Six Groups Clinched, Wild Card Races Tighten With Two Weeks Left

Six groups have secured playoff berths with roughly two weeks remaining within the 2026 common season, however the wild card bubble stays crowded in each leagues as of September 16.

American League

The Tampa Bay Rays (90-59) have clinched the AL East, and the New York Yankees (87-63) have locked up an AL wild card spot. In the AL Central, the Chicago White Sox (77-73) have clinched that division title. The AL West stays the one undecided division: the Houston Astros (75-75) lead the Texas Rangers (74-76) by a single sport, maintaining that race alive by the ultimate stretch.

For the three AL wild card spots not but taken, the Boston Red Sox (82-68) are most securely positioned. Behind them, the Cleveland Guardians (76-75) maintain the ultimate in-position spot over the Blue Jays (75-76, 1.0 sport again) and Rangers (74-76, 1.5 again). The Baltimore Orioles (73-78, 3.0 again) are successfully eradicated regardless of technically remaining within the standings.

National League

The Milwaukee Brewers (93-57) have clinched the NL Central, and the Los Angeles Dodgers (91-59) have clinched the NL West. The Atlanta Braves (88-63) have clinched the NL East. That leaves the Cubs, Phillies, and Padres main the NL wild card discipline — Chicago at 84-67, Philadelphia at 83-67, and San Diego at 82-68 — with the Arizona Diamondbacks (80-71) sitting 2.5 video games again as the first risk to a type of spots. The Pittsburgh Pirates (75-75) and St. Louis Cardinals (75-76) stay in spots 5 and 6 on paper however are 7.0 and seven.5 video games again respectively, making their path to October primarily closed.

What to look at: The AL West is the one division title nonetheless genuinely in play. The Toronto-Cleveland-Texas cluster within the AL wild card is probably the most unstable race remaining in baseball, with three groups separated by 1.5 video games. In the NL, Arizona is the one group with a sensible shot at cracking the highest three wild card seeds.