2025 preseason power rankings
The Dodgers hold an enormous lead over everybody else in the field
The previous half-dozen editions of Baseball’s Best (and Worst) predicted the six upcoming divisional races. If you missed any of those breakdowns, here are the links:
My forecasts were generated by a history-based scoring system, which is explained in any of the linked stories above. The more points a team received, the better it is expected to fare in 2025. Couldn’t be simpler.
I’ve collected those point totals today to combine all six divisions into a single top-to-bottom list. The following rundown, in effect, constitutes my preseason power rankings.
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The defending champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, are loaded again, and they enter the new season as prohibitive favorites. Their score of 190 points is 62 ahead of the runner-up, the Philadelphia Phillies.
Any ties in these rankings have been broken by the performances of each club’s 50 closest matches (CMs), 50 clubs from the past that were remarkably similar to the present-day team. (The linked stories explain this concept in greater detail.)
The Mets and Red Sox, for example, are tied with 56 points. But New York gets the edge because one of its CMs won a World Series in its subsequent season, compared to none for Boston.
Each team is listed with its point total and, if applicable, its predicted postseason berth. DIV indicates a divisional champion, WC a wild-card entry. The subsequent number is the club’s rank among its league’s DIVs or WCs. (There are three of each per league.)
1. Los Angeles Dodgers, 190 points (NL DIV 1)
2. Philadelphia Phillies, 128 points (NL DIV 2)
3. Baltimore Orioles, 117 points (AL DIV 1)
4. Houston Astros, 115 points (AL DIV 2)
5. Seattle Mariners, 114 points (AL WC 1)
6. Arizona Diamondbacks, 111 points (NL WC 1)
7. San Diego Padres, 110 points (NL WC 2)
8. Milwaukee Brewers, 104 points (NL DIV 3)
9. Atlanta Braves, 102 points (NL WC 3)
10. Minnesota Twins, 94 points (AL DIV 3)
11. New York Yankees, 86 points (AL WC 2)
12. Detroit Tigers, 83 points (AL WC 3)
13. Tampa Bay Rays, 73 points
14. Texas Rangers, 72 points
15. Chicago Cubs, 71 points
16. Cleveland Guardians, 68 points
17. Kansas City Royals, 66 points
18. Cincinnati Reds, 58 points
19. New York Mets, 56 points
20. Boston Red Sox, 56 points
21. Toronto Blue Jays, 48 points
22. San Francisco Giants, 39 points
23. Washington Nationals, 35 points
24. Los Angeles Angels, 34 points
25. Sacramento Athletics, 32 points
26. Pittsburgh Pirates, 32 points
27. St. Louis Cardinals, 32 points
28. Colorado Rockies, 15 points
29. Chicago White Sox, 14 points
30. Miami Marlins, 12 points