Yankees and Dodgers Lead Staff Picks as MLB Division Series Open Saturday
The short version
- All four Division Series — White Sox-Guardians, Yankees-Rays, Braves-Dodgers and Padres-Brewers — open Saturday.
- Cleveland and New York drew four votes apiece in the American League; the Dodgers were a unanimous NLDS pick.
- The panel split five ways on a World Series champion: Brewers, Dodgers, Rays, Padres and Yankees.
- Aaron Judge's ALDS status is uncertain because of a calf injury.
- Chris Sale and Tyler Mahle logged 7 2/3 and seven innings as Atlanta got past Philadelphia in three Wild Card games.
All four MLB Division Series open Saturday, and a five-writer Rotoworld panel leans toward the Yankees and Dodgers — while splitting five ways on a champion.
The Wild Card round of the 2026 MLB playoffs is complete, and all four Division Series matchups begin Saturday. Five Rotoworld Baseball staff writers — Eric Samulski, Matthew Pouliot, David Shovein, Christopher Crawford and D.J. Short — have predicted every series through the World Series. In the AL, the Chicago White Sox meet the Cleveland Guardians and the New York Yankees face the Tampa Bay Rays; in the NL, the Atlanta Braves face the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres meet the Milwaukee Brewers.
Four panelists — Samulski, Pouliot, Shovein and Short — took Cleveland, leaving Crawford as the lone White Sox backer. He saw little separating the clubs but pointed to Chicago's two road wins this postseason, both fairly comfortable. His call, he admitted, rested on a feeling about the team more than analysis.
The Yankees drew four votes, with Shovein alone on Tampa Bay. Short noted this is only the second postseason meeting between the clubs and the first played in front of fans. He rated the Rays the better regular-season team but called the Yankees better suited to October, citing a rotation that led the majors with a 3.30 ERA and a bullpen that was even better at 3.15.
His one nod to the Rays was Drew Rasmussen's career record of dominating the Yankees. Aaron Judge's status for the series is uncertain because of a calf injury. Even without him, Short sees rotation depth Tampa Bay cannot match and views New York's lineup as the more threatening one, built to flip a game with a single swing rather than small ball.
Los Angeles was a unanimous choice over Atlanta. Pouliot questioned the Braves' pitching depth after Chris Sale threw 7 2/3 innings and Tyler Mahle seven in a three-game Wild Card series against Philadelphia that Atlanta still strained to get through. A Sale start in Game 2 would have meant four days' rest, unused by him since early April; following his Thursday relief outing, Pouliot projects Sale in Game 3 and Mahle in Game 4. Cold Dodgers bats might give Atlanta one game in Los Angeles, but he sees the pitching shortfall as a major disadvantage.
Milwaukee took three votes to San Diego's two. Samulski cited his own decade-long research, published before the playoffs, finding no meaningful October edge for teams that arrive hot, and trusted it over San Diego's surge and dominance of the Cubs. He argued a case can be made Milwaukee was baseball's best team across the season, with a lineup exceptionally hard to retire and possibly the deepest pitching group in the playoffs.
In the full bracket, the Yankees were the ALCS pick of four writers, with Shovein again on the Rays. The NLCS went to the Brewers (Samulski and Shovein), the Dodgers (Pouliot) and the Padres (Crawford and Short). The World Series picks split five ways: Brewers, Dodgers, Rays, Padres and Yankees, one apiece. Admitting a bias against the Yankees, Samulski wrote that Milwaukee's consistency should beat a strikeout-heavy, up-and-down New York offense, even after the Yankees overwhelmed Boston.
Pouliot's Dodgers case rests on a bullpen he believes has come together at the right time. Edwin Díaz is not a certainty, but since returning from the injured list he has allowed one hit and one walk with nine strikeouts in his final five innings. Roki Sasaki and Evan Phillips each reached 100 mph last week, and Kris Bubic could be an under-the-radar option if required. Even if Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman cannot carry the offense right now, Pouliot expects Los Angeles to win low-scoring games.
Crawford called the Padres neither baseball's best team nor the best in their division, but he likes how they are playing and sees their bullpen, top-end starters and enough star power to matter producing the franchise's first championship. Short, the lone writer to pick New York as champion, expects Judge back in some capacity eventually and forecasts a more competitive matchup than the clubs' 1998 meeting, crediting San Diego's second-half offense and a deep bullpen. New York's edge in starting pitching, he concluded, would decide it.
