Who is going to the World Series? Expert predictions for ALCS, NLCS

The 2026 MLB playoffs are down to the final four teams after a number of dominant division series performances.

Now that the matchups are set -- Dodgers-Brewers and Guardians-Rays -- it's time for some (more) predictions! We asked our MLB experts to weigh in on who will reach the World Series, which players will earn league championship series MVP honors and what will rule the week to come. We also had our experts explain why their initial Fall Classic picks are still in play -- or where they went very wrong.

More: LCS first-look preview | Bracket

Jump to: NLCS | ALCS | Predictions we got right ... and wrong

NLCS

Milwaukee Brewers (13 votes)

In how many games: 7 games (11 votes); 6 games (2 votes)

MVP if Brewers win: Jackson Chourio (6 votes), Jacob Misiorowski (3 votes), Brice Turang (2 votes), Logan Henderson (1 vote), Garrett Mitchell (1 vote)

Who picked Milwaukee: Tristan Cockcroft, Bradford Doolittle, Doug Glanville, Paul Hembekides, Eric Karabell, Tim Keown, Tim Kurkjian, Kiley McDaniel, Dan Mullen, Buster Olney, Jeff Passan, Jesse Rogers, David Schoenfield

Los Angeles Dodgers (2 votes)

In how many games: 7 games (1 vote), 6 games (1 vote)

MVP if Dodgers win: Freddie Freeman (1 vote), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1 vote)

Who picked Los Angeles: Jorge Castillo, Alden Gonzalez

The one thing we'll all be talking about:

How this was one of the best championship series in recent memory. The Dodgers rolled past the Brewers in last year's NLCS, outscoring them 15-4 in a sweep. That won't be the case this year. The Brewers are better, hungrier and more confident, with a rotation headlined by two aces in Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson.

This year's version will go seven games, and it will be a showcase of baseball at its optimal level -- a shining example of the varying ways teams can compete for championships, regardless of payrolls. -- Alden Gonzalez

The Brewers will become World Series favorites, with three great equalizers, so talented that they can succeed against any lineup, any group of future Hall of Famers -- The Miz, Logan Henderson and Jackson Chourio. The Brewers' outfielder is his generation's version of Derek Jeter in his postseason heartbeat, and Gary Sheffield with the violence of his swing. -- Buster Olney

Maybe I've spent too much time fixating on the NBA, but I have visions of the Bulls finally toppling the Detroit Pistons to win the Eastern Conference for the first time in 1991. Chicago was younger, more athletic and more dynamic than the proud but aging two-time champs, and I see an analogy here between the young Brewers and the veteran Dodgers.

A more pertinent analogy is probably the Braves of the 1950s, who chased the Brooklyn Dodgers for their first four years in Milwaukee before finally toppling them 1957, winning a pennant and Cream City's only World Series behind young stars Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews.

Maybe I'm just over convicted in my own predictions, but it just feels like one of those changing-of-the-guard seasons to me. And when the series is over, everyone will be talking about whether the Dodgers, rich and famous as they might be, have allowed their foundation to get too old. -- Bradford Doolittle

ALCS

Tampa Bay Rays (14 votes)

In how many games: 5 games (6 votes), 6 games (6 votes), 7 games (1 vote), 4 games (1 vote)

MVP if Rays win: Junior Caminero (8 votes), Drew Rasmussen (4 votes), Jonathan Aranda (1 vote), Yandy Diaz (1 vote)

Who picked Tampa Bay: Jorge Castillo, Tristan Cockcroft, Bradford Doolittle, Doug Glanville, Alden Gonzalez, Paul Hembekides, Eric Karabell, Tim Keown, Tim Kurkjian, Kiley McDaniel, Buster Olney, Jeff Passan, Jesse Rogers, David Schoenfield

Cleveland Guardians (1 vote)

In how many games: 7 game (1 vote)

MVP if Guardians win: Jose Ramirez (1 vote)

Who picked Cleveland: Dan Mullen

The one thing we'll all be talking about:

Considering the market he plays in, there are undoubtedly casual baseball fans who still don't know much about Junior Caminero. These next couple of weeks are going to be his moments, beginning with the ALCS where he'll take advantage of an exhausted Guardians pitching staff. Caminero will be the MVP of the ALCS. Who else could it be? -- Jesse Rogers

We're going to hear "Drew Rasmussen" and "underrated" in the same sentence about 5,368 times over the next week. He IS underrated though and enters this series on a hot streak, having allowed more than two runs just once in his past 13 starts. He allowed no runs or one run in 10 of those games -- including eight shutout innings against the Yankees in the ALDS. Oh, the Rays won all 13 of those games. -- David Schoenfield

Can Rasmussen continue to assert himself as one of the best starting pitchers in the game? The 31-year-old was never a top prospect and has had arm issues over the years, but this has been his career year (172 IP, 2.67 ERA, 5.0 WAR) and his first start of the postseason was also sparkling. The Rays' World Series case gets stronger with each outing such as this. -- Kiley McDaniel

World Series predictions we're right -- and wrong -- about so far

It doesn't take a genius to predict the two best regular-season teams to make the World Series, but so far so good. The Rays (easily) and the Brewers (not so easily) will win another round to set up the ultimate small market World Series -- an objectively funny lead-in to a lockout intended to save the lost souls of small market baseball. -- Keown

I picked the Brewers and still feel good about that, but there are also three pretty strong choices still in the field, who were all expected to get this far. I think the pressure of a three-peat for the Dodgers and the Rays' weaker lineup makes me stick with my pick -- and feel as good as I can about it in a postseason that's as luck-based as baseball's is. -- McDaniel

I feel great about my World Series prediction. The Brewers beat the hottest team in baseball and look as good as expected, the Rays entered the postseason as the clear favorites in the AL and did nothing to disprove that, and they're still the picks. -- Passan

My picks -- Milwaukee and Tampa Bay -- are still alive. On one hand, it's like picking No. 1 seeds on an NCAA tournament bracket to make the Final Four. Really going out on a limb there! But even though the Brewers and Rays are the top seeds, they still felt like underdogs to me when the playoffs began. So in addition to taking a moment to pat myself on the back, I'll add that I didn't see anything in the LDS round to make me wish I had made different selections. -- Doolittle

I had the Brewers over the Rays at the start of the postseason, and I'm sticking with that. Brewers-Dodgers is a coin flip, but right now, Milwaukee's edge appears to be its bullpen, plus a scuffling Shohei Ohtani and mediocre NLDS performances from Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow against an Atlanta lineup that isn't as good as Milwaukee's. -- Schoenfield

I picked Brewers over Rays, which really wasn't so bold considering they are the top seeds. I'm sticking with that one. Let's let a new team win their first World Series, especially a cost-conscious one! -- Karabell

I picked the Dodgers to beat the Rays before the playoffs began and I'm sticking with it. -- Castillo

So ... the Yankees' pitching wasn't really the factor that I thought it would be because you've got to hit to succeed in the playoffs, no? I felt Rays-Yankees was an ALDS inevitability, and the winner of that round would be destined for the World Series, so my original prediction was Brewers-Yankees. Brewers-Rays, while perhaps not an optimal TV matchup, should be a heck of a series. -- Cockcroft