World Baseball Network’s 2025 MLB Year In Review

2025 has come to an end and to quote the late, great former NFL coach Dennis Green, the Los Angeles Dodgers are exactly who we thought they were.

The Dodgers finished the series as World Series champions after entering the 2025 Major League Baseball season as World Series favorites. The Toronto Blue Jays were two outs away from ending all of that and stopping a potential dynasty in its tracks, but the Dodgers, and an unlikely hero in Miguel Rojas, had other plans. 

​The Blue Jays had the exact scenario they wanted: a World Series Game 7 at home in Toronto at the Rogers Centre, with a 4-3 lead and only two outs left to go in order to end a 32-year World Series drought. 

​Their closer, Jeff Hoffman, was on the mound, and he had a 3-2 count on Miguel Rojas. Rojas was ready for the moment, and when Hoffman hung a slider in the low inside part of the zone, Rojas turned on it and launched a solo home run that silenced the entire building. ​The Dodgers would go on to win the game in 11 innings, 5–4, to secure back-to-back World Series championships. 

Top Plays of 2025: No. 6

Miguel Rojas hits an unbelievable game-tying home run in the 9th inning of World Series Game 7 to help propel the @Dodgers to back-to-back championships! 👏 pic.twitter.com/Qk9mwuwhgH

— MLB (@MLB) December 5, 2025

The Dodgers, in large part, cruised through the National League on the way to the World Series, taking out the Milwaukee Brewers in a four-game sweep in the National League Championship Series that was non-competitive. Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani stole the show with a legendary performance in the series-clinching Game 4, hitting three home runs and racking up 10 strikeouts. 

Despite the disappointing end to the season, the Brewers again overachieved and Pat Murphy was rewarded with his second consecutive National League Manager of the Year Award. The Brewers had the highest regular-season win total in 2025 with 97 wins and advanced to the NLCS after defeating the Chicago Cubs in the National League Division Series in five games. 

Cleveland’s Steven Vogt and Milwaukee’s Pat Murphy win Manager of the Year for 2nd straight season

This Division Series was fascinating, as not only was it a series between division rivals, but it had an extra layer involving Cubs manager Craig Counsell, who left the Brewers for the Cubs managerial position before the 2024 season. The Cubs also made one of the biggest trades of the 2024 offseason by acquiring Houston Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker. Tucker had a good, but not great, year that saw him battle injuries. Tucker is the top free agent hitter still on the market this offseason. 

​The Dodgers also beat the Philadelphia Phillies in four games in the NLDS. The Phillies failed to meet their preseason expectations, but that wasn’t to the fault of Kyle Schwarber, who launched 56 home runs and finished second in the NL Most Valuable Player voting to Shohei Ohtani. Earlier this month on Dec. 9, Schwarber re-signed with the Phillies on a five-year, $150 million contract. 

​The biggest surprise for the Dodgers might have been their lackluster regular season that saw them battle a lot of injuries. Those struggles forced them to play the Cincinnati Reds in the National League Wild Card Series. The Reds had a surprise playoff appearance thanks to the savvy leadership of veteran manager Terry Francona and a huge collapse by the New York Mets. 

​The Mets owned the MLB’s second-highest payroll in 2025 at $342 million. They trailed only the Dodgers, who spent $350 million. Juan Soto signed a record 15-year, $765 million contract with the Mets in the offseason. He lived up to the hype in his first year in Queens, even after a slow start, producing a 30-30 season and finishing third in the NL MVP voting. 

​The Mets’ undoing boiled down to a shaky starting rotation and a bullpen that could not bridge the ball to the NL Reliever of the Year Edwin Diaz, who skipped town to sign with the Dodgers this offseason. Following a frustrating 2025, general manager David Stearns chose to rip apart the Mets’ core this offseason, electing to let slugger Pete Alonso walk and to trade both Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo.

A Look Back on the Dodgers stealing Edwin Diaz in Orlando at the Winter Meetings

In the American League, there was an epic MVP race between New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge and Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh. Raleigh had a record-breaking offensive season for a catcher that saw him hit 60 home runs, while Judge became one of the only players in MLB history to hit over 50 home runs and win a batting title in the same season, hitting 53 home runs and finishing the year with a .331 batting average. Judge won the MVP, but Raleigh probably would have won it in almost any other year. 

Cal Raleigh Passes Mantle, Ties Griffey, and Chases Team USA Captain Aaron Judge Before 2026 World Baseball Classic

​Raleigh and Judge’s squads both came up short against the Toronto Blue Jays in the postseason however, with the Mariners losing in seven games in the American League Championship Series and the Yankees losing in four games in the American League Division Series. 

​On the pitching front, Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal secured back-to-back Cy Young Awards and pitched his heart out in the postseason only to see his team’s season end in a Game 5, 15-inning loss to the Mariners in the ALDS.

In the National League, Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes followed up his NL Rookie of the Year Award with his first Cy Young this past season. Both Skubal and Skenes will pitch for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic this spring. ​

Skubal, Skenes, Webb All Committed to Team USA For 2026 World Baseball Classic

​Nick Kurtz won the American League Rookie of the Year Award despite not getting called up by the Athletics until April 23. Kurtz launched 36 home runs, had 86 RBIs, and owned a slash line of .290/.383/.619 in 420 at-bats last season. 

​The darkest cloud of the MLB season was undoubtedly the suspensions of Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, for allegations of betting on themselves to throw balls in certain counts. 

Overall, the 2025 MLB season was an incredible one, and with an exciting offseason, the World Baseball Classic, and teams adding talent in an effort to take down the Dodgers, 2026 seems primed to be just as good, if not better.

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Photo: Los Angeles Dodgers’ Miguel Rojas look at the scoreboard during the firth inning of the exhibition game between Team Korea and the Los Angeles Dodgers at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-Joon)