MLB Power Rankings: Dodgers World Series wouldn't prove need for a salary cap, but facts never stopped anyone

With one week to go in the regular season, the question will soon shift to whether anyone can unseat the reigning champions in October One week from the time you're reading this, the entire 2026 regular season in Major League Baseball will be complete. As always, it's been a breathtakingly fun roller coaster ride and I'm beside myself that we now get to strap in for a month-long playoff that'll see 12 teams enter and only one emerge. As we look ahead, this isn't "all about" one team, but there is a team sitting in the forefront in everyone's consciousness. We don't even need to say their name. We will, though: it's the two-time defending champion Dodgers.

There are multiple components at play here. Not only are they shooting to become the third franchise to ever pull off a three-peat (the Yankees have done it several times and the A's did it from 1972-74), but this would cement them as a no-doubt dynasty with four titles in seven years. Those don't come along often and we haven't seen a surefire dynasty in MLB since the 1996-2000 Yankees (we could argue about the Even Year Giants in the 2010s). The annoying component is, of course, the upcoming CBA fight. The owners have already floated plenty of propaganda during the regular season,