{"id":156752,"date":"2025-09-20T14:23:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T14:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/156752\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T14:23:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T14:23:17","slug":"mlb-playoff-watch-mariners-grab-west-lead-dodgers-lock-up-spot-bracket-clinching-scenarios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/156752\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB playoff watch: Mariners grab West lead, Dodgers lock up spot; bracket, clinching scenarios"},"content":{"rendered":"

Entering play on Saturday, here\u2019s where every contending team stands with nine days remaining in the regular season.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s in?<\/p>\n

Tickets already punched:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Milwaukee Brewers, <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Philadelphia Phillies, <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Chicago Cubs, <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Dodgers<\/p>\n

On Friday, the Dodgers joined the Brewers, Phillies and Cubs among the teams that have clinched postseason berths.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers will make their 13th consecutive trip to the playoffs, so you can\u2019t blame them for being more concerned with Clayton Kershaw\u2019s last regular-season start at Dodger Stadium<\/a>. Kershaw gave the home crowd six strikeouts in 4 1\/3 innings during a 6-3 win over San Francisco, which went final not long after L.A. clinched a playoff ticket with the Arizona Diamondbacks\u2019 8-2 loss to the Phillies.<\/p>\n

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before Friday\u2019s game that he feels like there will be a role for Kershaw on the postseason roster, despite Los Angeles having four starters currently ahead of him in the pecking order.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s next?<\/p>\n

On the brink of clinching a playoff spot:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Toronto Blue Jays, <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Detroit Tigers, <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

New York Yankees, <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

San Diego Padres<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays\u2019 magic number for a playoff berth remains at two, thanks to the Kansas City Royals drubbing them 20-1 and the Cleveland Guardians running their winning streak to eight.<\/p>\n

AL East<\/p>\n

TeamW-LWin%GBStrkL10<\/p>\n

89-65<\/p>\n

0.578<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

L3<\/p>\n

6-4<\/p>\n

86-68<\/p>\n

0.558<\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

L1<\/p>\n

6-4<\/p>\n

84-70<\/p>\n

0.545<\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

W1<\/p>\n

5-5<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s clinging to life?<\/p>\n

It’s gonna be interesting:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

New York Mets, <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Arizona Diamondbacks, <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Cincinnati Reds, <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Cleveland Guardians<\/p>\n

The Guardians have the Detroit Tigers within their sights after another win, plus the Tigers\u2019 10-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves. Cleveland is now just 2 1\/2 games behind the Tigers, and 1 1\/2 games back from locking up a playoff spot. They currently hold the tiebreaker against Detroit and will face the Tigers in a three-game series that starts on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

AL Central<\/p>\n

TeamW-LWin%GBStrkL10<\/p>\n

85-69<\/p>\n

0.552<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

L4<\/p>\n

3-7<\/p>\n

82-71<\/p>\n

0.536<\/p>\n

2.5<\/p>\n

W8<\/p>\n

9-1<\/p>\n

77-77<\/p>\n

0.500<\/p>\n

8<\/p>\n

W1<\/p>\n

4-6<\/p>\n

Are the Mets finally ready to seize the final wild-card spot? They\u2019ve won four of their past five after their eight-game losing streak, but the Reds kept pace with a win that was helped in part by Elly De La Cruz\u2019s first home run in nearly two months<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NL wild card<\/p>\n

TeamW-LWin%GBStrkL10<\/p>\n

88-66<\/p>\n

0.571<\/p>\n

+8<\/p>\n

L2<\/p>\n

7-3<\/p>\n

83-71<\/p>\n

0.539<\/p>\n

+3<\/p>\n

L2<\/p>\n

4-6<\/p>\n

80-74<\/p>\n

0.519<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

W2<\/p>\n

4-6<\/p>\n

78-76<\/p>\n

0.506<\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

W3<\/p>\n

6-4<\/p>\n

77-77<\/p>\n

0.500<\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

L2<\/p>\n

5-5<\/p>\n

If the playoffs started todayAmerican League<\/p>\n

Toronto and Seattle would receive first-round byes after finishing as the AL\u2019s No. 1 and No. 2 seeds. Toronto would also have home-field advantage through the ALCS for finishing with the league\u2019s best record.<\/p>\n

AL Wild Card Series: No. 6 Astros at No. 3 Tigers; No. 5 Red Sox at No. 4 Yankees<\/p>\n

ALDS: Yankees\/Red Sox versus Blue Jays; Tigers\/Astros versus Mariners<\/p>\n

National League<\/p>\n

The Brewers and Phillies would enter as the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively, both receiving first-round byes. Should the Brewers make it to the World Series, they\u2019d maintain home-field advantage due to ending with the best record.<\/p>\n

NL Wild Card Series: No. 6 Mets at No. 3 Dodgers; No. 5 Padres at No. 4 Cubs<\/p>\n

NLDS: Dodgers\/Mets versus Phillies; Cubs\/Padres versus Brewers<\/p>\n

What to watch Saturday<\/p>\n

Mariners at Astros: The Astros will send Framber Valdez to the mound on Saturday with George Kirby starting for the Mariners. Seattle hit four homers in a series-opening shutout win but saw All-Star Bryan Woo leave a dominant start with pec tightness<\/a>.<\/p>\n

AL West<\/p>\n

TeamW-LWin%GBStrkL10<\/p>\n

85-69<\/p>\n

0.552<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

W2<\/p>\n

9-1<\/p>\n

84-70<\/p>\n

0.545<\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

L1<\/p>\n

6-4<\/p>\n

79-75<\/p>\n

0.513<\/p>\n

6<\/p>\n

L5<\/p>\n

5-5<\/p>\n

Guardians at Twins (doubleheader): Cleveland can run its winning streak to 10 and put even more pressure on the Tigers (along with several other teams vying for spots) if they win both games.<\/p>\n

AL wild card<\/p>\n

TeamW-LWin%GBStrkL10<\/p>\n

86-68<\/p>\n

0.558<\/p>\n

+2<\/p>\n

L1<\/p>\n

6-4<\/p>\n

84-70<\/p>\n

0.545<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

W1<\/p>\n

5-5<\/p>\n

84-70<\/p>\n

0.545<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

L1<\/p>\n

6-4<\/p>\n

82-71<\/p>\n

0.536<\/p>\n

1.5<\/p>\n

W8<\/p>\n

9-1<\/p>\n

79-75<\/p>\n

0.513<\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

L5<\/p>\n

5-5<\/p>\n

Giants at Dodgers:\u00a0San Francisco is essentially playing out the string, while the Dodgers will start Tyler Glasnow as they look to clinch their 12th division title in 13 seasons. Los Angeles\u2019 magic number to take the NL West dropped from six to four on Friday night.<\/p>\n

NL West<\/p>\n

TeamW-LWin%GBStrkL10<\/p>\n

87-67<\/p>\n

0.565<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

W3<\/p>\n

7-3<\/p>\n

83-71<\/p>\n

0.539<\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

L2<\/p>\n

4-6<\/p>\n

77-77<\/p>\n

0.500<\/p>\n

10<\/p>\n

L2<\/p>\n

5-5<\/p>\n

\u00a0(Photo of Clayton Kershaw: Ronald Martinez \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Entering play on Saturday, here\u2019s where every contending team stands with nine days remaining in the regular season.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[592,64,63,5156,5158,5258,5260,5163,1187,5159,591,2704,2365,5157,5162,85,5161],"class_list":["post-156752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-arizona-diamondbacks","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-cleveland-guardians","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-houston-astros","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-milwaukee-brewers","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-seattle-mariners","tag-sports","tag-toronto-blue-jays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}