It will be a big deal if the Dodgers win the World Series again in 2025. After all, they would become the first team in 25 years to repeat. It would be a big deal if the Astros win it, or the Phillies, or the Cubs, or the Red Sox, or any of the other teams who are good this year and have won the World Series in the last 20 years. It’s a big deal when any team wins the World Series.
But! There are certain teams whose fanbases have been through a lot, who have been waiting for a championship for decades -- and who may be having That Special Year. It’s a story if the Dodgers win the World Series. But it’s an earth-shaking, life-altering event if one of those teams do.
Here’s a look at five serious World Series contenders who, if they were to break through this year, would change the lives of every single one of their fans forever … and make themselves legends in the process. Here are the teams who could have That Special Year -- the teams for whom a title in 2025 would mean everything.
Blue Jays
Last championship: 1993
Why they’ve got a chance: It was June 30 when the Blue Jays welcomed the first-place Yankees, who were three games ahead of Toronto at the time, to Rogers Centre for a four-game set. The Jays promptly swept, taking over first place in the AL East, a spot they haven’t given up since. They’ve actually extended their lead in that time -- it was as high as 6 1/2 games and remains healthy -- and it all seems to be coming together for them. They’ve gotten bounce-back seasons from George Springer and Bo Bichette, surprising leaps forward from Davis Schneider and Addison Barger and the star performance they expected from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. when they inked him to a contract extension before the season started. That was the Good Vibes moment the Jays and their fans needed, one that seems to have sparked this first-place run.
What it would mean: Seriously, the Jays were this close to tearing it all down at the Trade Deadline last year. (Even Guerrero got a little wobbly, briefly backing off his previously stated resistance to playing for the Yankees.) Instead, they kept the team together, which was seen as a risk with Guerrero and Bichette potentially heading into free agency after 2025. This was, after all, the culmination of the team that had been built for a half-decade but hadn’t ever broken through in the playoffs. (Toronto’s last victory in a postseason game came in 2016.) But this year is the proof of concept of the whole plan. This is a great, vast fanbase that is famished for success and still feels like it missed an opportunity during the José Bautista/Edwin Encarnación years. It has been more than 30 years since they won it all -- a stretch that saw them win two in a row. The Jays feel like it’s their time to return to that place again.
Brewers
Last championship: None
Why they’ve got a chance: Uh, have you looked at this team lately? The Brewers have been playing at an all-timer of a pace for two months now, leading to a never-ending series of “how exactly are the Brewers doing this?” stories. The Brewers get contributions from everywhere and are a walking advertisement for Doing The Little Things right. You never know who’s going to get you from the Brewers. Isaac Collins? Caleb Durbin? Andrew Vaughn? Blake Perkins? The answer is: Someone, any of them, all of them. The Brewers have been an unstoppable force. They’ve been the best story in the sport this year.
What it would mean: The Brewers shouldn’t be nearly as surprising as they are. After all, they’re pushing for their fourth NL Central title in five years and have missed the playoffs only once since 2017. But despite some truly great teams -- Brewers fans will always love that 2011 team, and that 2021 team had a real chance, too -- they haven’t broken through to the World Series since 1982 … so long ago that they now play in the same division as their opponent that year. The Brewers are having a truly special year, one in which they’re likely to surpass the franchise record for wins, the sort of year they make movies about. And to have this happen the year we lost Bob Uecker? All the stars are aligning for the Brewers. It’s about time.
Mariners
Last championship: None
Why they’ve got a chance: Julio Rodríguez has been the piece the Mariners have been building around -- the one we all thought would win an MVP Award sooner rather than later -- which is why it’s so surprising and thrilling to see Cal Raleigh, the Big Dumper himself, turn out to be the one making history. (And Julio has, once again, turned it on in the second half.) The Mariners have had a great rotation for years, but they never had a lineup that could support it, at least on a championship level. But with Raleigh’s ascension to superstar status, Randy Arozarena’s excellent year and the return of Eugenio Suárez, this lineup has never been deeper. The Mariners are a complete team. They’re a terrifying postseason matchup for anyone unfortunate enough to run into them.
What it would mean: Well, this does remain the only big league franchise to never make a World Series appearance. The Mariners also have made the playoffs only once in the last 24 years, breaking their fans’ hearts plenty of times in the process. This is a proud franchise with a fanbase that has waited a long time to return to prominence, and one that deserves it. This is a gloriously fun team. And can you imagine if they win the World Series the same year Ichiro was inducted into the Hall of Fame?
Padres
Last championship: None
Why they’ve got a chance: All any fan really wants from their team is a willingness to go for it, to floor it, when the opportunity presents itself. General manager A.J. Preller and the Padres have certainly done that, trading away future parts for present glory, for which Preller has become famous in recent years. Though the Padres haven’t broken through yet, they have reaped the rewards: Remember, this team didn’t make the postseason once from 2007-19; they now look like they’ll be there four times in six years. They’ve got the superstars, they’ve got the rotation, they have a downright terrifying bullpen. And, more than anything, they’ve got a fanbase selling the place out every night. The Padres are all in. Again.
What it would mean: The Padres, like the Mariners and Brewers, have never won the World Series. They’ve also spent a whole bunch of money, and traded away a whole bunch of talent, to at least try to get to one over the last few years, and it hasn’t happened yet. Padres fans have been through a lot -- and have had to watch the Dodgers seemingly get everything they want -- and they are as dedicated as they have ever been to their team, as dedicated as any fanbase in baseball. They’ve come close to breaking through the last few years. One of these years, they’re gonna do it. And they'll probably go through the Dodgers to do so.
Tigers
Last championship: 1984
Why they’ve got a chance: It turns out their mad dash to the 2024 postseason was just a precursor for this year. Despite a rough stretch over the last month or so, the Tigers’ division lead has never been in much jeopardy. Many of the contributors they’ve been waiting on have had the years the Tigers believed they would (Spencer Torkelson, Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter), and they’re getting not just the Cy Young year from Tarik Skubal we all expected, they’re also getting away from the “Skubal and pitching chaos” strategy they were forced to deploy last October. We’ve been waiting for someone to finally take control of the AL Central. It turned out to be the Tigers.
What it would mean: It’s a time of resurgence for all Detroit sports these days -- it was just the Tigers’ turn. The Tigers are a classic baseball franchise, with an iconic logo and uniform, representing a proud, great American city. They’ve got the superstar in Skubal, and they’ve got a fanbase that was there for some truly nightmarish seasons and has more than earned this moment. The Tigers have been waiting a long time to return to glory; they’ve been muttering about the 2006 World Series for years. This may well be a Tigers Town again.