Major League Baseball’s 2025 season didn’t just crown new heroes. It brought familiar names back to center stage, turning the year into a celebration of repeat greatness.
The Los Angeles Dodgers defended their World Series crown. Shohei Ohtani and other stars stacked trophies, making 2025 feel like a season on rewind—and that’s the energy behind The Athletic’s latest 50-question holiday baseball trivia quiz.
The Dodgers Go Back-to-Back on the Game’s Biggest Stage
The heartbeat of the 2025 MLB story was the Los Angeles Dodgers. This franchise already lives with lofty expectations and October pressure.
Instead of fading after their 2024 triumph, they doubled down and etched their name into history. The city buzzed with hope, but the Dodgers matched it with relentless play.
First Repeat World Series Champion in 25 Years
The Dodgers became the first team in 25 years to defend a World Series title, outlasting the Toronto Blue Jays in a gripping seven-game classic. Winning back-to-back championships is brutal—pitching staffs get tired, lineups change, and every opponent circles you on the calendar.
They pushed through all of that and repeated. That takes serious organizational depth, clubhouse culture, and star power.
The 2025 Dodgers had all three in abundance. They needed every bit of it to outduel a Blue Jays club hungry to end its own long title drought.
Shohei Ohtani Extends His MVP Reign
If the Dodgers were the league’s backbone, Shohei Ohtani was its beating heart. Already a global icon, Ohtani somehow made MVP-level consistency his new normal.
Back-to-Back MVPs in the National League
Ohtani captured the National League MVP Award again in 2025, repeating his 2024 feat and anchoring the Dodgers’ title run. His combination of elite production and postseason impact made the voting feel inevitable.
Ohtani’s dominance has become something rarer: a sustained peak. His MVP repeat stands as one of the defining pillars of the “running it back” narrative that shaped the year.
Five Major Awards, Five Familiar Names
Ohtani wasn’t alone on the awards stage. One of the most striking parts of 2025 was how many individual honors returned to the same hands as the year before.
2024’s Elite Keep Their Crowns in 2025
Five major award winners from 2024 repeated in 2025:
For a league that thrives on surprise, this wave of repeat winners gave the season a unique texture. Instead of wondering who would emerge, the question became who could possibly unseat the established elite.
Paul Skenes’ Leap from Rookie Sensation to Cy Young Ace
Not every headline in 2025 was about repetition. One rising star took a different, equally compelling path to the spotlight.
From Rookie of the Year to Cy Young in Just One Season
Paul Skenes followed a classic ace’s arc: Rookie of the Year in 2024, Cy Young Award winner in 2025. That kind of jump is the dream for any franchise that hands the ball to a young arm and hopes it’s staring at the future.
Skenes’ progression shows how quickly the sport can change at the top end of the pitching pyramid. While many stars were busy repeating, he was busy redefining his own ceiling and forcing his way into any conversation about the best pitchers in the game.
The Athletic’s Holiday Baseball Trivia Quiz
This whole tapestry of repeat champions, recurring award winners, and rising aces forms the backbone of The Athletic’s annual 50-question holiday baseball trivia quiz. It’s more than a casual diversion; it’s a snapshot of where the sport stands right now.
A Quiz Built on Patterns, History, and Memory
The quiz leans into the 2025 theme of “running it back,” challenging fans to remember:
But it doesn’t stop with current events. The quiz also honors figures the baseball world lost in 2025, weaving in questions that serve as quiet tributes to the game’s past.
Those items add emotional weight, reminding readers that baseball’s story stretches far beyond one season’s standings.
Tyler Kepner’s Signature Touch
Guiding this quiz is Tyler Kepner, a veteran baseball journalist and senior writer for The Athletic. His decades covering the sport give the questions a layered feel—part test, part time machine.
A Celebration of Baseball’s Enduring Stories
Kepner, a former New York Times columnist and author of two acclaimed baseball books, frames the quiz as more than just a challenge. It feels like a celebration.
Each question nudges readers to remember why they fell in love with the game. Think about the stars who dominate, the teams always chasing history, the legends we lose, and all the stories that somehow connect everything.
The Athletic’s trivia quiz takes a season full of repetition and makes it feel intentional. Fans get to relive 2025, spot the patterns, and maybe realize how baseball’s best stories never really end after one year.
Here is the source article for this story: It’s the most wonderful quiz of the year: The Athletic’s annual MLB trivia extravaganza!
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