well I'd pick Rooker MVP way before any Twins pitcher winning the Cy Young.

NL East. The Phillies and Braves are my favorites with the Braves ranking a little over the Phillies. Atlanta is going to win some games scoring only 1 run. The Mets lack the rotation, IMHO. If Trout and Ohtani can't drag a team into the playoffs, Lindor and Soto can't either. Washington will be bad, but Miami should be the subject of an MLBPA grievance allowing all their players to elect free agency at the end of the season. They're worse than the Rockies and White Sox (who at least try sometimes). Miami is a joke. A blight on baseball.

NL Central. Forgot to even talk about them so I'm editing. Yeah. Ummmm... Cubs? The Cubs have a solid lineup and a capable rotation, and that should be enough to win the division IMHO. The Cardinals, Pirates, Reds and Brewers all have tons of holes in their team. The Reds are probably the next most complete team with what should be a solid enough rotation. This division will feed a lot of NL West wins...

NL West. Obviously, the purpose built unlimited expense All Star team that is the Dodgers is the favorite, but their top rotation arms could be challenged in the playoffs. The Padres have a powerful lineup and deep mid/upper rotation group. The Diamondbacks and the Giants are both potentially dangerous with rotations which could be very good and while there are a couple holes in the lineup, they'll hold their own. The Rockies are... dreadful. The project even lower than the White Sox.

AL MVP - Bobby Witt, Jr.
NL MVP - Juan Soto
AL Cy Young - Garrett Crochet
NL Cy Young - Spencer Strider
AL RoY - Kristian Campbell
NL RoY - Roki Sasaki