Division Series Preview: Dodgers, Phillies meet in heavyweight bout

With four squads purged from the MLB playoffs in the Wild Card Series, the post-season has settled into a comfortable eight-team bracket.

Although much of Canada’s attention will be justifiably directed to the Toronto Blue Jays-New York Yankees series, that battle isn’t the only compelling matchup in the field. 

The other three division series have plenty to offer, ranging from a fight between a Seattle Mariners team that went 39-27 in the second half and a Detroit Tigers squad that limped to a 28-37 record to a heavyweight bout between the star-studded Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. 

Meanwhile, MLB’s best team in the regular season — the Milwaukee Brewers — finds itself in an NL Central showdown with a feisty Chicago Cubs club it went 6-7 against during the regular season.

Every ALDS and NLDS matchup is brimming with intrigue, so let’s dive in:

No. 2 Seattle Mariners (90-72) vs. No. 6 Detroit Tigers (87-75)

What’s working for the Mariners: Seattle is well-rested and healthy after entering the playoffs on a 17-4 heater. The Mariners can boast an excellent rotation and some intimidating leverage arms, but the thing that stands out the most about the team is a multi-faceted offensive attack that ranked third in the majors in home runs (238), stolen bases (161) and wRC+ (138) during the regular season.

What’s working for the Tigers: Not much was working for Detroit in the latter half of the season, and the team hit just .218/.325/.287 in its wild-card series with the Cleveland Guardians. That said, the Tigers’ pitching staff shut down the Guardians outside of Troy Melton's meltdown in Game 2. Detroit’s starters conceded just three earned runs in 15.1 innings, in large part due to the mastery of Tarik Skubal. The best thing the Tigers have going for them is the ability to roll out the superstar southpaw twice in a five-game series.

Potential Achilles heel for the Mariners: Seattle is a well-rounded team in most facets, but it doesn’t play good defence. According to Statcast’s Outs Above Average, only the Los Angeles Angels and Washington Nationals were worse in the field than Seattle during the regular season. If the Tigers can put the ball in play, they could catch a break or two.

Potential Achilles heel for the Tigers: Detroit’s bullpen produced a lower fWAR total (1.4) than any playoff team, and its K/9 (7.71) ranked dead-last in the majors. The Tigers are heavily reliant on middling veterans like Kyle Finnegan, Rafael Montero, and Tommy Kahnle to build a shaky bridge to closer Will Vest. Look for Seattle to break through late in at least one game in this series.

It’ll all come down to: Detroit’s success when Skubal isn’t on the mound. During the regular season and playoffs, the team is 22-10 when he pitches and 67-66 when he doesn’t. The Mariners have the Tigers overmatched without the 2024 Cy Young winner, and Detroit needs to steal at least one game without him.

No. 1 Milwaukee Brewers (97-65) vs. No. 4 Chicago Cubs (92-70)

What’s working for the Brewers: The consistency up and down the Brewers' lineup has been the team’s trademark all year, and that’s unlikely to come to an abrupt halt in the playoffs. That said, Milwaukee’s best weapon in this series might just be its bullpen. The back-end quartet of Abner Uribe, Trevor Megill, Jared Koenig and Aaron Ashby gave Milwaukee 255 innings of 2.26 ERA ball in 2025. That bullpen core will be joined by Jacob Misiorowski, a compelling wild card whose fastball averaged 99.3 mph as a starter.

What’s working for the Cubs: Chicago’s season-long strength was a position player group that was well above-average at the plate, on the bases, and in the field. Some of that shone through in the wild-card series (perhaps most notably the defence of Dansby Swanson), but the unit that came through the most was the Cubs bullpen. While no pitcher gave Chicago more than 4.1 innings in any of its three games, the relievers (and opener Andrew Kittredge) combined for 14.2 frames with just two earned runs allowed.

Potential Achilles heel for the Brewers: Part of what made Milwaukee so effective during the regular season was a lack of glaring weaknesses, and a lack of raw star power seems more likely to sink the Brewers than a fatal flaw. Beyond the absence of truly elite players — a description that will likely soon fit Jackson Chourio, to be fair — there isn’t much to dislike about Milwaukee. A nitpicker might point to a rotation that is relatively unproven behind Freddy Peralta, but to Chad Patrick and Quinn Priester’s credit, the duo combined to produce a 3.41 ERA in 277 innings with solid peripherals.

Potential Achilles heel for the Cubs: Chicago’s relievers impressed against the San Diego Padres, but its rotation isn’t intimidating. Matthew Boyd is in the midst of an impressive breakout campaign, but he leads a group that ranked 17th in the majors in fWAR (10.3) during the regular season. Shota Imanaga was projected to be the head of the spear coming off his excellent 2024, but he took a step back in 2025 and struggled to a 6.51 ERA in September.

It’ll all come down to: Which team can create early-game offence. Both teams look more solid in the bullpen than in the rotation, and comeback victories may be hard to come by.

No. 2 Philadelphia Phillies (96-66) vs. No. 3 Los Angeles Dodgers (93-69)

What’s working for the Phillies: The trio of Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo, and Ranger Suárez is the basis for a top-notch playoff rotation, while the top of the lineup (Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, and Bryce Harper) is as good as it gets. Put another way, the players who will log the most innings and take the most at-bats for Philadelphia in this series are extremely difficult to beat.

What’s working for the Dodgers: The Dodgers can similarly claim to have an elite top of the lineup, but the strength they reinforced the most in their wild-card series win was raw firepower from one to nine. Los Angeles hit .373/.440/.667 against an excellent Cincinnati Reds staff, and the Dodgers’ offence is getting healthier as Max Muncy is returned just in time for the playoffs and Will Smith is coming back for this NLDS matchup. 

Potential Achilles heel for the Phillies AND Dodgers: We’re going to mash these categories together because we’re dealing with the same issue. Both Philadelphia and Los Angeles are teams with excellent position-player groups and rotations, but poor bullpens.

Neither team is particularly strong defensively either, but it's the relievers that have given both clubs headaches all season long. 

Los Angeles probably has more upside in its bullpen as Roki Sasaki has given the group a boost recently, starter Emmett Sheehan can help out, and Tyler Glasnow is even an option depending on how the Dodgers want to deploy their arms. 

It’ll all come down to: Who can get outs late in games. The combination of iffy bullpens and unimpressive defence could allow for some dramatic late-game moments, and the winner of this series could be the one whose relievers outperform their regular-season output.