{"id":908177,"date":"2026-09-24T18:42:48","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T18:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/908177\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T18:42:48","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T18:42:48","slug":"2026-mlb-playoff-picture-standings-bracket-clinching-scenarios-postseason-projections-as-padres-stay-hot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/908177\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 MLB playoff picture: Standings, bracket, clinching scenarios, postseason projections as Padres stay hot"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 MLB regular season is just days from ending and there’s still plenty to be decided.<\/p>\n

The AL West remains up in the air as the Rangers and Astros jockey for the division title that could see a sub-.500 team take the crown for the first time ever in a 162-game season (the loser will win the third American League wild-card spot).<\/p>\n

The Rays have won the AL East, leaving the Yankees to battle it out for seeding in the wild card, where they’re currently lined up to face their division rivals, the Red Sox. The Guardians, meanwhile, have a one-game lead over the White Sox in the AL Central and both wild cards are up in the air. The Cubs, Phillies and Padres, meanwhile, are in strong position to earn National League wild-card spots as the Diamondbacks fade in the standings. The Cubs, thanks to a strong record against the Phillies and Padres this year, own the tiebreakers<\/a>, which could end up deciding the seeding. The American League is a little more settled, though the White Sox are trying to hold off the Rangers and Orioles.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the bracket, the Brewers, Dodgers and Braves have all secured playoff berths as division winners out of the National League, with Milwaukee securing a bye past the Wild Card Series and home field advantage in the NLDS.<\/p>\n

Now, let’s get you caught up on the bracket, standings, clinching scenarios 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 Phillies, No. 4 Padres vs. No. 5 Cubs<\/p>\n

Who’s clinched?The Brewers have clinched the NL Central and a Wild Card Series bye.The Rays have clinched the AL East.The Dodgers have clinched the NL West.The Braves have clinched the NL East.The Yankees\u00a0and Red Sox have clinched AL playoff spots.Thursday clinching scenariosThe Guardians can clinch a postseason berth with a win OR a Rangers loss OR an Astros loss.The White Sox can clinch a postseason berth with a win.The eventual AL Central champion can clinch a bye in the Wild Card Series and home field advantage in the Division Series with a Guardians win OR an Astros loss; AND a White Sox win OR a Rangers loss.The Red Sox can clinch the No. 5 seed in the American League with a win OR a White Sox loss.The Padres can clinch a postseason berth with a win OR a Diamondbacks loss.The Cubs can clinch a postseason berth with a win OR a Diamondbacks loss.The Phillies can clinch a postseason berth with a win AND a Diamondbacks loss OR a Padres loss.The Brewers can clinch the No. 1 seed in the National League and home-field advantage throughout the postseason with a win AND a Dodgers loss.The Dodgers can clinch a bye in the Wild Card Series and home-field advantage in the Division Series with a win OR a Braves loss.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 – y9167+10.0Boston Red Sox – y8573+4.0Chicago White Sox8177————————————————Texas Rangers78803.0Baltimore Orioles78813.5San Diego Padres8870+1.0Philadelphia Phillies8771—Chicago Cubs8771———————————————Arizona Diamondbacks84743.0 2026 World Series odds <\/p>\n

Via Caesars<\/a>\u00a0as of Sept. 24<\/p>\n

Dodgers: +225Brewers: +500Rays: +700Yankees: +850Guardians: +1400Red Sox: +1400Phillies: +1400Braves: +1500Cubs: +1600White Sox: +2500Padres: +2500Astros: +3000Rangers: +5000Diamondbacks: +20000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 MLB regular season is just days from ending and there’s still plenty to be decided. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":908178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[313700,313702,313701,313710,313704,313709,313703,313705,485,495,3960,3966,3959,49,48,508,3961,3983,491,4021,490,1506,474,3962,487,3981,493,3965,462,313699,66635,66639,475,3980,313707,313706,313708,481,509,477,512,470,82,3982,480,3992,507,3968,82114],"class_list":["post-908177","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-baltimore-orioles","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-ca","tag-canada","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\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=908177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/908178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}