The 2026 Major League Baseball season is well under way and the Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs and LA Dodgers, of course, are leading the way. The Dodgers are in a bit of a slight slump, but that won’t last and they’ll be there in October. They pay a luxury tax of $162 million, which is outrageous. They don’t seem to care. They are the Saudis of baseball. I wish the players would come around and agree to a salary cap for teams to make this sport more equitable for teams from smaller markets. Despite no salary cap, there are some smaller market teams like the Tampa Bay Rays, Cincy Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates that are doing well despite their financial limitations. The salary cap argument will ensue into the offseason after this 2026 season, and there could be another lockout in 2027, unfortunately. The players need to get it together and realize the NFL and NBA both have salary caps and most of those players are thriving, if they take care of their finances. These MLB players need to look out for the fans, the people who pay their salaries, and quit being so self absorbed.
But, despite that, 2026 looks to be a terrific year in Major League Baseball. There are some middling teams, particularly in the AL Central and AL West with the AL Central leading Detroit Tigers at 18-17, and the A’s leading the AL West at 18-16. But there are teams that are excelling too. Here are Postseason Predictions for the 2026 season and which team I like to win the Fall Classic, along with MVP predictions.
American League
(Numbers are for seeding).
East Division Champion: 1.Yankees, No.2 Tigers
3.Seattle Mariners 4. Tampa Rays 5. Toronto Blue Jays 6. Sacramento A’s?- They have moved to Sacramento from Oakland until Las Vegas opens its new stadium later this decade.
National League
1. Braves, 25-10, playing .714 ball right now. 2.Cubs 3. Dodgers 4. Padres 5. Cardinals 6. Reds
AL Wild Card Series (Best of 3)
Mariners over A’s in 2. Rays over Jays in 3
AL Divisional Series (Best of 5)
Yankees over Rays in 5-Rays always give Yankees trouble. Tigers over Mariners in 4.
AL Championship Series (Best of 7)
Yankees over Tigers in 6
NL Wild Card
Dodgers over Reds in 2. Padres over Cards in 3.
NL Divisional Series
Cubs over Dodgers in 5. This monopoly has to end some time. Braves over Padres in 4
NL Championship Series
Braves over Cubs in 6
The 2026 World Series
Atlanta Braves vs the New Yaawk Yankees
Give me Matt Olson and that hitting arsenal that is the Atlanta Braves to capture the Fall Classic. The Braves are leading the Bigs in batting average at .276, and are second to the Yankees in team pitching ERA at 3.19. The Yankees are at 3.01. Some really good pitching going on in Hot’lanta and the Big Apple. I’ll be visiting my daughters in New York this summer and catching a Braves-Mets game at Citi Field. I’ll post on Instagram if anybody is interested. But give me these phenomenal Braves to capture their third World Series title in franchise history. The other two were in 1995 and 2021.
Braves over Yankees in 6
World Series MVP
Matt Olson- hitting .299 right now with 11 homers, 5th in the Bigs, and leading the Big Leagues with 31 Ribeyes. He’s fifth in OPS, on-base plus slugging percentage. Awesome stat. Tells a lot about a player’s hitting ability for a season. Give me the 31 year old from Atlanta to capture the Most Valuable Player Award for the Series.
4 Responses
Chief Knockahoma would be very pleased with your prediction DW. It should be interesting.
Thanks, Jospeh. So would Clyde King and Peanut Butter.
I like the way you are thinking DW! Haskins sent me a stat from 1973 about the Bravos. The Braves had three batters that hit 40+ home runs that year and they finished 5th in the NL West. They even had Ralph “Road Runner” Garr in the lead off spot.
Pitching wasn’t there then, WP. Thanks a lot.