We've made it, everybody: Welcome to September, when a 162-game marathon suddenly shifts into a frantic sprint to the finish line. With just one month left in the regular season, there's precious little time left to make a move up the standings and earn your way into the playoffs.
So what better time to take a quick snapshot of the postseason picture in both leagues? The big three atop the National League — the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves — is holding strong, while the Tampa Bay Rays continue to take advantage of a down year in the AL. Beyond that, though, we've got chaos, with plenty still up in the air over the season's final few weeks. How much work does your team have to do to put itself in position for a World Series run? Here's how the playoff brackets would look if the season ended today.
American League playoff picture as of Sept. 1
Team | Record |
|---|---|
Tampa Bay Rays* | 82-55 |
Chicago White Sox* | 72-65 |
Houston Astros* | 70-68 |
New York Yankees | 78-60 |
Boston Red Sox | 75-63 |
Cleveland Guardians | 69-68 |
*Division leaders
Complain about the divisional format all you want, but these are the rules, and the rules say that the White Sox and Astros currently occupy better playoff seeds than the Yankees and Red Sox despite having worse overall records. That's the luck of the draw, with the AL West joining the AL Central in mediocrity this season.
At this point, it would be a shocker if the Rays don't wind up with the No. 1 seed as AL East champs. Chicago seems to be the class of the Central. The West is still a three-team race, though, and the Wild Card situation could wind up with any number of permutations.
Team | Record | GB |
|---|---|---|
New York Yankees | 78-60 | +8.5 |
Boston Red Sox | 75-63 | +5.5 |
Cleveland Guardians | 69-68 | -- |
Baltimore Orioles | 69-69 | 0.5 |
Texas Rangers | 68-70 | 1.5 |
Toronto Blue Jays | 68-70 | 1.5 |
Minnesota Twins | 66-72 | 3.5 |
Seattle Mariners | 64-74 | 5.5 |
The Yankees earned some breathing room by taking three of four (and securing the head-to-head tiebreaker) over Boston this past weekend. The final Wild Card spot, though, is very much up for grabs, with Cleveland trying to fend off whichever team falls short out west between likely Houston and Texas and a couple of AL East also-rans in Toronto and Baltimore.
American League playoff bracket as of Sept. 1
- (1) Tampa Bay Rays (BYE)
- (2) Chicago White Sox (BYE)
- (3) Houston Astros vs. (6) Cleveland Guardians
- (4) New York Yankees vs. (5) Boston Red Sox
A few things we can say with relative certainty. Barring a September collapse, the Rays will clinch the East and the AL's top seed. Chicago is likely to snag the second first-round bye. The Yankees and Red Sox seem destined for a Wild Card Round rematch, likely in the Bronx.
From there, though, who the heck knows? One of the Astros and Rangers will almost certainly host a Wild Card series as the AL West champs, but the runner-up in that race could well overtake Cleveland. And while Toronto and Baltimore soft-sold at the deadline, don't count them out by a long shot, as both are playing pretty well right now and have the talent to rise above a very mediocre crop.
National League playoff picture as of Sept. 1
Team | Record |
|---|---|
Milwaukee Brewers* | 85-53 |
Los Angeles Dodgers* | 82-55 |
Atlanta Braves* | 82-56 |
Chicago Cubs | 78-60 |
Philadelphia Phillies | 78-60 |
San Diego Padres | 73-65 |
*Division leaders
The big three here have remained relatively stable pretty much all season long. Though the Phillies are trying to make things interesting in the NL East, it would be a pretty major surprise if any team other than Milwaukee, L.A. or Atlanta finished with a top-three seed in the playoff bracket. The sources of drama here are three-fold: 1) Which two of those three will earn a first-round bye, 2) will Chicago be hosting Philly in the Wild Card Round or vice versa and 3) can the Padres hold on to the final Wild Card spot?
Team | Record | GB |
|---|---|---|
Chicago Cubs | 78-60 | +5.0 |
Philadelphia Phillies | 78-60 | +5.0 |
San Diego Padres | 73-65 | -- |
Arizona Diamondbacks | 73-66 | 0.5 |
Miami Marlins | 69-69 | 4.0 |
St. Louis Cardinals | 68-70 | 5.0 |
Pittsburgh Pirates | 67-71 | 6.0 |
The Cubs have already clinched the season series over the Phillies, so they hold the edge there for now, but there's no telling how that battle will shake out — with the winner hosting the loser in the opening round of the playoffs. The third NL Wild Card spot isn't as chaotic as its AL counterpart, with the Cardinals and Pirates fading fast, but this should still be an entertaining intradivisional race between the Padres and D-backs. Those two will meet in San Diego on the final weekend of the regular season, too.
National League playoff bracket as of Sept. 1
- (1) Milwaukee Brewers (BYE)
- (2) Los Angeles Dodgers (BYE)
- (3) Atlanta Braves vs. (6) San Diego Padres
- (4) Chicago Cubs vs. (5) Philadelphia Phillies
Only two of the Brewers, Dodgers and Braves can skip right on to the NLDS, and I guarantee you that none of them want to play a three-game Wild Card series against a Padres team with that sort of star power and that lights-out bullpen. Much like in the AL, we seem pretty locked into a juicy 4-5 matchup with the Cubs and Phillies, with the only question being where it takes place.
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