While the regular season comes to a close on Sunday, very little has actually been decided. Six teams have officially punched their playoff tickets—the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Phillies, San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays—but their seeds are still up in the air.
That means there are six postseason spots still up for grabs. And yes, five of the six are found in the American League.
It’s not quite as wide open as it sounds, as there are essentially six clubs fighting for the five spots: the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Guardians and Houston Astros. The Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals haven’t been mathematically ruled out just yet, but that’s a formality—they aren’t getting out of five- and six-game holes, respectively, in the next six days.
In the National League, the picture looks a lot clearer. Two division crowns have been claimed (by the Brewers and Phillies) and only the final wild card spot needs filling. That said, there is all of one game separating the Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks, although the Reds technically sit atop the race for now by virtue of holding tiebreakers over the two others.