2026 MLB predictions: Playoffs, World Series, MVPs and more - ESPN

MLB's regular season gets underway Wednesday night with a game between the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants before a full schedule Thursday with 11 Opening Day games. And you know what that means: It's time for season predictions.

There are lots of questions, in both the American League and National League, going into the 2026 season: Will the Los Angeles Dodgers be the first team to three-peat as World Series champions since the 1998-2000 Yankees? How will stars in new places — such as Freddy Peralta for the New York Mets or Alex Bregman for the Chicago Cubs — fare? Which team will come out on top in a competitive AL East? What will we see from Shohei Ohtani in his first full season as a two-way player for the Dodgers? And what surprises will the playoffs bring this year?

No one can definitively know what's in store for this season, but that doesn't stop us from making our best guesses. We asked 30 of ESPN's MLB writers, analysts and editors to predict what will happen in baseball this year, from the wild-card contenders all the way to the World Series champion, plus the MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in both leagues.

For each category, we've asked a number of our voters to explain their predictions. Will they hit the nail on the head — or will they be way off their mark? Only time will tell. We'll be circling back to these predictions come October to see how well (or poorly) everyone did.

Jump to:

AL picks | NL picks | WS picks | AL awards | NL awards

Our pick: New York Yankees (16 votes)

Who else received votes? Toronto Blue Jays (8), Boston Red Sox (6)

Despite the Blue Jays being the reigning AL champs, our voters favored the Yankees to win the division. What made New York the pick? The Blue