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Less than a week remains in the 2025 MLB regular season, and the Major League Baseball playoff picture is coming into a sharper focus. Last week, the MLB-leading Milwaukee Brewers became the first team to clinch a postseason berth and the Philadelphia Phillies quickly followed suit, then secured the NL East title a day later. The Chicago Cubs joined the 12-team postseason bracket on Wednesday.Â
The Los Angeles Dodgers, who have already clinched their own playoff spot, currently sit in first place in the NL West as they look to hold off the San Diego Padres and capture another division crown. The Padres hold the second National League wild card spot, but the New York Mets’ collapse has seen them fall out of playoff position, meaning the Cincinnati Reds are currently in possession of that third spot. The Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants are still fighting too.
Over in the American League, the Seattle Mariners swept the Houston Astros to put themselves ahead in the neck-and-neck AL West battle. Whoever loses that fight will have to fight for a wild card berth. The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are in wild card position, but the Cleveland Guardians are making a furious late surge to try to get back to the postseason. The Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays lead the AL Central and East, respectively, but both are just barely holding on to their positions as the season winds down.
As a reminder, MLB now grants 12 playoff berths — a total of six to the division winners and then three wild card berths in each league. The top two division winners in each league as measured by overall record are rewarded with first-round byes, which means they won’t have to play in the best-of-three Wild Card Series that functions as that first round. The 2025 MLB postseason gets started on Tuesday, Sept. 30.
Now let’s get you caught up on the bracket, standings and more. All division and postseason projections referenced in the standings come from SportsLine.
2025 MLB playoff picture
If the season ended today…
AL byes: No. 1 Blue Jays and No. 2 Mariners
AL Wild Card Series: No. 3 Tigers vs. No. 6 Guardians
No. 4 Yankees vs. No. 5 Red Sox
NL byes: No. 1 Brewers and No. 2 Phillies
NL Wild Card Series: No. 3 Dodgers vs. No. 6 Reds
No. 4 Cubs vs. No. 5 Padres
American League standings National League standings
x – clinched division
y – clinched wild card spot
z – clinched playoff berth
e – eliminated
MLB wild card standings
New York Yankees
88
68
+3.0
Boston Red Sox
85
71
+1.0
Cleveland Guardians
84
72
—
Houston Astros
84
72
—
Texas Rangers
79
77
5.0
Chicago Cubs – y
88
68
+8.0
San Diego Padres
85
71
+4.0
Cincinnati Reds
80
76
—
New York Mets
80
76
—
Arizona Diamondbacks
79
77
1.0
San Francisco Giants
77
79
3.0
2025 World Series odds
(All odds via Caesars as of Sept. 22)
Philadelphia Phillies: +450Los Angeles Dodgers: +500Seattle Mariners: +500Milwaukee Brewers: +650Toronto Blue Jays: +875New York Yankees: +900San Diego Padres: +1200Chicago Cubs: +1400Detroit Tigers: +1500Boston Red Sox: +2200New York Mets: +2400Houston Astros: +2500