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If you’re checking the scores and wondering who left in mlb playoffs, the short answer is: nobody. We’ve hit mid-January 2026, and the dust from the 2025 postseason has long since settled into the history books. The Los Angeles Dodgers are the reigning champs. Again.
Honestly, it was a wild ride. If you missed the finish, you missed a seven-game thriller that saw the Dodgers take down the Toronto Blue Jays in a World Series that felt more like a chess match than a ballgame.
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The Last Teams Standing: Who Left in MLB Playoffs at the Very End?
By the time the calendar hit November 1, 2025, only two teams were still in the dugout. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays.
It’s easy to forget how we got there. The bracket was a mess of upsets and "wait, they're still in this?" moments. The Blue Jays clawed through a brutal seven-game American League Championship Series (ALCS) against the Seattle Mariners. Seattle had them on the ropes, leading the series 2-0 and 3-2, but Toronto wouldn't go away. Vlad Jr. basically put the city on his back, earning ALCS MVP honors and ending a 32-year World Series drought for the North.
On the National League side, the Dodgers didn't just win; they steamrolled. They swept the Milwaukee Brewers 4-0 in the NLCS. Shohei Ohtani was doing Shohei Ohtani things—hitting leadoff home runs that cleared the stadium roof and pitching high-leverage relief innings. He was the easy choice for NLCS MVP.
The World Series Breakdown: How It Finished
The World Series went the full seven games.
- Game 1: Toronto blew the doors off with an 11-4 win at the Rogers Centre.
- Game 3: An 18-inning marathon at Dodger Stadium that lasted over six hours. Freddie Freeman hit a walk-off home run that most fans probably slept through.
- Game 7: The final showdown on November 1. It went to 11 innings. The Dodgers eventually won 5-4, securing their ninth title and becoming the first team to go back-to-back since the late-90s Yankees.
Who Was Eliminated and When?
If you're looking for the full "who left in mlb playoffs" autopsy, here is how the rest of the field fell apart. The bracket started with 12 teams, and the exits were messy.
The Wild Card Exits
The first to go were the Cleveland Guardians and the San Diego Padres. Cleveland got bounced by the Detroit Tigers in three games, which was a bit of a shocker given their regular-season dominance over Detroit. The Padres lost a tight 2-1 series to the Chicago Cubs. The Cincinnati Reds also exited early, getting swept by the Dodgers, while the Boston Red Sox fell to their arch-rival Yankees in a three-game set.
The Division Series Heartbreak
The Philadelphia Phillies had a massive 96-win season but couldn't get past the Dodgers in the NLDS, losing 3-1. The New York Yankees were dismantled by the Blue Jays in four games. Perhaps the most painful exit was the Detroit Tigers, who pushed the Mariners to a 15-inning Game 5 in the ALDS before finally bowing out. The Chicago Cubs also saw their Cinderella run end in Game 5 against the Brewers.
Why This Bracket Mattered
People keep talking about the 2025 postseason because of the lack of sweeps. Usually, the playoffs have a few duds. Not this time. Two Division Series, the ALCS, and the World Series all went to winner-take-all games.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto ended up being the World Series MVP. He pitched Game 7 on basically zero rest and somehow held the Blue Jays' hitters in check. It’s the kind of stuff that makes you realize why the Dodgers spend the GDP of a small country on their roster.
What Happens Now?
Since there is no one left in the playoffs right now, the focus has shifted entirely to the 2026 season. Pitchers and catchers report in about a month.
If you want to keep track of the next cycle, here are the actionable steps:
- Check the 2026 Spring Training Schedule: Games start in late February.
- Monitor the Free Agent Market: Several big names from that Blue Jays run are looking for new contracts.
- Watch the "Tokyo Series" hype: MLB is leaning heavily into international openers again after the success of the 2025 Tokyo start.
The 2025 postseason is over. The Dodgers have the trophy. The rest of the league is just trying to figure out how to stop them before October rolls around again.