The World Series ended just a week ago, but it’s never too early to call dibs on who will host the Commissioner’s Trophy next season. Will it be a repeat of this year’s World Series? Could fans see two new contenders compete to be crowned the best baseball team in the world? This week, contributors Jacob Hypke and Steffen White state their picks for next year’s World Series champion.
New York Yankees
By Jacob Hypke
It might seem like an unoriginal pick, but if the Yankees can retain their current roster and add a shiny new piece, they will be in even better shape next season. The first and most important step for the Yankees is to re-sign Juan Soto. A perfect trade candidate for the Yankees is Yandy Diaz. His on-base and slugging percentages would have ranked third and fourth this season for the Yankees.
The third and final step to winning the 2025 World Series is out of management’s hands and into the player’s hands. Aaron Judge had as many RBIs and hits combined as strikeouts. Yes, Ohtani had an even worse series than Judge, but you can be one of those guys in falter when you have four Dodgers-caliber batters. Each action above is equally important so the Yankees can get their own four.
Los Angeles Dodgers
By Steffen White
As always, there are many contenders to think about going into the offseason; however, the Dodgers stand out above the rest. They spent over $1 billion last offseason, and the door remains open to spend more. They have been linked to free agents such as Juan Soto and Corbin Burnes. Even if they don’t sign those players, the Dodgers return almost the entire team from their World Series-winning squad. The only major free agents they have currently are Jack Flaherty, Teoscar Hernandez and Walker Buehler.
However, they also return many players who missed this year’s World Series run. The pitching was their biggest question mark this postseason. While what they had was good enough to win it all, they will have Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin, Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Otani. The Dodgers should be the odds-on favorite next season even if they don’t sign a single free agent, which, of course, won’t happen.
