The 2026 Major League Baseball playoffs begin Tuesday with four Game 1s in the Wild Card Series. It's a 12-team field, and each league's top two division winners get a bye to the divisional round. That means eight teams in the first round before the final four join the fun.
As we head to the most fun month of baseball on the calendar, which teams are set to have the most offensive firepower? Here are the 12 playoff offenses, ranked: The Guardians hit for a low average, don't get on base at a high clip -- though the OBP isn't terrible -- don't hit for power and are ranked last among playoff teams in runs scored (24th in baseball). They can steal bases, though they weren't close to the league lead or anything, checking in at seventh.
José Ramírez is a better hitter than his numbers have shown this season, while Travis Bazzana and Chase DeLauter have enough upside to get hot here in the playoffs. Overall, though, this is a terrible playoff offense. How much of the load can two guys carry?
Of the Phillies' regulars, only Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber finished with an OPS+ over 100, essentially meaning the Phillies have two above-average hitters and everyone else is below average. It's a low batting average/high-strikeout team and Luis Arraez is supposed to help there, but he's dealing with a sprained ankle right now. Overall, the Phillies finished 19th in runs and 22nd in OPS.
They just aren't a good offense outside of two guys. A middle-tier team in batting average and OPS, the Red Sox are one of the lightest-homering teams in the playoffs, sitting in the bottom five of the 30 MLB teams in homers. Those take on heightened importance in the playoffs, too, as generally the teams in the playoffs have good pitching and it's tougher to string hits together.
There are reasons to believe the Red Sox offense could be more dangerous than the numbers show, though. Roman Anthony missed nearly the entire season due to injury, but he's back and hitting well. Trade deadline acquisition Adley Rutschman is picking things up a bit.
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