Exactly 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.
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 and New York Mets hold the other two National League wild card spots behind the Cubs, but the San Francisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks are trying to making September pushes.
Over in the American League, the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros are neck-and-neck as they fight for the AL West title. Whoever loses that battle will likely fall into a wild card berth. The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are in wild card position, but the Cleveland Guardians are making a 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 Mets
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 | 87 | 68 | +3.0 |
Boston Red Sox | 85 | 70 | +1.0 |
Cleveland Guardians | 84 | 71 | — |
Houston Astros | 84 | 71 | — |
Texas Rangers | 79 | 76 | 5.0 |
Chicago Cubs – y | 88 | 67 | +8.0 |
San Diego Padres | 84 | 71 | +4.0 |
New York Mets | 80 | 75 | — |
Cincinnati Reds | 79 | 76 | 1.0 |
Arizona Diamondbacks | 78 | 77 | 2.0 |
San Francisco Giants | 76 | 79 | 4.0 |
2025 World Series odds
(All odds via Caesars as of Sept. 20)
- Philadelphia Phillies: +450
- Los Angeles Dodgers: +500
- Milwaukee Brewers: +700
- Seattle Mariners: +700
- Toronto Blue Jays: +750
- New York Yankees: +900
- San Diego Padres: +1400
- Chicago Cubs: +1400
- Detroit Tigers: +1600
- New York Mets: +1800
- Houston Astros: +2000
- Boston Red Sox: +2200
