The 2025 MLB postseason is underway, and there is plenty of reason to be excited about this year's Fall Classic.
While there are a few powerhouse teams such as the Phillies and Brewers that are expected to make a strong push for the World Series, there are no "super teams" expected to sweep through the bracket like in years past. The Dodgers are as vulnerable as they've been in a long time, the AL is a mess of pretty good teams that have struggled to separate as great, and low seeds like the Cubs and Red Sox are flawed yet capable of catching fire.
All that makes for the fun result of a postseason with no runaway favorite. Hopefully it results in plenty of close games and epic battles.
To help you prepare for the upcoming postseason, we've collected every team's playoff roster in one place. Before the start of every series, teams are required to narrow down their roster to 26 players. It's quite a cutdown from the regular season's 40-man roster. Some teams have tough decisions to make when crafting a postseason roster; some do not. But part of the playoff fun every year is breaking down every team's chosen postseason roster for strengths, weaknesses, and potential oversights.
Here is the playoff roster for every MLB postseason team entering the wild card round; the four teams that earned a bye won't have to submit their rosters until just before the divisional round begins.
MLB Playoff Rosters 2025
Detroit Tigers Playoff Roster
The Tigers enter the postseason with ... less than ideal momentum. Detroit was one of the best teams in baseball for most of the season but completely collapsed in August and September, blowing a 15.5-game lead in the AL Central and ultimately finishing second behind the Guardians for the division crown. Nevertheless, with Tarik Skubal in the rotation and talented bats (that have slumped lately) in the lineup the Tigers could still prove dangerous despite how their season ended.
Here's what their 26-man roster looks like for their wild card matchup with Cleveland.
Cleveland Guardians Playoff Roster
The Guardians were the counterweight to the Tigers down the stretch in 2025, going on an absurd hot streak to steal the division crown and ride into the postseason with incredible momentum. It was a historic turnaround in many ways but made all the more impressive by Cleveland dealing with multiple gambling-related suspensions in the middle of the season. Now the Guardians are looking to capitalize and ride their collective hot hands into October.
Here's what their 26-man roster looks like for their wild card matchup with Detroit.
Chicago Cubs Playoff Roster
The Cubs put forth a great season and 92 wins is usually enough to closely compete for the NL Central crown. But they had the misfortune of playing in the same division as the Brewers this year, who sprinted away with a huge division lead in the early going of the season and never let up. Now Chicago will host the Padres at Wrigley Field, where the home side went 50-29. It'll be a close contest between two pretty evenly-matched teams.
Here's what their 26-man roster looks like for their wild card matchup with San Diego.
San Diego Padres Playoff Roster
The Padres battled through a somewhat inconsistent campaign to claim one of the NL wild card spots and will now try to fight off their playoff demons with a trip to Chicago to play the Cubs. San Diego entered postseason play with a 25-inning scoreless streak dating back to last year's playoffs, when the Padres were shut out in Games 4 and 5 of their divisional round loss to the Dodgers. But there's hope in the form of a decent winning streak to end the year, with San Diego winning five of its last six games.
Here's what their 26-man roster looks like for their wild card matchup with Chicago.
Boston Red Sox Playoff Roster
The Red Sox have been a rollercoaster all year long. They struggled to start the year and became the laughingstock of MLB when they suddenly traded Rafael Devers. Then Boston ripped off a bunch of wins and wound up one of baseball's better teams for most of the middle stretch of the year. Then the Sox faltered hard in September and nearly choked away their playoff hopes before getting it together for long enough to secure a wild card berth. All that means it's really anybody's guess as to what version of the Red Sox will show up for the wild card round, but a rivalry matchup against the Yankees guarantees entertainment if anything.
Here's what their 26-man roster looks like for their wild card matchup against New York.
New York Yankees Playoff Roster
The Yankees were frustratingly inconsistent all season despite the talent up and down the roster. With the exception of Aaron Judge, who put forth another immaculate season from the plate and will be on the shortlist to win his second straight MVP award. The Yanks' extended stretches of mediocrity were not offset by enough hot runs and they painfully let the AL East title slip away in the final weeks of the season to the Blue Jays. Still, they'll boast one of the more talented rosters in the postseason field and could prove mighty dangerous if they catch fire at the right time.
Here's what their 26-man roster looks like for their wild card matchup against Boston.
Cincinnati Reds Playoff Roster
The Reds snuck into the playoffs on the final day of the season and there's one main reason to be pumped about that: Elly De La Cruz, the phenom shortstop who will be playing in his first-ever playoff games. EDLC is what they call "box office," a walking highlight reel who has the potential to wow eve the most grizzled baseball fan in his postseason introduction. The Reds as a whole are a fun team, too, and will be receiivng plenty of support from neutral fans who would like to see Cincy's David beat the Goliath that is the Dodgers and their massive payroll.
Here's what their 26-man roster looks like for their wild card matchup against Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Dodgers Playoff Roster
It was a down year in Los Angeles for the high-powered Dodgers coming off their 2024 World Series title. The good is that they still won 93 games and the NL West title, primarily powered by Shohei Ohtani doing Shohei Ohtani things both at the plate and on the mound. But there are signs of concern on the roster entering postseason play. Enough concern that they are anything but a shoe-in to be in a position to defend their title in the Fall Classic. By missing out on a divisional round bye the Dodgers have a long road back to the World Series, starting with the upstart Reds.
Here's what their 26-man roster looks like for their wild card matchup against Cincinnati.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Full Rosters for Every MLB Playoff Team as 2025 Postseason Begins.
