With less than a month left to play in the 2025 regular season, here's what our experts think will happen the rest of the way.
, a number of things seem to be settled -- from a few divisions to some award races -- but plenty of intrigue remains entering the homestretch. Which of the current contenders will reach the playoffs? How will the closer division races play out? Which teams will secure first-round byes? And how many games will the To discuss what the final month of the regular season might bring, we asked 16 ESPN baseball experts some of the game's biggest questions, covering September and beyond, and to explain their answers.
We also asked them to make bold predictions about what will happen over the final stretch.Besides the buffer the Brewers have built as we enter the final month of the regular season, there's just nothing to suggest a falloff. They are on track to win about 100 games and their run differential supports that pace. The remaining schedule is friendly. And Milwaukee's production has come from every position and category. It's just a really complete team.How many of the current 12 teams projected for the playoffs will be in the postseason field?. is red hot and the players they added at the trade deadline have chipped in to make this a good offense. The Royals also have a pretty easy schedule the rest of the way. But which team can they catch? It might hinge on a three-game series at home against Seattle in mid-September. The Mariners have a recent history of falling just short of the postseason -- including last year, when the Royals clinched a wild-card spot with 86 wins and the Mariners won 85 . Seattle has struggled on the road, so the aforementioned series can catapult the Royals back into the postseason.The Tigers were the overwhelming choice. Why did you take them? For me, this was mostly a schedule play. The top seed, based on the standings, is likely to be the Tigers or the Blue Jays, with theall within plausible striking distance. Toronto doesn't have an easy series left. Detroit's schedule isn't nearly as rigorous. In a race this close, with teams this close in talent and production, little things like schedule luck often determine the outcome.The Tigers are a wonderful story, but not so much since the All-Star break, as they have played .500 ball, struggled to score runs and their ERA is among the bottom 10 in baseball. The Blue Jays are peaking at the right time, scoring plenty of runs, andmake the rotation formidable. Frankly, all three AL East contenders are better than the current Tigers, and it should show in the final standings.Despite dealing with star players slumping and a mountain of injuries this season, the Dodgers are still the slight favorites for the No. 2 seed in a stacked NL. Explain why. Because those are the very reasons why the Dodgers firmly believe their best baseball is still ahead of them. Their bullpen will soon be as close to whole as it has been all season. The same can be said about the lineup. The rotation already is, and the four-man group they'll put together in October will be scary if the starters remain healthy. That's a big "if," considering the pitching ailments that have plagued them the last couple years. But at the end of the day, the Dodgers possess the most depth and talent in the sport. They feel as if they're on the verge of truly showcasing it.The Phillies seem to be flying under the radar for a team that has spent most of the season on a 95-win pace. Maybe it's the Zack Wheeler injury, maybe it's their struggles against the-- or maybe it's just that this is about what we've grown accustomed to seeing from Philly over the past few seasons. But there is plenty to like here over the final month and into October as well. Even without Wheeler, the Phillies have the best Game 1 starter of any NL contender inhas a real shot at Ryan Howard's franchise home run record . They acquired the best reliever to move at the deadline in. Oh, and they currently hold that second spot in the NL -- with a 1 1/2 game cushion over the Dodgers.The Dodgers were our voters' overwhelming favorite to win the division. Why -- and how -- do you think San Diego can overtake L.A.? More than any other team, I think the Dodgers look at their seasons from 30,000 feet, rather than succumbing to the concerns of the moment. They demonstrate this every year with their handling of pitching injuries -- they essentially rest veteran starters through long stretches of the season, rather than push them in May and June, in order to do what they can to ensure that the players will be relatively fresh in October. This is why we've seen such a deliberate ramp-up withat the trade deadline, and since then, it feels like they've been playing a series of Game 7s. And, let's face it, San Diego is all-in in trying to win right now, with its top-heavy roster and the likes ofand Michael King headed for free agency in the fall. The Dodgers, on the other hand, won't go to the whip in September in the same way. No matter how their own division plays out, they'll make the playoffs and have a shot to repeat as World Series winners, while it feels as if San Diego is going to go all-out down the stretch to win the NL West.Picking Houston to win the West isn't going out on much of a limb: They're currently in first place, just got sluggerback from injury and simply have more pedigree than Seattle. The Mariners have a slightly easier schedule the rest of the way but their road woes are for real -- and will likely prevent them from going on an extended run. Picking against the Astros would be the headline-scratching move. They're the division champ once again.The Mariners aren't playing their best baseball, but they are healthy and within striking distance of the Astros for the division entering September. Their starting rotation is elite. The bullpen and offense should be better. Meanwhile, the Astros have recently gotten Yordan Alvarez back from injury, but they're without Josh Hader andWe got quite the breadth of answers to this question, but you were one of three to say 118 losses -- our second-highest loss total. Why is that your prediction? The Rockies aren't far removed from being on a modern record-setting pace for losses, and they've been especially awful against the current 12 teams in the playoff field: 9-50 . They play 13 of their final 24 against that group, at a time when they're increasingly leaning on younger and less experienced players. Their September isn't going to be pretty.With most of the playoff field set -- other than last-minute jockeying for seeds -- all eyes will be on the Mariners over the final days of the season, as Raleigh sets a new AL home run record.The Phillies call up top pitching prospect Andrew Painter on Sept. 7 and he goes 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA.Not only do the Yankees overtake Toronto for the division title, but they also grab a first-round bye, even if they can't quite catch the Tigers for the No. 1 seed.The Yankees have such a soft schedule in the final weeks that they wind up with the second-best record in the AL ... but because Toronto holds on to win the division, New York is the No. 4 seed and faces Boston in the wild-card round.The Padres, with the easiest remaining schedule in baseball, will go 7-0 against the Colorado Rockies in September to win the NL West and take the second first-round bye spot.If we started the playoffs tomorrow, the bracket would look exactly the same as it will after we've played out the season.Man who lost pregnant wife in DUI crash nearly relives the tragedy
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