MLB 2026 season preview: Rankings, every team's playoff odds - ESPN

MLB opening week has arrived, baseball fans!

After a chaotic offseason, there is one certainty as the new season begins: Everyone else is once again chasing the two-time reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers at the top of our initial rankings.

Whether your team has hopes of dethroning L.A. or is looking to become the season's biggest surprise, we've got everything you need for Opening Day.

We asked our MLB experts to rank every team from 1 to 30 in our first Power Rankings of the new season, and ESPN baseball writers Jorge Castillo, Bradford Doolittle, Alden Gonzalez and David Schoenfield teamed up to provide a breakdown of what to expect this season, along with Doolittle's win-loss projections and playoff odds for all 30 teams.

Jump to team:

American League
ATH | BAL | BOS | CHW | CLE
DET | HOU | KC | LAA | MIN
NYY | SEA | TB | TEX | TOR

National League
ARI | ATL | CHC | CIN | COL
LAD | MIA | MIL | NYM | PHI
PIT | SD | SF | STL | WSH

Projected record: 102-60 | (Doolittle's odds: 98% playoff | 27.6% WS)

The thing we'll be talking about most this season: Their pursuit of a three-peat and what it means for the future of MLB.

The Dodgers could become the first team to win back-to-back-to-back World Series titles since the Yankees completed the feat in 2000. They'll begin the chase with the highest projected payroll in the majors by more than $30 million, according to Cot's Baseball Contracts, after signing the best position player (Kyle Tucker) and reliever (Edwin Diaz) on the free agent market.

Their extravagant spending, coupled with the success, has generated widespread calls for a salary cap, which MLB will pursue when the CBA expires on Dec. 1, and it will almost certainly lead to a lockout. That inevitably, and the