2025 MLB predictions: From playoffs and World Series to MVPs and Cy Youngs
MLB’s regular season gets underway tomorrow with Opening Day baseball, so you know what that means — it’s time for season predictions!
There are lots of questions going into the 2025 season: Will the Dodgers repeat as World Series champions? What surprises will the expanded playoffs bring this year? How will Juan Soto look for the Mets — and how will the Yankees fare without him? And when will we see Shohei Ohtani reprise his two-way role on the mound?
No one can definitively know what’s in store for this season, but that doesn’t stop us from making our best guesses. We put 28 of ESPN’s MLB writers, analysts and editors on the spot to predict what will happen in baseball this year, from the wild-card contenders all the way up to the World Series champion, plus the MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in both leagues.
For each category, we’ve asked a number of our voters to explain their picks. Did they hit the nail on the head or were they way off their mark? Only time can tell — and we’ll be circling back to these predictions come October to see how well — or poorly — we did.
Jump to:
AL picks | NL picks | WS picks | AL awards | NL awards
AL East
Our pick: Boston Red Sox (13 votes)
Who else got votes? Baltimore Orioles (10), New York Yankees (3), Toronto Blue Jays (1), Tampa Bay Rays (1)
Boston is our voters’ favorite in the AL East. How can the Orioles beat out the Red Sox for the title? The Orioles will win the division because they will cobble together enough pitching to outlast the Red Sox and Yankees. They will win because their young players — most prominently Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson and Colton Cowser — will carry the offense through the regular season. Jackson Holliday, free of last year’s ridiculous expectations, will be more relaxed and productive. And here’s a wild card: Tomoyuki Sugano, signed out of Japan, will be a revelation in the starting rotation and present a reasonable facsimile of the departed Corbin Burnes. But temper the excitement: Boston is my pick to end up in the World Series. — Tim Keown
You were the only person to pick Toronto to win the division. Why are the Jays your choice? The Yankees and Orioles are already going to be several wins worse than last season because of all of those injuries they’ve already suffered this spring. Meanwhile, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is playing for a new contract, Bo Bichette can’t possibly play as poorly as he did last season and Anthony Santander gives this lineup a nice power upgrade. If even only one of Max Scherzer and Jeff Hoffman stays healthy into September, we’re looking at a potential division winner here. Throw in a little extra support from an extra-motivated Canadian fan base? Head and heart unite behind the Blue Jays in 2025. — AJ Mass
AL Central
Our pick: Kansas City Royals (12 votes)
Who else got votes? Detroit Tigers (11), Minnesota Twins (4), Cleveland Guardians (1)
Make the case for the Royals to take home the division title. The Royals’ move to get Jonathan India will ripple through how their lineup is constructed. It’s a case of a player’s collective impact being more valuable than his individual one. India could hit leadoff and his improvement in the walks category allows other players to be slotted correctly in the lineup — though Kansas City still needs Hunter Renfroe and others to anchor the back end of the lineup.
Veteran pitchers Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo know the pace of the season, and the Royals could be bolstered by the young arm depth they have in their system. Keep in mind that they were in first place on Aug. 27 last year and they still made the playoffs after losing seven in a row in September. They had room to slump and still get in. I see a better September and a team that now has a taste of the playoffs; but more importantly, I see an organization that is backing up the contract it gave Bobby Witt Jr. to make sure he will not be a star in a vacuum and that the team will be competitive every year and build internally with good players. Why? Because they already have their franchise player. — Doug Glanville
Make the case for the Tigers to take home the division title. The AL Central is winnable for any of the four teams that received votes, but my pick is Detroit. The Tigers have the best pitcher in the majors, Tarik Skubal, and a Rookie of the Year contender in pitcher Jackson Jobe. They are so unpredictable in their rotation, bullpen and lineup that matching up against them is going to be very difficult for opposing managers. And the Tigers’ manager, A.J. Hinch, is as good a manager as there is in baseball in handling the strategy of the game. The Tigers played exceptionally well the last six weeks of last year. It’s possible that that could continue. — Tim Kurkjian
AL West
Our pick: Texas Rangers (18 votes)
Who else got votes? Seattle Mariners (7), Houston Astros (3)
The Rangers are the overwhelming favorite to win the division. How do the Mariners beat them? By not having one of the worst offenses in baseball. The Mariners, between their elite pitching staff and stout defense, are going to excel in run prevention again. Their starting rotation might be the best in baseball. The issue, for years, has been the offense. Last season, they ranked 21st in runs scored. Seattle famously didn’t acquire a high-impact bat during the offseason. So, how are they going to flip the script? There are two reasons for hope:
1. Julio Rodriguez is due for a hot start. The star center fielder owns a .642 OPS in April/March, a .768 OPS in May and a .704 OPS in June in his three-year career. The Mariners gave him more at-bats in spring training in hopes of an early improvement. Rodriguez has also spoken highly of hitting coach Edgar Martinez, who was brought on board at the end of August last season.
2. That leads us to the second reason for optimism: The Mariners’ offense was significantly better after Dan Wilson replaced Scott Servais as manager and hired Martinez. Seattle averaged the third-most runs in baseball (5.8) and recorded the second-best OPS (.804) over the season’s final 34 games. Maybe it was coincidental. But there’s reason to believe a turnaround is possible. — Jorge Castillo
AL wild cards
Our picks: New York Yankees (21 votes), Houston Astros (15), Baltimore Orioles (13)
Who else got votes? Boston Red Sox (10), Seattle Mariners (6), Kansas City Royals (5), Detroit Tigers (5), Cleveland Guardians (3),Texas Rangers (3), Tampa Bay Rays (1), Toronto Blue Jays (1), Athletics (1)
Our voters view the Yankees and Astros as wild-card teams rather than division winners. Why do you think that is? The Yankees play in the game’s most tightly bunched division from top to bottom — with almost every projection system having the AL East winner and basement dweller separated by eight games or fewer — and losing their best pitcher (Gerrit Cole) after seeing their best hitter from 2024 depart (Soto) puts them in a perilous spot. The Yankees badly need to add upper-tier pitching reinforcements and, as the season dawns, have given no indication they’ll do so.
The Astros, meanwhile, lost key hitting contributors in Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker, are taking some real chances with their defensive alignment (Jose Altuve in left field?!) and no longer have quite the pitching depth that they once did. It brings them back toward an AL West pack that has solid competitors in the Rangers and Mariners and potentially a surprise squad in the A’s. I personally think the Rangers rebound after their 2024 World Series hangover year. — Tristan Cockcroft
You were the lone voter to choose the A’s to make the postseason as a wild-card team. How do they get there? The AL West feels a little wide open, doesn’t it? So does the entire AL, for that matter. That’s not to say the A’s are going to win 95 games and get a first-round bye, but if things fall right, I believe they can sneak in. It starts with a solid offense that ranked eighth in OPS during the second half of last season. That didn’t feel like a fluke — not when you have Brent Rooker and the emerging Lawrence Butler in the lineup. Both produced an OPS of .900 after the All-Star break (Butler was actually .898).
We all know the headlines the team garnered in the winter when they actually spent some capital on pitching, bringing in Luis Severino and Jeffrey Springs. The A’s will hand the ball off to All-Star closer Mason Miller, so they’re going to win a lot of tight games. And all signs point to the group in the clubhouse embracing the move to Sacramento. If they can create a bit of a home-field advantage, watch out for the A’s — they might surprise everyone. — Jesse Rogers
AL champion
Our pick: Boston Red Sox (10 votes)
Who else got votes? Baltimore Orioles (7), Texas Rangers (7), Seattle Mariners (2), Detroit Tigers (1), New York Yankees (1)
The Red Sox didn’t even make the playoffs last year — but this season, they’re our favorite to win the AL pennant. Why? Boston had three major needs going into the last offseason: a couple of frontline pitchers and an established right-handed hitter. The Red Sox went on to land Garrett Crochet, the most coveted lefty in the trade market; signed Walker Buehler, who threw the last pitch of last year’s World Series; and signed Alex Bregman, a two-time All-Star with a career adjusted OPS+ of 132. Their rotation is better, their defense is better and their lineup should be more balanced.
At the same time, they’re graduating three high-end prospects into the big leagues in Kristian Campbell, Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony. This could be a dynamic team cast against a mediocre AL landscape, making the Red Sox stand out. — Buster Olney
You and a number of our other voters are predicting a bounce-back for the Rangers this year. How do you think they get back to the ALCS? When the Rangers won the World Series in 2023, they had a devastating offensive team. Last year, so many of their best hitters either got hurt or didn’t perform up to expectations. There’s no way that’s going to happen again. And outfielder Wyatt Langford, who’s entering his second season, will be a star before long. The Rangers have pitching questions, as do most teams, but they should be able to maneuver through some of those issues. — Kurkjian
NL East
Our pick: Atlanta Braves (18 votes)
Who else got votes? Philadelphia Phillies (9), New York Mets (1)
Atlanta is once again the preseason division favorite. How can the Phillies beat out a fully healthy Braves squad? It’s mostly about starting pitching. I’m a big believer in what Cristopher Sanchez has done this spring — just look at his 29.2% K rate. If he has truly elevated his skillset to at least Aaron Nola‘s tier, if not a half-step behind Zack Wheeler‘s, and Jesus Luzardo can stay healthy as well as pitch the way he did in 2023, then the Phillies’ rotation isn’t simply as good as the Braves’ … it’s a clear step better. Yes, yes, the Braves have all of those bad-luck injury rebound candidates to potentially elevate their win total, but the Phillies did have six wins on them in the 2024 standings and have every bit as tantalizing a 2025 ceiling. — Cockcroft
Despite landing Juan Soto this offseason, you were the only person to pick the Mets to win the NL East. Explain your reasoning. The Braves are a better team on paper, especially given the Mets’ recent run of injuries, but I think New York’s willingness to spend and its depth — particularly of prospects in the upper minors — are being underrated as solutions to many of those problems. Brett Baty, Luisangel Acuna, Ronny Mauricio, Ryan Clifford, Drew Gilbert and Jett Williams are all position player candidates. Brandon Sproat, Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong and Blade Tidwell are young pitchers lingering in the upper minors. Only two or three players need to play better than expected in addition to the widely expected breakout from Clay Holmes to bridge that gap. — Kiley McDaniel
NL Central
Our pick: Chicago Cubs (15 votes)
Who else got votes? Milwaukee Brewers (8), Cincinnati Reds (5)
The Cubs are the favorite to win the NL Central, despite not having made the playoffs in a full season since 2018. What makes this year different? In going 83-79 the past two seasons, the Cubs lacked a middle-of-the-order hitter to anchor the lineup. Now they have Kyle Tucker, one of the best all-around players in the majors. Tucker, who was having his best season in 2024 before fracturing his shin, gives the Cubs their best offensive player since Kris Bryant during his MVP season in 2016. Rookie Matt Shaw also projects as a significant upgrade at third base (Cubs third basemen hit .210 last season) and the pitching staff is deeper. Throw in some Pythagorean improvement — the Cubs were seven wins worse than expected in 2023 and five worse in 2024 — and the arrows point to a division title. — David Schoenfield
Why is Milwaukee still your pick to win the division even with all the support for Chicago? Because the difference between the two talentwise is pretty negligible and I like teams that have won recently. It’s true the Brewers did not spend any money this winter and were raided in free agency. It’s also true that Jackson Chourio is on the verge of becoming one of the best players in baseball and the Brewers’ farm system consistently produces quality big leaguers — enough to send them to the postseason five times in the past six full seasons. The Cubs are better on paper, sure, but they haven’t played as much postseason baseball recently. That said, would it surprise me if the Cubs won the division? Not at all, because it’s the NL Central, and just about anything can happen. — Jeff Passan
NL West
Our pick: Los Angeles Dodgers (28 votes)
Every single voter chose the Dodgers to win the division. Is their title inevitable? Never use the word inevitable when it comes to baseball but GM Andrew Friedman has done the best possible job of fortifying his team for another seven-month grind. Because of this, the Dodgers’ chances of not just another division title but a repeat World Series title are as good as any championship team since the early 2000s. The moment I picked them to repeat was the day they signed reliever Kirby Yates. It came just days after they grabbed Tanner Scott to close games. Signing the top arm in the market and then arguably the next best one is all anyone should know about L.A. This team has depth and redundancy all over the field. It’ll be enough to win the division, and the Fall Classic, again. — Rogers
NL wild cards
Our picks: Arizona Diamondbacks (20 votes), New York Mets (19), Philadelphia Phillies (18)
Who else got votes? San Diego Padres (11), Atlanta Braves (10), Milwaukee Brewers (3), Chicago Cubs (1), Pittsburgh Pirates (1), Cincinnati Reds (1)
You picked all three of the wild-card teams that received the most votes. Why will this be the NL wild-card field? The NL looks extremely top heavy this season, with a clear-cut top five. The Dodgers are heavy favorites to win it all, of course, and while the Braves face a tough three-way battle in the NL East, they are still running well over 50-50 in my projections to win that division. Meanwhile, the NL Central very much looks like a one-playoff-berth division. So that leaves the Phillies, Mets, Diamondbacks and Padres to duke it out for the three wild-card slots, with the last spot coming down to the latter pair. Right now, I just think the Diamondbacks are deeper and better balanced than the Padres. I see all of this with extreme clarity which, in my experience, means all of this will be completely scrambled by Memorial Day. — Bradford Doolittle
It seems as if the Padres’ only route to the postseason is through the wild card — and our voters had them just missing the cut. How can San Diego replace one of the favored teams? The well-run Padres still boast plenty of talent to win 90 games again, led by multiple aces topping the rotation (Michael King and Dylan Cease), a strong, deep bullpen (watch Jeremiah Estrada) and an underrated lineup that was among the top 10 in runs scored last season. The Padres did lose some key players — but most teams do. Still, center fielder Jackson Merrill can keep improving, as can new veteran right-hander Nick Pivetta. Don’t worry about left field, because prospect Tirso Ornelas will be a star by midseason. These Padres are good enough to make their fourth playoff appearance in six seasons. — Eric Karabell
Cincinnati received five division title votes but just your one wild-card vote in a super packed NL field. How do you think the Reds can disrupt the wild-card race? Truth be told, I’m probably rooting for this story just as much as I think it will happen. Terry Francona’s return to the dugout is something to be celebrated and understood as simply a major upgrade at manager. Add to that the fact that Elly De La Cruz has had a full offseason to understand his potential, alongside the hopeful efforts of fireballer Hunter Greene on the mound and the Reds are, at the very least, going to be extremely fun to watch, never mind their actual success. — Clinton Yates
NL champion
Our pick: Los Angeles Dodgers (21 votes)
Who else got votes? Philadelphia Phillies (3), Atlanta Braves (3), Arizona Diamondbacks (1)
Make a case for how the Phillies can beat out the Dodgers. With right-handers Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola, and left-handers Cristopher Sanchez and Jesus Luzardo, the Phillies can win a playoff series against any team, including the mighty Dodgers, who, before 2024, hadn’t had much playoff success. The key is for the Phillies to score runs in October, but their lack of production is why they’ve lost in recent seasons. Who knows which Dodgers will even be on the mound then? Los Angeles has excellent pitching, but it is far from reliable. Every rotation member boasts recent injury woes. This might be a regular-season dynasty — the Dodgers won only one playoff game during 2022-23. Any team can beat them in October. — Karabell
Make a case for how the Braves can beat out the Dodgers. The Braves aren’t as talented as the Dodgers, but they’re next on the list. In a vacuum, their 89-win season followed by a wild-card-round exit in 2024 was disappointing. But reaching that point was one of the most impressive results of the year in baseball given Atlanta’s dreadful injury luck. Most teams would’ve folded after losing their best position player (Ronald Acuña Jr.) and best starting pitcher (Spencer Strider). That didn’t happen in Atlanta. If Acuña and Strider return as expected and the Braves avoid terrible injury luck elsewhere, they should be right there in October — and anything can happen in October. — Castillo
World Series champion
Our pick: Los Angeles Dodgers (20 votes)
Who else got votes? Philadelphia Phillies (3), Atlanta Braves (2), Boston Red Sox (1), Texas Rangers (1), Seattle Mariners (1)
Our voters are predicting the Dodgers win the first back-to-back World Series titles since the Yankees won three in a row in 1998-2000. How can L.A. do it? First and foremost, the Dodgers need health; they can’t possibly thrive in October with as many injuries as they absorbed last year, particularly to their starting pitchers. They boast an incredibly deep lineup, but they need their three best hitters — Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman — to continue to produce like stars. They have the makings of quite possibly the best collection of starting pitchers in the sport, but that group is exceedingly volatile, which means that among the three more certain arms — Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow — perhaps two need to be dominant for a full season. The defense has some deficiencies, and Betts being a serviceable shortstop is especially crucial.
Just as important, they also need a little luck. There’s a reason it’s been a quarter century since a baseball team repeated — this sport is incredibly unpredictable, especially when sample sizes are whittled down in October. The Dodgers are no stranger to that. But they’re as well-equipped to repeat as any team has been this century. — Alden Gonzalez
You picked a rematch of the 2023 World Series between the Rangers and Diamondbacks, with Texas prevailing again. Explain your reasoning. The Rangers’ lineup is one of baseball’s likeliest bounce-back units, having scored 198 fewer runs in 2024 than it did in the World Series-winning season. That team won the title despite only 30⅓ innings from Jacob deGrom, whose stuff has popped this spring in the wake of his second Tommy John surgery.
The Diamondbacks led the majors in runs scored last season and added, conservatively, a top-10 starter in Corbin Burnes to an already-stacked rotation. And while the Dodgers will overwhelm everyone during the regular season, Arizona can set its sights on a potential rematch of the 2023 NLDS in which it swept the 100-win Dodgers out of the postseason. — Paul Hembekides
AL MVP
Our pick: Bobby Witt Jr. (14 votes)
Who else got votes? Aaron Judge (3), Gunnar Henderson (3), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (3), Alex Bregman (2), Yordan Alvarez (1), Brent Rooker (1), Julio Rodriguez (1)
There was a nice mix of votes for a variety of players, but Witt is the favorite among our voters. Why is he your pick for MVP? If we set aside certain two-way players, Witt might already be the best overall player in the game. Even if he doesn’t repeat his .332 average/.354 BABIP breakouts from 2024, his overall range of skills is good enough to get him at least 7-to-8 WAR. He’s also more durable than Judge, whom Witt finished second to in the MVP race last season.
More than anything though: Witt doesn’t turn 25 years old until June. He’s not only still on the ascension in terms of the aging curve, but he just seems like a player driven to shore up his weaknesses. Eventually, he won’t have any left. No player in baseball right now means more to his franchise than Witt does to the Royals. — Doolittle
AL Rookie of the Year
Our pick: Jackson Jobe (9 votes)
Who else got votes? Kristian Campbell (5), Cam Smith (3), Jacob Wilson (3), Jasson Dominguez (3), Coby Mayo (2), Roman Anthony (2), Tomoyuki Sugano (1)
So many different players received votes for Rookie of the Year. Why is that — and why was your pick Anthony? There isn’t really a clear potential star that’s big league ready being handed an Opening Day starting spot with plenty of slack for a slow start, though Campbell would be the closest to that. With Anthony and Mayer also circling, and Boston having a pretty good lineup, there might be room for only one of those three to really take the reins of the Rookie of the Year race.
Smith hasn’t played much in pro ball yet, Wilson has limited upside, Jobe has the concerns that come with any pitcher, Dominguez has had mixed luck and health over the past few years, the Rays are not quick to call up prospects (Chandler Simpson and Carson Williams are of interest) and the Rangers’ injuries mean Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter are both in the rotation now to split votes. Anthony is the best prospect of that group and I think he’ll get a chance to succeed at the major league level at some point in the first half. — McDaniel
AL Cy Young
Our pick: Tarik Skubal (12 votes)
Who else got votes? Garrett Crochet (9), Cole Ragans (3), Logan Gilbert (3), Max Fried (1)
Why do you think that Skubal will win back-to-back Cy Young honors? No AL pitcher has repeated as a Cy Young winner since Pedro Martinez in 2000, but Skubal was the easiest call of all the award picks for me — that’s how great he was in 2024, when he captured the pitching triple crown. Skubal has matured into a complete pitcher: He possesses one of the best left-handed fastballs in the game while deploying a five-pitch repertoire and averaging only 1.6 walks per nine innings. He also benefits from fewer Cy Young contenders in the AL compared to a loaded list of them in the NL. — Schoenfield
NL MVP
Our pick: Shohei Ohtani (19 votes)
Who else got votes? Fernando Tatis Jr. (3), Elly De La Cruz (2), Juan Soto (2), Trea Turner (1), Mookie Betts (1)
Ohtani will be working back toward a two-way role this season, yet he’s still our voters’ favorite to win a second consecutive MVP. Why? Ohtani didn’t need to pitch to become the NL MVP last year, when he was rehabbing his elbow while putting together the first 50-50 season in big league history. As tempting as it is to predict someone else to be MVP this season — Soto, anyone? — it just seems as if the award has become Ohtani’s to lose — probably for the next five years. He’ll pitch at some point this season, and whatever he brings to the mound for the Dodgers is just another ridiculous addendum to everything else he’s doing to separate himself from the field. — Keown
NL Rookie of the Year
Our pick: Dylan Crews (12 votes)
Who else got votes? Roki Sasaki (7), Matt Shaw (5), Bubba Chandler (3), Andrew Painter (1)
Why is Crews your NL Rookie of the Year pick? A major factor for fledgling award candidates is often about opportunity. Paul Skenes didn’t start last season in the big leagues (incredibly), and that might well have cost him the NL Cy Young Award.
With Crews, there is no doubt about how he’ll be handled this year: Having made his debut at the end of last season, he is going to get 600 plate appearances if he’s healthy, and if healthy, he’s going to do a ton of damage. The second pick in the 2023 draft hits for power and steals bases, and he’ll be an anchor in the Nationals’ up-and-coming core of young star prospects. — Olney
Why did you choose Sasaki? Sasaki is an easy pick here, as my No. 1 prospect in baseball who will open the season in the Dodgers’ rotation and has already impressed stateside. He could be a true ace at some point in 2025 but still has some work to do diversifying his arsenal. Crews and Shaw are leading candidates as position players with Opening Day spots in the lineup, but there are questions about their ceiling this season. Chandler and Drake Baldwin lurk as potential sleeper candidates. — McDaniel
NL Cy Young
Our pick: Paul Skenes (17 votes)
Who else got votes? Zack Wheeler (5), Blake Snell (3), Spencer Strider (2), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1)
Skenes won Rookie of the Year for his 2024 season and is our voters’ favorite to win Cy Young in his second year. What makes him so dominant? Skenes is as self-aware a 22-year-old baseball player as I’ve ever met, and that fastidiousness informs his approach to pitching. He has immense physical gifts: the 6-foot-6 height, the capacity for his body to gain strength and supercharge its output into the arm. Skenes is still relatively new to pitching, switching full time on the mound only three years ago, so there is more to learn — and he will do so with an open-mindedness to expanding his repertoire but a fealty to the foundational elements that brought him to this point.
In other words: The guy throws 100 mph, created one of the best pitches in the world in the splinker, added another changeup this winter and has a handful of spinny pitches with which he piles up strikeouts. There is no such thing as the perfect modern pitcher, but Skenes comes awfully close to what one might look like. — Passan
-
Josh Weinfuss
AHMED HASSANEIN‘S JOURNEY to the doorstep of the NFL began on a balcony seven years ago in Cairo around a hookah.
With the roar of Cairo International Airport in the distance, Hassanein joined his two sisters, brother and nephew trading puffs in the sixth-floor penthouse they grew up in overlooking the Heliopolis suburb.
As they passed the hookah, Hassanein’s sisters, Gigi and Aziza Ibrahim, told Hassanein’s older brother, Cory Besch, about Hassanein’s life over the past decade after moving from California at age 6. Hassanein had forgotten how to speak English, had behavioral issues that caused him to be expelled from school, and was being raised by his mother, who he said had a substance abuse disorder.
“She was a very, very abusive person,” Hassanein told ESPN. “Like starting with addiction, with drugs and all that stuff, and she was really verbally abusive and physically abusive.”
Through it all, Hassanein took solace in sports including breakdancing, soccer, swimming, basketball, boxing, jujitsu, pingpong and CrossFit. He became the top-ranked CrossFit athlete in Egypt and one of the best in Africa. It also helped him cultivate a strong work ethic.
Besch, who was 30 at the time and making his first trip to Egypt in 20 years, hadn’t seen Hassanein in a decade. After hearing from his siblings that night — June 26, 2018 — Besch started formulating a plan to get Hassanein, then 15, back to the United States.
“I was like, ‘Well, what if he came and lived with me and played football for me?'” said Besch, who coached at Loara High School in Anaheim, California.
It was a major pivot for Hassanein, who was set to attend Riverside Preparatory, a military school in Gainesville, Georgia.
“I remember Aziza telling me, ‘It’s going to be really hard, and it’s going to be one of the most difficult things you’ve ever done because the culture shock is going to be there, you’re going to lose all your friends, you can’t speak English very well,'” Hassanein said.
“And I was like, ‘I can do it.'”
During a family vacation at a resort on the Red Sea later that week, Besch helped convince their father to let him move away 7,500 miles. A month later, Hassanein was on a plane to Los Angeles.
Fast-forward to today and — despite initial language barriers, lack of football knowledge and playing the sport for the first time as a sophomore in high school — Hassanein is on the verge of becoming the first Egyptian to be drafted into the NFL. ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller has the former Boise State defensive end, who is 6-foot-2, 267 pounds, going in the sixth round at pick No. 216 in his latest mock draft.
“It was surreal to think that we just dreamed this to save Ahmed and get him to the U.S., like ‘Project Mission: Get Ahmed to the U.S.,’ and then it was ‘Mission: Get Ahmed into College,’ and now it’s ‘Mission: Get Ahmed into the NFL,'” Gigi said from her apartment in Cairo.
“But it’s all surreal because who would’ve thought that Ahmed would be great at being a defensive lineman in American football when literally seven years ago, he was just sitting on the balcony praying that someone would … get him out of this misery.”
THE CULTURE SHOCK was real for Hassanein when he moved in with Besch in August 2018.
Everything from the food to the language to school was different. And then there was football.
All Hassanein knew about the sport was what Besch had posted on social media, most recently playing in a second-tier Austrian league from March to June 2018, just before he visited Egypt.
“People run and hit each other,” Hassanein recalled. “That’s all I know.”
When Hassanein arrived in California, Besch gave him a crash course, explaining everything from how to put on his pads, helmet and mouth guard to the sport’s rules.
“Everything from line of scrimmage to downs to your role and responsibility on the defense,” Besch said. “And I don’t think everything was explained explicitly because you don’t ever go back and explain the X’s and O’s in high school, right?”
Hassanein didn’t know how to get in a stance or how to catch a ball, said Mitch Olson, Hassanein’s head coach at Loara. His school’s football program was in one of the lower levels in California and didn’t have the resources other schools around them had. Each coach was in charge of multiple positions, and most of the kids didn’t play football before ninth grade because there wasn’t a youth program in the district.
“It’s like the kid got pulled off of Mars and started playing football,” Olson said.
Still, Olson saw the potential in the 16-year-old sophomore. He lined up Hassanein, then 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds, at defensive tackle on the junior varsity team for the first game of the season before moving him up to varsity. It was, by all accounts, an experiment.
Hassanein had at least one penalty every game because of his unfamiliarity with the rules. There was a game in which he grabbed a quarterback’s face mask to bring him down and another in which he tripped the quarterback, who was about to scramble by him. He remembered throwing players, kicking people and flipping them like in jiujitsu.
“I was out there just doing whatever,” Hassanein said. “I was just out there being physical. See ball, get ball.”
In fall 2018, Hassanein was watching highlights of former Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
“What high school does he go to?” Hassanein asked his brother.
“And he was like, ‘Bro, that’s the NFL, that’s the National Football League.’ I was like, ‘OK, I want to go there.’ And he was like, ‘Bro, you know you don’t have a D-line coach at your high school and you don’t have a sled?'”
It didn’t matter to Hassanein. After talking to his brother and Olson, and watching videos, he devised a plan: Hassanein began waking up at 5 a.m. every day to work out before school. After school, he’d go to practice — either football or basketball, depending on the season — and then go back to the gym for three to four hours a night.
Everything started to click for Hassanein midway through his sophomore season.
The key, Besch, Olson and defensive coordinator Jonathan Rangel decided, was to let Hassanein’s natural strength make up for whatever technique he lacked. It worked.
Eventually, Besch started taking Hassanein to camps, where he was facing — and outplaying — prospects from top high school programs around Southern California such as St. John Bosco and Mater Dei. The night before one camp, Hassanein studied pass-rush moves on YouTube and implemented them the next day.
Colleges noticed the three-star pass rusher. On Aug. 27, 2020, as his senior season was postponed until the spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hassanein received a direct message from Spencer Danielson, now Boise State’s head coach, who was then coaching the defensive line. He loved Hassanein’s film.
Hassanein told his brother, who couldn’t believe it. Besch played football with Danielson at Azusa Pacific University. Hassanein relayed that information to Danielson, and they hopped on a Zoom call to explain the situation.
Hassanein had scholarship offers from Fresno State, Duke, Kansas and Colorado before eventually choosing Boise State.
Had Hassanein’s life followed his initial plan of going to military school, looking back, he thought he’d return to Egypt after four years. Instead, he was living out a dream he never knew he had.
“It meant the world to me that somebody believed, and my brother always believed in me, but it gave me confirmation that I can do this,” Hassanein said. “I took it as a challenge because I had a lot of family members say, ‘You’re going to come back in two weeks. You’re never going to succeed. You can’t even speak English. How the hell are you going to play football?’
“And I really made it. I took it as, ‘OK, watch this.'”
DANIELSON STOOD OUTSIDE Boise State’s football facility on a June morning in 2021 with a hope and a prayer.
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, neither Danielson nor any of his coaches were able to recruit Hassanein in person, so the first time they met him was when he stepped out of the car that day. Sitting in the back of Danielson’s mind was the fact that Besch was 5-foot-8, 150 pounds in college.
“I’m waiting for him at the front of the facility like, ‘Please be 6-3. Please be 6-3,'” Danielson recalled to ESPN. “If he pops out and he’s 5-9 and Cory got me, I’m going to be really hot.
“And he pops out and he just looks like a Greek god. I’m like, ‘Yes.'”
His first year on campus, Hassanein looked like some of the Broncos’ juniors and was lifting more weight than a number of the upperclassmen, Boise State edge coach Jabril Frazier said.
From a football standpoint, Hassanein was very much a freshman.
“He didn’t know what was going on,” Frazier said. “But he played at a high level.”
Danielson’s way of rectifying that was with his “Football School,” a weeklong program leading into fall camp for all of Boise State’s incoming freshmen. It covered everything from the width of the field — 53.3 yards — to the verbiage Boise State’s coaches prefer to the fundamentals of tackling to A, B and C gaps.
For Hassanein, college football was an entirely new game. In high school, he relied on his natural ability to dominate. Not so much in college. He had to account for how the offensive lineman across from him lined up and blocked in every possible scenario and what kind of offense he was facing on a weekly basis.
It was essentially Football 101 for Hassanein.
“It was really eye-opening,” he said.
In 20 games over his first two seasons, he had two sacks. Then, going into his junior year in 2023, it all clicked. Hassanein finished with 12.5 sacks and was mentioned among the nation’s best pass rushers.
Heading into his senior season, he was coming off labrum surgery and spent the spring watching his own film and breaking down his games while he rehabbed. Hassanein had 9.5 sacks in 2024, giving him 24 for his career, the fourth most in school history.
“I currently have him projected as a late fifth- to early sixth-round pick as teams are always looking for pass-rush help,” ESPN draft analyst Jordan Reid said. “Hassanein will likely be a part of special teams early on during his career while he searches to earn a role as a contributor on defense.”
Hassanein is on the verge of making international history. When he does, it will be an emotional moment for those who helped him on the journey.
“The journey that dude made and the guts that he had to do, the things that he did to get to where he is, it is storybook, man,” Olson said. “It really is. It’s a frigging movie.”
He knows he’s not the biggest or quickest, but he says he thinks his strength will help him become a disruptive pass rusher at the next level.
Danielson described Hassanein as “one of the most violent run defenders we’ve ever had here,” pointing to the Broncos’ first defensive play of the Fiesta Bowl against Penn State.
It was first-and-10 from the Nittany Lions’ 28-yard line when Penn State tight end Tyler Warren went in motion from left to right, overloading the side closest to Hassanein. It was a run and, with a running start, Hassanein bulldozed Warren back four yards, throwing him to the ground in the process.
To Danielson, that play is everything teams need to know about Hassanein.
“Once he gets there, he’s going to be all over the coaches about being better, getting better, getting help,” Frazier said. “Give him a year to two years in the NFL and you’ll be hearing his name a lot.”
As the defending Presidents’ Trophy winners, the New York Rangers were envisioned as a playoff team again in 2024-25. As the team on top of the league standings in early December, similar words could be written about the Minnesota Wild.
And yet, heading into Wednesday night’s matchup between the clubs (7 p.m. ET, ESPN+), nothing is certain about either team’s playoff chances after the pair has gone 8-9-3 in the past 10 games apiece.
The Wild enter the game in a playoff position, and have a 91.0% chance to make the playoffs per Stathletes. A key part of that is the team’s remaining strength of schedule; their remaining opponents have a 46.0% winning percentage, which is the second-easiest path. (Only the New Jersey Devils face a weaker slate in the final stretch.)
Compare that to the Rangers, who have a 27.3% chance, and will begin this game on the outside looking in. New York’s remaining slate is considerably more difficult; a 54.1% opponents’ winning percentage ranks as the second toughest, behind only the Detroit Red Wings.
If the Wild qualify as the first wild card, their likely first-round opponent is the Vegas Golden Knights; if they land in the second wild-card position, their likely opponent is the Winnipeg Jets. Unfortunately, Minnesota went 0-3 against both teams this season.
The Rangers’ more likely outcome as a playoff entrant is as the second wild card, which earns them a matchup against the Washington Capitals; the Caps have won all three games against New York this season. The Rangers could wind up as the first wild card, earning a matchup against the Atlantic Division champ. They went 1-2 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, 0-2 against the Florida Panthers (with one more game coming up on April 14), and 0-1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning (with games coming up on April 7 and April 17).
So, the future isn’t blindingly bright in the playoffs for these teams. But all you need is a ticket in, and unexpected things can happen!
There are just over two weeks left until the season’s end on April 17, and we’ll help you track it all with the NHL playoff watch. As we traverse the final stretch, we’ll provide details on all the playoff races, along with the teams jockeying for position in the 2025 NHL draft lottery.
Note: Playoff chances are via Stathletes.
Jump ahead:
Current playoff matchups
Today’s schedule
Yesterday’s scores
Expanded standings
Race for No. 1 pick
Current playoff matchups
Eastern Conference
A1 Toronto Maple Leafs vs. WC1 Ottawa Senators
A2 Tampa Bay Lightning vs. A3 Florida Panthers
M1 Washington Capitals vs. WC2 Montreal Canadiens
M2 Carolina Hurricanes vs. M3 New Jersey Devils
Western Conference
C1 Winnipeg Jets vs. WC2 Minnesota Wild
C2 Dallas Stars vs. C3 Colorado Avalanche
P1 Vegas Golden Knights vs. WC1 St. Louis Blues
P2 Los Angeles Kings vs. P3 Edmonton Oilers
Wednesday’s games
Note: All times ET. All games not on TNT or NHL Network are available to stream on ESPN+ (local blackout restrictions apply).
Minnesota Wild at New York Rangers, 7 p.m.
Washington Capitals at Carolina Hurricanes, 7 p.m. (TNT)
Florida Panthers at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7:30 p.m.
Colorado Avalanche at Chicago Blackhawks, 9:30 p.m. (TNT)
Seattle Kraken at Vancouver Canucks, 10:30 p.m.
Tuesday’s scoreboard
Washington Capitals 4, Boston Bruins 3
Montreal Canadiens 3, Florida Panthers 2 (OT)
Buffalo Sabres 5, Ottawa Senators 2
Columbus Blue Jackets 8, Nashville Predators 4
Tampa Bay Lightning 4, New York Islanders 1
St. Louis Blues 2, Detroit Red Wings 1 (OT)
Utah Hockey Club 3, Calgary Flames 1
Edmonton Oilers 3, Vegas Golden Knights 2
Anaheim Ducks 4, San Jose Sharks 3 (SO)
Los Angeles Kings 4, Winnipeg Jets 1
Expanded standings
Atlantic Division
Points: 94
Regulation wins: 37
Playoff position: A1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 104.1
Next game: vs. FLA (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 93
Regulation wins: 38
Playoff position: A2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 103.1
Next game: @ OTT (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 92
Regulation wins: 35
Playoff position: A3
Games left: 8
Points pace: 102.0
Next game: @ TOR (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 84
Regulation wins: 30
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 93.1
Next game: vs. TB (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.8%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 79
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 87.5
Next game: vs. BOS (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 44.7%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 75
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 83.1
Next game: vs. CAR (Friday)
Playoff chances: 2.9%
Tragic number: 13
Points: 70
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 77.6
Next game: vs. TB (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 8
Points: 69
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 75.4
Next game: @ MTL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 5
Metro Division
Points: 105
Regulation wins: 41
Playoff position: M1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 116.4
Next game: @ CAR (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 94
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: M2
Games left: 9
Points pace: 105.6
Next game: vs. WSH (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 87
Regulation wins: 35
Playoff position: M3
Games left: 6
Points pace: 93.9
Next game: vs. NYR (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 24
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 9
Points pace: 86.5
Next game: vs. COL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 16.7%
Tragic number: 17
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 32
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 85.3
Next game: vs. MIN (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 27.3%
Tragic number: 15
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 82
Next game: vs. MIN (Friday)
Playoff chances: 8.7%
Tragic number: 12
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 77.6
Next game: @ STL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 7
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 6
Points pace: 76.6
Next game: @ MTL (Saturday)
Playoff chances: ~0%
Tragic number: 5
Central Division
Points: 106
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: C1
Games left: 7
Points pace: 115.9
Next game: @ VGK (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 102
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: C2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 113.0
Next game: vs. NSH (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 94
Regulation wins: 38
Playoff position: C3
Games left: 7
Points pace: 102.8
Next game: @ CHI (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 89
Regulation wins: 30
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 6
Points pace: 96.0
Next game: vs. PIT (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 92.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 88
Regulation wins: 33
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 7
Points pace: 96.2
Next game: @ NYR (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 91%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 80
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 87.5
Next game: vs. LA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0.4%
Tragic number: 7
Points: 62
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 67.8
Next game: @ DAL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Points: 51
Regulation wins: 18
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 56.5
Next game: vs. COL (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Pacific Division
Points: 98
Regulation wins: 42
Playoff position: P1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 108.6
Next game: vs. WPG (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 93
Regulation wins: 37
Playoff position: P3
Games left: 8
Points pace: 103.1
Next game: @ UTA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 91
Regulation wins: 31
Playoff position: P2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 100.8
Next game: @ SJ (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.1%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 82
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 90.9
Next game: vs. ANA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 13.9%
Tragic number: 11
Points: 81
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 89.8
Next game: vs. SEA (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 2.7%
Tragic number: 10
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 82.0
Next game: @ CGY (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: 3
Points: 68
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 74.3
Next game: @ VAN (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Points: 50
Regulation wins: 14
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 55.4
Next game: vs. EDM (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Note: An “x” means that the team has clinched a playoff berth. An “e” means that the team has been eliminated from playoff contention.
Race for the No. 1 pick
The NHL uses a draft lottery to determine the order of the first round, so the team that finishes in last place is not guaranteed the No. 1 selection. As of 2021, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins the lottery, so only 11 teams are eligible for the No. 1 pick. Full details on the process are here. Matthew Schaefer, a defenseman for the OHL’s Erie Otters, is No. 1 on the draft board.
Points: 50
Regulation wins: 14
Points: 51
Regulation wins: 18
Points: 62
Regulation wins: 23
Points: 68
Regulation wins: 25
Points: 70
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 69
Regulation wins: 23
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 23
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 25
Points: 75
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 32
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 24
Points: 80
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 81
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 82
Regulation wins: 26
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports12 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway