The Dodgers needed to win that World Series last year.
Not just for the legacy of an all-time great — and previously ringless — player in Shohei Ohtani.
Not just for a front office and ownership group that had invested gobs of money into the roster.
Not just for the fans. And not just for the bragging rights against the Yankees.
But also to quiet the critics who had called the Dodgers’ 2020 triumph in the COVID bubble a “Mickey Mouse title,” or whatever other pejoratives were plastered on the internet.
See, when October arrives, it means different things to different teams. While every playoff entrant obviously wants/needs/craves that precious Commissioner’s Trophy, there are factors like aging curves, pending free agents and franchise history that can increase the urgency for some squads more than others.
That’s why we have the Urgency Index (UI) — a scale of 1 (least urgent) to 10 (most urgent) – to demonstrate how important a World Series title would be to a particular club.
This is all super scientific stuff, so let’s urgently get to it! We’ve included every team still in contention for a postseason spot.
Mariners
UI: 11, a scale-breaking figure that also serves as the number of postseason games Seattle has won this century
The NHL has six franchises that have yet to advance to its championship round. The NBA has five. The NFL has four.
Combine this with the M’s recent penchant for just barely missing October, the fact that their lone entry in a generation (in 2022) resulted in them playing only a single home game (a Division Series-clinching loss to the rival Astros), the fact that catcher Cal Raleigh is having an absolute banger of a season that history tells us will probably be impossible to repeat and the heavy lifting this club did at the Trade Deadline, and the time is absolutely now for the Mariners.
Padres
UI: 10.67, or the average rank, within the Padres’ system, of the six prospects dealt this summer for Mason Miller, Ryan O’Hearn and Ramón Laureano
The Padres traded nine prospects total at last year’s Deadline. They traded eight at this year’s Deadline. AJ Preller will apparently never run out of legit prospects to trade for immediate help, and the fans’ enormous support helps San Diego maintain payroll levels that were once unimaginable for this franchise.
Still, how many bites at the apple do you get with a particular core? When will all the wheeling and dealing get the Padres past the NLCS (which, in this era of contention, they’ve reached only once)? And how long must the championship drought that extends for the life of the ballclub continue?
This club should show as much urgency as its GM does at the Deadline.
Guardians
UI: 10, because this would be Cleveland’s 10th postseason appearance this century with no titles to show for it in that time
Don’t let Cleveland’s ridiculous late-season surge fool you into thinking the Guardians are playing with house money and that anything that happens from here is a bonus.
Nah. This franchise hasn’t won it all since 1948, and having the third-best regular season record in baseball since 2013 (behind only the Dodgers and Yankees) has netted one AL pennant and a whole lot of fall frustration. Plus, José Ramírez just turned 33. There’s nothing left to do but win the whole freaking thing.
Brewers
UI: 9.13, for the team that was the first to clinch a postseason spot this year (on 9/13)
Our finely calibrated UI Machine took a fraction of a point off the Brewers’ score because they have so much 20-something talent and, despite payroll limitations that have led them to wave bye-bye to so many good players through the years, always seem to find their way to October. This will be the Brew Crew’s seventh appearance in the last eight years, which is pretty crazy.
But the Brewers have never won it all and they’ve reached the World Series only once, back in 1982. So if you want to dispute the UI Machine’s findings and call it a 10, feel free.
Blue Jays
UI: 9, or Max Scherzer’s age when the Blue Jays last won it all in 1993
Extending Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at the start of the 2025 season kept the Blue Jays from putting up a 10 here, because it prevents them from going with a total teardown/rebuild project at year’s end — something that didn’t necessarily seem a certainty after last year’s last-place finish.
But yes, the urgency is high here. The Blue Jays’ era of contention that began when Guerrero and Bo Bichette arrived to the big leagues has been marked by underachievement, and now Bichette is venturing into the great unknown of free agency. The Jays ranked 20th in MLB Pipeline’s latest farm system rankings, and, while the club can expect to leave no stone unturned in supporting Vladdy, we all know how difficult routine contention can be in the AL East.
Phillies
UI: 9, or the number of seasons that managing partner John Middleton has been the Phillies’ control person
Middleton, along with president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, has made his mark and done all he can to get this team pointed to the Promised Land. The Phillies have responded with four straight postseason appearances, including an NL pennant in 2022.
But the Phils haven’t been able to finish the job, and time is ticking with this particular core that — in keeping with our UI listed here — has nine players north of 30 who have been worth at least one Win Above Replacement this season, per Baseball-Reference. The Phillies will do all they can to keep Kyle Schwarber, closer Jhoan Duran was not a rental addition (he’s under wraps through 2027), and hopefully they’ll have Zack Wheeler back healthy next season. But there’s no time like the present in a sport that skews younger and younger.
Yankees
UI: 8.7, or Aaron Judge’s average 162-game Baseball-Reference WAR in his career
The Yankees were a 10 on this scale last year, given that it was their only season of contractual control with Juan Soto. You could argue they are again a 10 after last year’s frustrating Fall Classic appearance — the franchise’s first since 2009. Especially with Judge in his age-33 season.
All fair. But it’s the Yankees. Maybe they win it all, maybe they don’t. Either way, next year, they’ll presumably get Gerrit Cole back, they’ll field another lineup that puts up well north of 200 homers, they’ll have periods of poor play that cause fans and hosts to lose their minds on WFAN and then, one year from now, they’ll be right back here, in the October field, ready to try again. We’ll put the UI high because of the Judge factor, but we’re not maxing it out.
Tigers
UI: 8.6, or Tarik Skubal’s strikeouts per nine (9.5) minus his walks per nine (0.9) in last year’s postseason
Forgive the tortured means by which the UI Machine included Skubal, but this ranking is all about Skubal. He’s a generational pitcher on a generational run — possibly the first AL pitcher to win back-to-back Cy Young Awards in a quarter century. And he’s eligible for free agency after 2026.
Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris has publicly dismissed the notion of a “Skubal window” and said he sees the Tigers as a potential “powerhouse” for years to come. He might not be wrong. But given the injury rate, premier pitching is a fickle mistress, and, though the Tigers didn’t show a great deal of urgency at the Trade Deadline (or in their play after it), they have to maximize their Skubal opportunity, however long it lasts.
Cubs
UI: 8, or how many postseasons have passed since the Cubs last won it all
Eight sure sounds better than 108, doesn’t it? If the number is at nine by this postseason’s end, it’s not the end of the world for a franchise that has a real financial edge on its NL Central opponents.
But the Cubs gave up a lot to get one year of Kyle Tucker, they’re paying a lot for Craig Counsell, they rank 19th in MLB Pipeline’s farm system rankings and they didn’t get the dynasty so many of us thought was on tap when that 2016 team won it all. So, the UI is ramped up at Wrigley.
Mets
UI: 6, or how many past Mets teams reached the postseason without reaching the World Series
Befitting this delightfully strange franchise, this UI is a strange result. After all, the Mets reached the NLCS last year and added Juan Soto to a club that now carries a roughly $340 million payroll. It’s a World Series-or-bust situation.
And yet, the Mets played so poorly for so long this season and had to rely so much on rookies in their rotation that they’ve somehow recast themselves as underdogs, a la 2024. Falling short would probably just compel them to amp up the aggression in the offseason again.
The UI, quite frankly, doesn’t know what to make of all this, so somewhere just north of middle of the scale seems about right.
Reds
UI: 5, or how many postseason games the Reds have won since capturing the World Series in 1990
Terry Francona took over a team that had averaged 86 losses in the previous four years and had a lot to sort through, roster-wise.
Reaching the World Series for the first time since Francona’s last season as a player would obviously be nice, but late-season contention is a nice stepping stone, and, should they qualify, the Reds first would have to take the next logical step of actually winning a playoff game for the first time since 2012.
Red Sox
UI: 4, or how many titles the Red Sox have won this century
Sure, it’s been a while (relatively speaking) since Boston won it all. But if the Sox fall short this postseason, an objective observer could cry no tears for a team that has enjoyed so much postseason success since 2004, traded its best hitter in June, extended Garrett Crochet and called up the since-injured Roman Anthony. The Red Sox are good, on the whole, but they seem to still be in the early stages of figuring out what their next truly great team will look like. When taken within the context of all that was said and assumed at the time of the Rafael Devers trade, a World Series title this year would qualify as a pleasant — even humorous — surprise.
Astros
UI: 2, or how many World Series titles they’ve won in the last decade
People have been forecasting the end of this Astros era for years now, and yet, they keep contending. They were limping to the finish line this year, and maybe time is finally catching up with them. But seven division titles between 2017-24, plus four pennants and two titles in that span, is a marvel in the modern game, with so many postseason rounds. Anything else that comes on the tail end of that run is gravy.
Dodgers
UI: 1, or how many years since their last World Series title
It’s hard for a defending champ to have a UI much higher than one. The Dodgers might pose an argument to rank higher, given their enormous financial outlays, their dynastic visions, their 30-something MVP core of Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman and the pending retirement of Clayton Kershaw.
But that sort of nuance doesn’t sway the UI Machine, which simply sees a team with all the resources in the world trying to win its third World Series of the decade. Not very urgent, really.
