NWSL playoffs preview: How can each team win it all? - ESPN

The 2025 NWSL playoffs are here and just like in the regular season, everyone is chasing the Kansas City Current after the Shield-winners' historic season. Kansas City is the undeniable favorite to win the NWSL Championship on Nov. 22, but historically, the NWSL has been anything but predictable.

Could one of the other seven teams go on a run for a few weeks and lift the trophy? Of course? Will they? Well… here's why each team will — and won't — win the NWSL Championship.

Next game: at KC Current, Nov. 9, 12:30 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN

Why they will win: Talent and tactics. Gotham is not your average No. 8 seed. This is a team that should have finished higher up the table, but laid an egg on Decision Day. Still, Gotham is loaded with championship-caliber talent: little over a month ago, they were lighting up the league with new arrival Jaedyn Shaw joining the healthy, in-form Rose Lavelle and the workhorse Jaedyn Shaw.

If Esther González, with her 13 regular-season goals, is healthy, she has proven capable of carrying the team throughout the season.

Why they won't win: Defensive lapses. Only Kansas City conceded fewer goals than Gotham's 25 this season, granted, but the way in which Gotham has conceded goals is something Kansas City could feast on. Gotham endured self-inflicted mistakes trying to play out of the back in Sunday's loss to North Carolina, and that's exactly what happened the first time that Gotham and Kansas City met in June, when the Current took the lead three minutes into the match.

Next game: at Washington Spirit, Nov. 8, 12 p.m. ET, CBS/Paramount+

Why they will win: A gritty identity. Louisville can play a direct, purposeful style of play and punish teams on counterattacks thanks largely to forward Emma