MLB Draft Lottery 2025: How To Watch, Team Odds, Top Prospects & More
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Three years in, the MLB draft lottery has become a must-see event for baseball fans.
In the first two iterations of the lottery, we’ve seen the ping pong balls fall for a team with the best odds for landing the top pick in the Pirates for 2023, and we’ve seen a huge statistical upset with the Guardians claiming the No. 1 overall pick for 2024 despite just a two percent chance of winning.
Will the lottery drawing for the 2025 draft have more surprises in store?
When Is The MLB Draft Lottery?
This year’s draft lottery is set to take place during the Winter Meetings in Dallas on Tuesday, Dec. 10 at 5:30 p.m. ET.
How To Stream The 2025 MLB Draft Lottery?
The event will be broadcast on MLB Network and streamed live on MLB.com.
How Does The MLB Draft Lottery Work?
As part of the collective bargaining agreement signed in 2022, MLB instituted a draft lottery to help curb tanking.
Per the CBA, all eligible non-playoff teams are entered into the lottery for a chance to claim the top six picks, with odds determined by the standings. Ping pong balls are placed in an air-blown lottery machine that produces a ball labeled with a number every 15 seconds. Four balls are collected to create a four-digit code corresponding to a certain team.
The process is repeated until the top six lottery spots are filled. Once complete, the remaining lottery teams are then slotted according to the original odds.
Which Teams Have The Best Odds?
The Rockies and Marlins come into the draft lottery with the best odds to win at 22.45% each, with the Angels coming in third at 17.96%. The Diamondbacks have the worst odds at just 0.20%. You can find the complete odds here.
Why Aren’t The White Sox & A’s Included In The Lottery?
Despite poor records in 2024—historically poor in the case of the White Sox—neither the White Sox nor Athletics are eligible to receive a lottery pick and can select no sooner than 10th and 11th, respectively.
The White Sox received a lottery pick in the 2024 draft and pay into revenue sharing, meaning they can’t have lottery picks in back-to-back drafts, while the A’s received lottery picks in the 2023 and 2024 drafts and receive revenue sharing, meaning they can’t have lottery picks in three consecutive drafts.
The same penalty occurred for the Nationals in the 2024 draft. After receiving the second overall pick in 2023, the Nationals could pick no earlier than 10th the following year.
What About The Non-Lottery Teams?
Non lottery-eligible teams (the eight postseason teams) have their draft order determined by a combination of postseason finish, regular season standings and revenue sharing status. Here is that order for this year’s lottery:
19. Orioles
20. Brewers
21. Astros
22. Braves
23. Royals
24. Tigers
25. Padres
26. Phillies
27. Guardians
28. Mets
29. Yankees
30. Dodgers
Who Are The Top Prospects Available For The 2025 Draft?
The 2025 draft class is shaping up to be stronger than the 2024 class. There is deep and solid group of high school prospects, but no clear-cut and obvious pick for No. 1 overall quite yet.
In September, Baseball America published its updated ranking of the top 100 draft prospects for 2025. The list is topped by Jace LaViolette, a Texas A&M outfielder who combines a special blend of tools, athleticism and college production as a lefthanded hitter.
You can find more rankings and draft coverage here:
- 2025 High School Top 100 Draft Prospects
- 2025 College Top 100 Draft Prospects
- 11 Rising 2025 MLB Draft Prospects Entering The Winter
- “Way Too Early” 2025 Mock Draft
- Tyler Bremner vs. Jamie Arnold & Top College Arms To Know For 2025 Draft
- Jace LaViolette vs. Ethan Holliday For No. 1 Overall
- Breaking Down 7 Top Prep Shortstops For The 2025 Draft Class
