Who is going to the World Series? Expert predictions for ALCS, NLCS — SkimNews
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- Milwaukee Brewers received 13 of 15 expert votes to win the NLCS over the Los Angeles Dodgers, with 11 experts predicting the series would go seven games
- Tampa Bay Rays drew near-unanimous backing to win the ALCS against the Cleveland Guardians, with 14 of 15 expert votes — Dan Mullen the lone dissenter picking Cleveland in seven games
- Jackson Chourio led NLCS MVP voting with six expert selections if the Brewers win, while Junior Caminero topped ALCS MVP picks with eight votes for the Rays
- Drew Rasmussen enters the ALCS on a 13-start streak in which he allowed two or fewer runs each outing — including eight shutout innings against the Yankees in the ALDS — with the Rays winning all 13 of those games
- Brewers pitching trio Jacob Misiorowski, Logan Henderson, and Chourio was repeatedly cited as the equalizer against an aging Dodgers core, with one expert drawing a parallel to the 1950s Milwaukee Braves finally toppling the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1957
- The consensus small-market Fall Classic of Brewers-Rays was flagged by experts as 'objectively funny' given looming CBA discussions framed around saving small-market baseball
- Two experts — Jorge Castillo and Alden Gonzalez — broke from the field to pick the Dodgers, citing the NLCS as a coin flip given Milwaukee's bullpen edge and a scuffling Shohei Ohtani
Why it matters: With 13 of 15 experts picking the Brewers and 14 of 15 picking the Rays, the consensus ALCS-NLCS projections create a near-unanimous media narrative before either series begins — one that frames Milwaukee and Tampa Bay as the small-market standard-bearers heading into a potential CBA fight over small-market economics. The lone dissenters (Mullen on Cleveland; Castillo and Gonzalez on the Dodgers) face an uphill battle against expert expectations that will shape coverage of every game.
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