The 2025 Major League Baseball regular season is winding down and while we don't know exactly which 12 teams will make the playoffs, we pretty much know for sure which are not going to make it. Those teams and their fan bases are already looking ahead to next season, so let's briefly take that journey with them.

Which non-contenders are best positioned to make the 2026 playoffs?

For our purposes, we're calling anyone within five games a playoff contender. That might be a bit generous, but it gives us teams like the Royals or Rays who haven't officially been eliminated while excluding teams in the hunt like the Giants and Reds . Now we're left with a tidy dozen non-contenders.

Now, let's rank these teams based on how good I think they'll be next year.

12. Colorado Rockies

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