The 2025 Major League Baseball season is well underway, and there is a familiar face taking the league by storm. Led by the imperious Shohei Ohtani, the Los Angeles Dodgers romped to glory last season, thumping the illustrious Yankees 4-1 in the World Series to be crowned champions. This year, with their Japanese superstar on center stage once more, they have picked up right where they left off.
The Californian outfit already has 27 wins under its belt throughout the opening weeks of the 2025 campaign, and they have once again assumed their spot atop the NL West. Admittedly, their divisional rival San Diego Padres are doing their utmost to keep up, currently sitting just two wins behind the reigning champions in the standings.
But even so, it’s the Dodgers that gambling sites make the massive favorites to claim their third championship in five years this Fall. The latest odds from the popular Bovada online gambling site currently price the Dodgers as a mightily short +230 to claim the title once again this term. They are expected to receive some competition from both Big Apple outfits, with the Yankees and the Mets priced at +750 and +825, respectively. But there is no question about it: Ohtani and Co. are certainly the team to beat.
However, while the Dodgers are dreaming of even more silverware, some MLB franchises would give an arm and a leg just to feature in the postseason this term, let alone win the World Series. Here are the longest ongoing droughts in the league today, and whether any of them have any hope of coming to an end this term.
Los Angeles Angels
This season marks 11 long years since the Angels last graced the postseason stage. Their last appearance came way back in the 2014 ALDS, a series they’d undoubtedly rather forget. Swept in three games by the Kansas City Royals, the series that year underscored the frustrations of harnessing talent while missing consistency. Despite having a generational talent in Mike Trout, currently recovering from an injury, and, more recently, pairing him with Shohei Ohtani before his move across Tinseltown, achieving postseason success has proved tricky.
Over the last decade, the Angels have been plagued by a lack of depth, compounded by being entrenched in a competitive AL West. Their inability to surround Trout with a strong supporting cast has led to wasted opportunities in his prime years. Fast forward to the 2025 season, and the picture isn’t much rosier.
At 16-23, they currently prop up their division. While Trout continues to shine, racking nine home runs and 18 RBIs already this term, the Angels’ anemic .216 batting average as a team and struggles in run prevention keep them firmly grounded in mediocrity. Efforts to bolster their rotation through signings like Tyler Anderson have yielded underwhelming returns, and while their former superstar Ohtani continues to dazzle with the Dodgers, the Angels’ never-ending postseason drought looks set to continue.
Pittsburgh Pirates
The 2025 season marks a decade since the Pirates’ last postseason appearance. Their most recent appearances ended in the wildcard round at the hands of the Chicago Cubs, and you have to go back a further two years for the last time they made it past the play-in and into the NLDS. Their clash with the Windy City side was their third consecutive wildcard berth, but Pittsburgh was unable to build on that foundation, and they have fallen by the wayside in the years since.
Exacerbated by limited payrolls and questionable decision-making in player development, the Pennsylvania outfit has dropped into the land of irrelevance in recent campaigns. Between 2019 and 2021, they finished dead last in the NL Central, and only global events could stop them from having perhaps one of the most embarrassing seasons ever in 2020. Unfortunately for them, the 2025 campaign is no different.
The Pirates are currently 14-27 and in last place in the division. While promising pitching arms like Paul Skenes offer glimmers of hope, the offense sputters, ranking near the bottom of the league in most metrics. Ke’Bryan Hayes remains a defensive wizard at third base, but he hasn’t been able to lift the team out of the cellar.
Manager Derek Shelton faces an uphill climb in a division with perennial contenders, and the city of Pittsburgh finds itself once more at a crossroads. Bold moves at the trade deadline or a rejuvenation of their farm system may be the only way to break through their lengthy postseason drought.
Colorado Rockies
The Colorado Rockies’ last foray into the postseason came in 2018, with their run ending in the NLDS after a clean sweep by the Milwaukee Brewers. That campaign was a memorable one, driven by a potent offense featuring Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story, but the success proved fleeting. The Mile High side has endured a downward spiral over the past seven years, with poor pitching, inconsistent lineups, and a failure to develop homegrown stars all exacerbating their woes.
The current season epitomizes rock bottom. The Rockies currently have a dismal 7-33 record – the worst in the entire league – as well as a staggering -128 run differential. With a .219 team batting average and 34 home runs, they have the look of a squad playing out the stretch early into May. Bright spots like Hunter Goodman have not been enough to offset their pitching staff’s abysmal 261 runs allowed.
Despite inhabiting the league’s most hitter-friendly home field, Coors Field, the Rockies have struggled to attract marquee talent or develop sustained pitching solutions. It’s a long climb back to contention for Colorado, and don’t expect to see them grace the postseason this season or for years to come.
