Less than a week remains in the 2025 MLB regular season, and the Major League Baseball playoff picture is coming into a sharper focus — in most races. Seven teams have secured their spots in the postseason, as the Yankees and Mariners both clinched wild card berths Tuesday night (both are still fighting for division titles in the AL East and AL West, respectively).
The Brewers, Phillies, Dodgers, Cubs and Padres set up in the NL postseason bracket. Milwaukee and Philadelphia have clinched their respective divisions. The third and final NL wild card spot is up for grabs, and three teams are in the mix. The Mets, Reds and Diamondbacks are jostling for that berth in a fight that seems destined to go down to the wire, with the Cardinals and surprising Marlins not far behind.
There’s a lot more to be decided in the American League. The Jays will now try to hold off the Yankees to capture the AL East title. The Yankees have a firm grip on the top wild card spot, and the Mariners have the inside track on the AL West crown after sweeping the Astros in a key series last weekend. After that, it gets more complicated. There are four teams battling for the three other spots, and a few crucial series this week.
The Tigers, Red Sox, Guardians and Astros all entered the week with either 85 or 84 wins. The Tigers, trying to avoid a historic collapse, are battling the Guardians this week in Cleveland. Then Detroit finishes the regular season in Boston against the Red Sox.
What’s at stake in final week of MLB regular season? Where things stand with six games left
R.J. Anderson
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 Guardians vs. No. 6 Tigers
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 Mets
No. 4 Cubs vs. No. 5 Padres
Thursday’s MLB playoff clinch scenarios
- The Dodgers can clinch the NL West.
- The Red Sox can clinch a playoff berth.
- The Guardians can clinch a playoff berth.
- The Brewers clinch home-field advantage.
Notable tiebreakers
American League
- The Blue Jays have secured the tiebreaker against the Yankees, Mariners, Red Sox and Tigers.
- The Yankees have secured the tiebreaker against the Mariners.
- The Mariners have secured the tiebreaker against the Astros, Tigers, Red Sox and Guardians.
- The Guardians have secured the tiebreaker against the Yankees, Astros and Tigers.
- The Tigers currently have the tiebreaker against the Red Sox and have secured the tiebreaker against the Astros and Yankees.
- The Red Sox have secured the tiebreaker against the Yankees, Guardians and Astros.
- The Astros have secured the tiebreaker against the Blue Jays.
National League
- The Brewers have secured the tiebreaker against the Phillies.
- The Phillies have secured the tiebreaker against the Dodgers.
- The Dodgers have secured the tiebreaker against the Padres.
- The Padres have secured the tiebreaker against the Cubs and Mets.
- The Reds have secured the tiebreaker against the Mets and Diamondbacks.
- The Diamondbacks have secured the tiebreaker against the Mets.
A two-team tiebreaker is determined by head-to-head record. If the teams split the season series, it is decided by intradivision record (record within their own division), even if the teams do not share a division.
A three-team tiebreaker is determined by the highest winning percentage among three tied teams in intradivision games.
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 – y
90
68
+5.0
Boston Red Sox
87
71
+2.0
Detroit Tigers
85
73
—
Houston Astros
84
74
1.0
Chicago Cubs – y
89
69
+8.0
San Diego Padres – y
87
72
+5.5
New York Mets
81
77
—
Cincinnati Reds
80
78
1.0
Arizona Diamondbacks
80
78
1.0
2025 World Series odds
(All odds via Caesars as of Sept. 25)
- Philadelphia Phillies: +450
- Los Angeles Dodgers: +475
- Seattle Mariners: +475
- Milwaukee Brewers: +600
- New York Yankees: +725
- Toronto Blue Jays: +900
- San Diego Padres: +1200
- Chicago Cubs: +1500
- Cleveland Guardians: +2000
- Detroit Tigers: +2000
- Boston Red Sox: +2000
- New York Mets: +2300
- Houston Astros: +5500
