The 2025 regular season began in Tokyo and it ends tonight in Toronto.
But for baseball people, it never really ends.
While the Dodgers and Blue Jays play for a championship in front of a roaring crowd at Rogers Centre, the next generation of talent is already performing under the desert sun in the Arizona Fall League — a proving ground that produced 21 players on this year’s World Series rosters.
The game may rise in the East at least it settles in a fun location. So the MLB moves westward. Scottsdale, Mesa, Glendale, Peoria, and Surprise are where tomorrow’s champions are taking shape right now.
🏟️ 21 players in the 2025 World Series once played in the Arizona Fall League — including @mookiebetts, @FreddieFreeman, @43_GeorgeSpringer, @vladdyjr27, and @andresgimenez.
Baseball never stops — it just moves from Toronto to the desert. 🌍⚾
via @JonathanMayo / @MLBPipeline…— World Baseball Network (@WorldBaseball_) November 1, 2025
Since its creation in 1992, the Arizona Fall League has served as Major League Baseball’s finishing school. Every October, six teams made up of top prospects from across all 30 MLB organizations gather in the desert to play competitive baseball after the regular season.
The list of alumni reads like a Hall of Fame ballot — Derek Jeter, Mike Piazza, Albert Pujols, Bryce Harper, and more recently, Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani. But the 2025 class carries that legacy forward.
This year’s AFL rosters include first-round picks, comeback stories, and international prospects representing 13 countries. From the Royals’ hard-hitting Blake Mitchell to the A’s shortstop Josh Kuroda-Grauer, the league remains baseball’s final classroom before the majors
According to MLB Pipeline, 21 players active in the 2025 World Series once played in the Arizona Fall League. That’s 40 percent of the players taking the field in the sport’s biggest series — the same percentage that appeared in this year’s All-Star Game.
It’s a stunning reminder of what the league represents: the final step before the lights get bright.
Among those 21 names:
For the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Arizona Fall League has long been part of their player pipeline.
Mookie Betts once sharpened his game there in 2013 with Surprise. Will Smith, the Dodgers’ steady catcher, posted a .371 average for Glendale in 2017. Tyler Glasnow and Max Muncy also spent their early professional years in the desert. Even Justin Dean, whose defensive instincts helped save Game 6, appeared for Scottsdale in 2019 — a reminder that depth and experience can come from every corner of baseball’s developmental ladder.
On the Toronto Blue Jays side, the connection runs just as deep.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit .351 for Surprise in 2018, previewing the superstar swing that now fills Rogers Centre with noise. Andrés Giménez, then with Scottsdale, refined his game across two AFL stints before becoming one of baseball’s best defenders. Tommy Edman also learned the value of versatility during his time in Surprise, and Chris Bassitt, who takes the mound with quiet authority, once posted a 0.69 ERA in Glendale.
And then there’s Max Scherzer — the bridge between generations. The only Arizona Fall League Hall of Famer on a World Series roster this year, Scherzer pitched for Scottsdale and Phoenix back in 2007 and 2008, long before the lights of October followed him.
The lineage runs deep. More than half the players who broke camp on Opening Day rosters this year spent time in the Arizona Fall League — a testament to how it shapes both American and international stars.
The next wave is here.
In Mesa, Blake Mitchell, the Royals’ No. 2 prospect, delivered a 116.5-mile-per-hour home run — the hardest-hit homer in the league so far. It traveled in just 3.7 seconds, faster than a blink, and even topped most of Kansas City’s Statcast data from the regular season. Mitchell, only 20, was drafted eighth overall in 2023 and has battled through injury setbacks. Now he’s showing why he’s Kansas City’s catcher of the future.
Over in Mesa as well, Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, the A’s No. 10 prospect, has drawn rave reviews from scouts for his defense and discipline. The Rutgers product and 2024 Big Ten Player of the Year is hitting over .300 in the Arizona Fall League and earning comparisons to Marcus Semien for his leadership and makeup.
A’s assistant GM Billy Owens called him “a winning player, the kind you build around,” and said Kuroda-Grauer could reach the Athletics faster than people expect.
Meanwhile in Scottsdale, Anderson Brito and James Hicks have given the Astros organization something rare: two power arms with command. Brito, Houston’s No. 7 prospect, struck out five batters over three innings in his last outing, while Hicks has yet to allow a run.
Speed has stolen the show in the Arizona Fall League too. Orioles center fielder Enrique Bradfield Jr. and Braves outfielder Patrick Clohisy are redefining base-running pressure, combining for double-digit steals in just a handful of games. Their dynamic play has brought fans out early to see stolen bases turn into momentum shifts.
The Arizona Fall League isn’t just about player development — it’s about connection. Every inning links the majors to the minors, the United States to the rest of the baseball world.
Baseball Without Borders lives here: players from Japan, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Canada, and Korea all sharing dugouts and language lessons under one late-autumn sky.
That international thread ties directly to this year’s World Series. Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani and Blue Jays first baseman Freddie Freeman will represent their countries in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Andrés Giménez once played for Venezuela. Tommy Edman has worn the uniform of Team Korea. The desert is where these paths start to cross — where skills built in the AFL echo later on the world stage.
When the final pitch is thrown tonight in Toronto, baseball will not go silent.
Across the Arizona ballparks, 200 players are chasing their next chapter — young prospects hoping to become the next Betts, the next Guerrero Jr., the next Giménez.
The Arizona Fall League is the bridge between what baseball has been and what it will be. It’s the reminder that while one season closes under the dome, another begins under the desert moon.
And if you’re wondering who might headline next year’s World Series?
You might already be watching him this week — in Peoria, Mesa, or Surprise.
2025 Arizona Fall League Unveils New Playoff Format and Find Full Schedule
Photo Arizona Fall League Week 3 Top Performers — image courtesy of the Arizona Fall League / Major League Baseball.
