With pitchers and catchers reporting in just a few weeks, fans across the country are gearing up for another summer of watching their favorite teams compete for the postseason. But who cares about the regular season anyway? We all love the thrill of postseason baseball, so let’s click fast forward and predict our 2023 World Series winner.

Teams across the league spent millions of dollars trying to get themselves better for the postseason but only 12 can make it. Some, like the Angles, relied on small signings and trades to better their team, and others like the Yankees or the Mets spent millions signing the best players on the market. Mets fan James Mertz said, “The Mets will win. They have only gotten better from last year, they have experience from that playoff loss last year and the pitching staff only got better, with the additions of Verlander and Senga. Who needs Degrom.”

Similar to Mertz, English teacher, Mr. Malossi believes the Mets 2023 budget is the reason they’ll win it all. He said, “They have been spending a lot of money getting the right players. You can’t stop us, you can only hope to contain us.”

A Yankee fan would argue that this is a bold take from a Mets fan after they were upset in the first round of the playoffs last season. That is exactly the position of Spanish teacher Mr. Barden.  He said, “It is going to be a tossup between the Yankees and a team that will pull it all together. I think the Padres may finally get it right and we may see a rematch of the 1998 world series.”

Mr. Barden went on to explain why the Mets will not win the world series next year, citing the fact that money does not buy championships. He said, “Today, people seem to think so, but the World Series MVP was a rookie shortstop and the NL Cy Young was a pitcher from the Marlins who was not getting paid like an ace. Money does not buy championships, but it can buy you a postseason ticket. The postseason comes down to who is the hottest…look at the Phillies last year.” 

Mr. Barden brings up an interesting point with the 2022 Philadelphia Phillies. A team that barely made it into the postseason, but beat top tier spenders including the Padres and the Braves because they were the hotter team. 

It’s no doubt that the Mets and Yankees spent a lot of money this offseason but they are not the only 2 teams fighting for a ring. Brett Jassey, a Royals fan who despite being disappointed in his team has found a team that he thinks will go all the way. Brett said, “I think San Diego is going to win. They got Tatis coming back, they brought in a lot of talent, the pitching staff is good, they just have to bring it all together in the early rounds of the playoffs.”

With 30 teams in the league, 12 in the postseason, 8 in the divisional series, 4 in the championship series, and just 2 in the World Series, the post season makes for a special time for baseball fans. We all want to get back to the feeling of high stakes October baseball but as Mr. Barden said, “…you can never predict which team will be the hottest. That is the team that will win.” Mr. Barden cannot be more right.

That begs the question: Who will be the hottest team come October?