{"id":896294,"date":"2026-09-18T07:44:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T07:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/896294\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T07:44:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T07:44:55","slug":"2026-mlb-playoff-picture-standings-current-bracket-postseason-projections-as-guardians-take-al-central-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/896294\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 MLB playoff picture: Standings, current bracket, postseason projections as Guardians take AL Central lead"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four teams have punched their tickets to the 2026 MLB postseason, as the Yankees in the American League and the Dodgers in the National League joined the bracket already occupied by the Rays and Brewers.<\/p>\n

The Yankees, who currently sit in the No. 4 seed, are still hanging on by their fingernails for a shot at the AL East, while the Dodgers are on their way to locking up the NL West. The Brewers clinched the NL Central on Tuesday night, securing a fourth straight division title. Elsewhere, there are intriguing races in all three American League divisions and the NL East. The Braves have maintained their NL East lead over the Phillies, who are also in a battle with the Cubs for the top National League wild-card spot. The Padres, fresh off an eight-game winning streak, and the Diamondbacks are jostling for the sixth and final playoff spot in the NL.<\/p>\n

In the American League, each division race is within just a few games. The Rays, as mentioned, are trying to hold off the Yankees in the AL East, while the Guardians have surged in the AL Central and wrestled the division lead back from the White Sox. The Rangers, meanwhile, are riding a winning streak all the way into a first-place tie with the Astros in the AL West. And the chase for the final AL wild-card spot is the most muddled race in baseball. After losing the division lead to the Guardians, the White Sox now find themselves trying to hold off the Blue Jays, Orioles and whichever of the Astros and Rangers don’t win their division.<\/p>\n

Now, let’s get you caught up on the bracket, standings and more. All division and postseason projections referenced in the standings come from\u00a0SportsLine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2026\u00a0MLB<\/a> playoff picture, bracket<\/p>\n

If the season ended today…<\/p>\n

American League
Byes: No. 1 Rays, No. 2 Guardians
Wild Card Series: No. 3 Astros vs. No. 6 White Sox, No. 4 Yankees vs. No. 5 Red Sox<\/p>\n

National League
Byes: No. 1 Brewers, No. 2 Dodgers
Wild Card Series: No. 3 Braves vs. No. 6 Padres, No. 4 Cubs vs. No. 5 Phillies<\/p>\n

American League standings National League standings <\/p>\n

Clinched division – x
Clinched wild-card – y
Clinched playoff berth – z
Eliminated – e<\/p>\n

MLB wild-card standings New York Yankees – y8864+11.0Boston Red Sox8270+5.0Chicago White Sox7775————————————————Texas Rangers76761.0Toronto Blue Jays76771.5Baltimore Orioles75782.5Detroit Tigers72805.0Minnesota Twins71816.0Seattle Mariners71826.5Chicago Cubs8568+1.5Philadelphia Phillies8468+1.0San Diego Padres8369———————————————Arizona Diamondbacks80733.5Miami Marlins76777.5Pittsburgh Pirates75778.9St. Louis Cardinals75788.5 2026 World Series odds <\/p>\n

Via Caesars<\/a>\u00a0as of Sept. 17<\/p>\n

Dodgers: +200Brewers: +550Yankees: +750Rays: +850Braves: +1400Red Sox: +1600Phillies: +1600Cubs: +1600Astros: +2000White Sox: +2200Guardians: +2500Padres: +2500Rangers: +3000Blue Jays: +5000Diamondbacks: +12500Orioles: +25000Tigers: +35000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four teams have punched their tickets to the 2026 MLB postseason, as the Yankees in the American League…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":896295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[465480,465482,465481,465489,465483,465488,201140,465484,592,5654,4996,64,63,1186,5156,5158,5256,5257,5258,5259,5260,5163,5261,5262,1187,1188,5159,2364,591,465479,83709,83713,1830,2704,465486,465485,465487,2365,5160,1189,5157,5162,85,2366,1190,2367,5161,5264,104178],"class_list":["post-896294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-2026-bracket","tag-2026-playoff-picture","tag-2026-standings","tag-al-central-od","tag-al-central-standings","tag-al-east-odds","tag-al-east-standings","tag-al-west-standings","tag-arizona-diamondbacks","tag-athletics","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-cincinnati-reds","tag-cleveland-guardians","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-houston-astros","tag-kansas-city-royals","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-miami-marlins","tag-milwaukee-brewers","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-bracket","tag-mlb-playoff-picture","tag-mlb-standings","tag-new-york-mets","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-nl-central-standings","tag-nl-east-standings","tag-nl-west-standings","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-pittsburgh-pirates","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-seattle-mariners","tag-sports","tag-st-louis-cardinals","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-texas-rangers","tag-toronto-blue-jays","tag-washington-nationals","tag-wild-card-standings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896294","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=896294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/896295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=896294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=896294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=896294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}