There are... a lot of quality players in the 2025 MLB Postseason. That was the big takeaway from this project. With the 12-team field officially set, the first round should feature plenty of intrigue. It was a mad dash to the finish line, with a few expected contenders left in the dust (sorry, Mets and Astros fans) while underdogs took their spots (between Cleveland and Cincinnati, the state of Ohio is shockingly well-represented).
This was a simple exercise on the surface. The mandate was to define and rank the 25 "best" players in the postseason. But what does "best" mean? The players we trust the most? The players who put together the best regular seasons in 2025? How should we weigh track record against current levels of production. In the end, this list represents my best effort to thread that needle, accounting for the past and the present. At the end of the day, however, if your production isn't up to snuff in 2025, you can't crack this list. Apologies to Mookie Betts.
While all 12 teams have at least one representative in these rankings, we are not grading on a curve. This is an honest assessment of the best players, without an arbitrary threshold to better represent less talented teams. Baseball is a funny sport, though. So often a team with less firepower can find ways to win, while those with lofty payrolls and marquee names can just as easily find ways to lose. Just ask the Mets.
Let's dive in. Here are the 25 best players in the MLB Postseason, ranked.
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Top 25 players in the 2025 MLB Postseason, ranked
Honorable mentions: LHP Blake Snell (LAD), 3B Alex Bregman (BOS), OF Cody Bellinger (NYY), C Alejandro Kirk (TOR), SS Bo Bichette (TOR), DH Giancarlo Stanton (NYY), RHP Andrés Muñoz (SEA), OF Trent Grisham (NYY), 3B Manny Machado (SD), 3B Max Muncy (LAD)
Jazz Chisholm was a source of great frustration for Yankees fans at times this season. He committed a few boneheaded errors in the field and fell victim to unforced miscues on the bases. But at the end of the day, he was incredibly productive at a position where elite offense is hard to come by. Chisholm officially joins the 30-30 club for the first time while, despite the errors, supplying above-average defense at second base. He strikes out a bit too often, but Chisholm also lulls pitchers into a healthy dose of walks, after which he can apply pressure with his incredible speed and athleticism. You take the bad with the overwhelming good when it comes to Jazz. His personality is infectious, the sort we don't often see in a Yankees uniform, and when he's in the zone, precious few MLB players can impact all areas of the game like him.
In a league increasingly obsessed with swinging for the fences, Nico Hoerner represents a dying breed. He's in the eighth percentile for hard contact, but he consistently hits around .300 and almost never strikes out. He's a menace on the base paths, a Gold Glove candidate at second base, and a thorn in the side of opposing pitchers hoping to breeze through a few quick at-bats. Hoerner fights deep into counts, gets wood on pitches well outside the zone, and by sheer force of will finds himself on base early and often, with the chance to scamper around 'em quickly and put runs on the board for Chicago. He doesn't hit for power, but Hoerner does just about everything else well. We simply do not talk about him enough.
The Brewers are a team short on established star power, but Freddy Peralta has flown under the radar as one of the very best pitchers in MLB this season. The righty has a pretty standard arsenal, leaning on a mid-90s fastball that he throws more than half the time, along with your typical hodgepodge of sliders, curves and changeups. And yet he's able to pile up strikeouts — over 200 this season — while avoiding hard contact. He paints the corners and his fastball has extreme vertical break, which leads to a lot of hard swings and misses at what appear, on the surface, to be hittable pitchers. He's an absolute beast and he'd be a worthy Cy Young candidate in a league without Paul Skenes.
Max Fried rewarded the Yankees' offseason gamble with one of his best seasons to date. The hard-throwing lefty has a complicated postseason résumé, but he has overwhelmingly dominant his tenure in MLB. Fried has seven pitches he can throw, all of which zip through the zone at different angles. He gets a lot of soft, groundball contact as a result — that is, when he's not mixing and matching his way to a strikeout. The southpaw will need to exorcise his postseason demons of yore if New York wants to reach the mountaintop, but when Fried is locked in with full command of his pitches, few are better.
Bryan Woo might not have the gnarliest stuff or the absolute highest ceiling, but the man is steady as a rock. He just does not have bad games. His stuff is almost always on point, and he exhibits impressive control of the strike zone, with a low walk rate (4.9) in MLB's 95th percentile. Woo's poise and precision has made him the best arm in a deep and talented Mariners rotation. He can touch the upper 90s with his fastball, mixing in sinkers and sweepers as needed to keep hitters off-balance. Woo does not get the credit he so often deserves for consistently churning out excellent results, a trend that should continue full-steam ahead in October.
Freddie Freeman, the reigning World Series MVP and a two-time champ, has a long track record of success in October. This season has been a "down" year by his usual (extremely high) standards, and yet he's still hitting a hair shy of .300 with 20-plus home runs and solid batted-ball metrics. Freeman is no longer a Gold Glove first baseman, but his poise and experience is apparent in every at-bat, and you'd be hard-pressed to trust somebody more in a pressure-packed situation. Freeman is just a dude you want at the plate in big moments. He might not be having a top-25 season, but it would feel a bit silly to leave him off these rankings if (or when) the Dodgers go on a run.
Pete Crow-Armstrong became the third-ever player to compile 30 home runs, 30 stolen bases and 30 doubles in a single season before his 24th birthday. It has been tough sledding since the All-Star break, and PCA's hot-cold tendencies have been a major theme throughout his first two MLB seasons. But when he's on, PCA has a ceiling as high as any player in baseball. He's lightning-quick on the base paths and a black hole in centerfield, catching anything within a five-mile radius. At least, that's what it feels like. The bat probably isn't as gaudy as the surface-level numbers suggest, but he can slug at a high level and do substantial damage on the bases when he shoots one into the gap. PCA is a five- (or 4.5-) tool star who is just beginning to scratch his ceiling. This postseason could be a valuable learning experience — or a coming out party.
Julio Rodríguez is now a three-time All-Star through four MLB seasons. He's still searching for the consistency his exhibited as a rookie, but Rodríguez can still tap into all five tools and is a linchpin of Seattle's long-awaited postseason breakthrough. He's a tremendous defender in centerfield and would, in most "normal" years, be a prime Gold Glove candidate at a premium position. He's also an annual 30-home run, 30-stolen base threat at this point, making up for a high strikeout rate with exceptional raw power and the ability to wreak havoc once he's on base. Rodríguez's numbers should look better — he's another bad luck victim — and yet he's still a bonafide playmaker all over the place, consistently finding ways to give the Mariners an edge, whether it's legging out an extra-base hit, shutting off the water in the centerfield gaps, or ramping up his slugging when the lights are bright.
After an up-and-down rookie season that was partially undermined by injury, Yoshinobu Yamamoto has come into his own as a bonafide, top of the marquee ace in his second campaign with the Dodgers. Still only 27 years old, the hard-throwing righty has a long and successful career ahead of him, which is sure to include plenty of October baseball. Yamamoto primarily alternates between a high-90s fastball and his vicious splitter, which dips below bats like Muhammad Ali ducked punches back in the day. But Yamamoto can stretch his arsenal six pitches deep, including a curveball that just bottoms out with maximum deception. He peppers all quadrants of the strike zone, gets a ton of soft groundball contact, and dials up the velocity for a ton of strikeouts. The man has arrived.
Hunter Greene only managed 19 starts this season due to injury, but the 26-year-old was lights out when available. He finished with a 2.76 ERA and 132 strikeouts in 107.2 innings. Greene is a classic fireballer for the modern era, with two plus-plus pitches — a high-90s, low-100s fastball that dances through the zone and a sweeping slider that falls off the plate like a parachute caught in a strong wind. He can mix in a splitter as needed, but Greene leans heavily on his fastball, and does so with tremendous success. It's one of the most devastating weapons in MLB. Greene dials up a ton of swing-and-miss and he operates with remarkable command for such a hard-throwing, electrifying arm. Cincy's entire rotation has been throwing gas during this stretch run, but Greene is the ringleader, and a huge early advantage for the Wild Card round.
Bryce Harper began the season in a slump and has dealt with injuries along the way, but he's rounding into form when it matters most for the red-hot Phillies. While Harper's numbers are muted by his typical standards, he's fighting through bad luck and beginning to win that battle with increasing frequency. He can still fall into bad swing habits and pick up a few too many strikeouts, but when he does makes contact, Harper can hit it as far as anyone. He still draws a ton of walks, hits well actually virtually all matchups, and continues to provide top-notch defense at first base. There is also a baked-in element of trust with Harper around this time of year. Few players step up in big moments more consistently — and more loudly — than Philadelphia's left-handed superstar.
Even in a down year, Fernando Tatis Jr. has effortlessly put up 20-plus home runs and 30-plus stolen bases for the Padres. He's a top-shelf defender in right field, with the ability to contribute all five tools toward San Diego's pursuit of a World Series. And, as a matter of fact, Tatis likes the lights, and he tends to show out when the Padres are given a proper stage. He still hits the ball incredibly hard and the advanced metrics point to bad luck holding him back as much as any other factor this season. Tatis walks a ton, he doesn't go fishing recklessly out the zone, and when he gets a pitch he can square up and launch, pitchers are typically found uttering a small prayer as the ball crosses the plate.
Cristopher Sánchez has made leap after leap for the Phillies, this season crystallizing as a Cy Young candidate in the National League. The southpaw is a rare sinkerballer with sharp strikeout stuff. The biggest evolution in Sánchez's game has been his changeup, which he transformed from a setup pitch to a put-away pitch, one that he can throw in rapid succession and still get results with. Sánchez only has three pitches — the sinker, changeup and slider — but each carries its load and puts hitters in a compromised position. Sánchez operates with extreme precision. He doesn't walk batters, he doesn't dance around the zone. He pounds the low corners with stuff that is just plain difficult to hit, even when the batter knows it's coming. Philadelphia lost Zack Wheeler and still might have the best pitcher in the NL postseason, which is a rare gift.
Too often lost in a turbulent Dodgers season is the tremendous output of All-Star catcher Will Smith. It's hard to find even league-average bats at catcher, not to mention outright offensive buzzsaws like Smith. He might not swing for the fences, but he has an on-base percentage over .400 due to his incredible plate discipline. Smith forces a ton of walks and sees the zone extremely well, able to hit to all areas of the field and rack up extra-base hits when the opportunity arises. He also boasts an absolute canon behind home plate, with four more base-runners caught stealing than your average backstop. Smith is one of the most well-rounded offensive players in MLB right now and he's doing it all while calling games. What a special, somehow underrated force for the most talented and scrutinized team in baseball.
George Springer finished last season with a career-worst .674 OPS. He was 34 years old. It felt like he was entering the twilight stage of his career. Fast forward to 2025, and Springer has wrapped up arguably his best individual campaign to date, with an OPS well north of .900 and the first .300-plus average of his career. Springer's defense remains in decline, but there aren't many more impressive hitting profiles in MLB right now. Springer wields a compact, powerful swing and he's still a menace on the base paths in his 12th season, thwacking 30-plus home runs and notching 15-plus stolen bases. Toronto's rise to the top of the American League was unforeseen, but it starts with Springer turning back the clock and reminding us all that he's one of the absolute best outfielders in the business.
Toronto's miraculous Vladimir Guerrero Jr. extension has been rewarded with an incredible season and an overdue run to the playoffs. Guerrero's individual numbers aren't necessarily at his personal peak, but he's in the 100th percentile for expected average and the 92nd percentile for expencted slugging, which means he's been as unlucky as anyone — and is still putting up monster numbers by all typical standards. Much like his dad, Guerrero defies all common logic as a hitter. He's draws a metric ton of walks, he rarely strikes out, and he hits everything hard as s**t. Whether it's a meatball down the middle or a breaking ball low and away, Guerrero can figure out a way to get it on the barrel and send it where the defense won't find it. Sure, he's not terribly valuable as a defender, but as a pure hitter, Guerrero is up there with the best of the best.
Before he cashes that $400 million check this offseason, Kyle Tucker will try to lead Chicago back to the promised land. It has been a whirlwind campaign, featuring exceptional highs and frustrating, injury-plagued lows, but Tucker has fought through it all to deliver another uniquely productive and impactful campaign. He has been everything the Cubs wanted from that trade, with power to all areas of the field, 20-30 stolen bases on demand, and a rocket-like arm in the corner outfield. Tucker draws a ton of walks, sees the ball extremely well through the zone, and it able to deliver top-notch efficiency and slugging despite not generating the hardest of contact. He will get paid an obscene amount of cash this winter and be worth every penny.
Kyle Schwarber was always great, but in years past, he was viewed more as a fun-but-flawed, lowercase-s star, rather than a bonafide MVP candidate and the driving force behind a contender. But this has been Schwarber's best season to date, in his age-32 campaign, as he has found a way to address weaknesses without sacrificing his (literal) strength. Schwarber eclipsed 50 home runs for the first time in his career, leading the NL in both homers and RBI. He still strikes out a lot — it's part of the package — but Schwarber hit north of .240 for only the fourth time in an 11-year career, improving his swing decisions and finding ways to get on base, even when he's not walking or sending one to the moon. He's only a DH, and the lack of defensive value does hurt him in rankings like these, but Schwarber is bar-none the scariest offensive force in MLB on a pitch-to-pitch basis, which counts for something.
An unfortunate injury held Trea Turner out for the final few weeks of the season and prevented him from making an earnest MVP bid, but we really aren't talking enough about how good the Phillies shortstop has been. A year ago, folks were wondering if it was time to abandon Turner at shortstop entirely and move him to the outfield. Now he's a leading Gold Glove candidate, turning it his best defensive season to date. He's also a machine at the plate, hitting over .300 with 15 home runs, 69 RBI and 36 stolen bases. We tend to underrated or entirely disregard the elite contact hitters in today's game, when so much importance is placed on slugging, but Turner sprays hits all over the field and is a constant threat to double or triple. He can still come through with the occasional power surge, but his swing decisions, speed and unexpectedly elite defense has made him one of the most quiet superstars in MLB this season — and arguably the best player on a top World Series threat.
Garrett Crochet led the American League in innings pitched and strikeouts, putting long-gestating durability concerns to bed in emphatic fashion. He was just what the doctor ordered for a Boston team in desperate need of ace material atop its rotation. Crochet can touch triple digits with his fastball, but what makes him so special is just how complete he is now compared to when his career began. Crochet has four rock-solid pitches, all of which can put a hitter away. This season saw him incorporate a devastating sweeper that fades out of the zone just after the batter decides to swing through it. His cutter is hard-biting and deceptive, and his sinker pounds the bottom of the zone with disarming horizontal motion. The 6-foot-6 southpaw, still only 26 years old, will finish second in Cy Young voting, but first in the hearts of Red Sox fans.
On paper, the Guardians don't really look like a postseason team, but a huge reason for their late-season surge is the sustained brilliance of José Ramírez. He was never going to win MVP up against the powerhouses of Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh, but we should really talk about Ramírez more. At 33, he's about to finish with 30 home runs and 40 stolen bases for the second year in a row. He's a plus defender at the hot corner, with an exceptionally well-rounded hitting profile. Ramírez is damn hard to strike out, he draws a healthy number of walks, and he ratchets up the power on a regular basis, despite producing only modest hard contact. In fact, Ramírez's expected average suggests that his overall numbers should look even better than they do. He's a special player who is somehow still getting better.
Tarik Skubal has separated himself as the gold standard for pitching, at least in the American League. (We probably won't get to debate Paul Skenes' place in the postseason hierarchy for a while, unfortunately.) Detroit's collective performance after the All-Star break was rather abysmal, but Skubal just kept chugging, delivering stellar results every fifth night and securing what should be his second-straight Cy Young award. He leans primary on four plus pitches — changeup, fastball, sinker and slider — with velocity that can crest in the triple digits and a nasty blend of sharp bite and laser-precision control. The lefty's mechanics are, well, mechanical. That high leg kick and swooping release is so beautiful to watch and it makes him damn near impossible to hit, or at least to hit well. Skubal's stuff is as good as anyone in baseball, but it's his consistently and durability that really puts him in a special class.
Cal Raleigh will finish a historic 2025 campaign with 60 home runs, 125 RBI and 14 stolen bases as a switch-hitting catcher, which sounds like an impossible combination of facts. He is special, and the reason we can't quit the Mariners. But even so, when ranking the absolute best players on the postseason stage, we need to acknowlege the (previous few) weaknesses that do hold Raleigh back. He strikes out a ton, a natural byproduct of an approach focused on swinging for the fences. He's also having a subpar defensive season behind home plate by his extremely high standards, so he's not quite the two-sided force some might bill him as. But even so, Raleigh walks a ton and hits the ball unfathomably hard. He's still an expert at framing pitches and calling games, and he's pummeling pitchers from both sides of the plate, becoming virtually matchup-proof, which is a new development. Raleigh has earned all the praise. We needn't actually ding him that much, there is just a ton of talent in MLB right now.
Aaron Judge occupies MLB's 100th percentile for: expected batting average and slugging percentage, exit velocity, barrels, and walks. He's in the 99th percentile for hard contact rate. He comfortably led the American League in average (.331), OPS (1.149), slugging (.631), OPS+ (214) and runs scored (136). I know we all want to give Raleigh the MVP because he's such a cool story, doing so many historic things as a switch-hitting catcher, but let's be real. Judge is the single greatest hitter of his generation. That OPS+ effectively means he is more than twice as good as the average MLB hitter. Judge has the largest strike zone in baseball, yet there isn't a weak spot and he can deliver tanks to all areas of the field. It would be nice if Judge was a little bit more effective on defense, where he really drags the Yankees down, but the offense is too good to earnestly nitpick. Judge's postseason track record is complicated and he will need to exorcise a few demons if New York wants to reach the mountaintop, but Judge is pretty much unimpeachable.
Shohei Ohtani finally made his postseason debut with the Dodgers last season and immediately put on a show and won the whole damn thing. The unicorn hasn't slowed down this season. He's still a lock for 50-plus home runs and 20-plus stolen bases. He hits for average and power, with compact swing mechanics that will be taught for generations to come. Oh, and he has a 2.84 ERA through 47.0 innings pitched this season, putting to bed concerns about his ability to return to the mound after a second shoulder surgery. It's unclear how exactly L.A. will deploy him as a pitcher in October — he losses his spot in the lineup if he enters the game out of the bullpen — but Ohtani is still a bonafide two-way force. His luck metrics show that he should have even better numbers right now. Nobody hits it harder and few generate more consistent, high-quality contact. It's hard to call him a five-tool player when he doesn't really play defense, but the pitching is a fifth tool, and there's still nothing close to Ohtani elsewhere in MLB. Judge is the better pure hitter. Hell, you can argue Soto is too. But when it comes to everything a player can accomplish on the baseball diamond, and the level of fear one instills in their opponent, Ohtani stands alone.