The 2021 Major League Baseball regular season wraps up Sunday, and baseball’s playoff picture is taking its final shape. We enter Sunday officially with eight of our 10 postseason teams in place, as the White Sox, Giants, Dodgers, Brewers, Rays Cardinals, Astros, and Braves have secured berths. The only things left to sort out are whether the Giants or Dodgers win the NL West (the Giants enter Sunday with a magic number of one) and who will play in the AL Wild Card Game as four teams (the Yankees, Red Sox, Mariners and Blue Jays) fight for two spots.
The Red Sox moved into a tie with the Yankees for the top AL wild-card spot on Saturday, and the possibility of a massive four-way tie or three-way tie still exists. Meantime, the Giants now lead the Dodgers by a single game in the NL West with one to play. That means a tiebreaker to decide the division is also possible.
So how will all this shake out? We’ll find out the answers before the postseason gets started on Tuesday. We have the up-to-date playoff picture as well as standings and Sunday’s clinching scenarios below.
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If the season ended today
- AL Wild Card Game: Red Sox vs. Yankees
- NL Wild Card Game: Dodgers vs. Cardinals
- ALDS: Astros vs. White Sox
- ALDS: Rays vs. AL Wild Card Game winner
- NLDS: Brewers vs. Braves
- NLDS: Giants vs. NL Wild Card Game winner
Sunday clinching scenarios
NL West
- Giants clinch NL West with a win or a Dodgers loss
- Dodgers force Game 163 tiebreaker with a win and a Giants loss
AL wild card
- Yankees clinch spot in Wild Card Game with win or losses by Blue Jays and Mariners
- Yankees clinch top wild-card spot with win and Red Sox loss
- Red Sox clinch spot in Wild Card Game with win or losses by Blue Jays and Mariners
- Red Sox clinch top wild-card spot with win (due to head-to-head tiebreaker with Yankees)
- Blue Jays force Game 163 tiebreaker with win and loss by Yankees or Red Sox
- Mariners force Game 163 tiebreaker with win and loss by Yankees or Red Sox
All MLB tiebreaker scenarios are explained here.
Teams that have clinched
- Rays (clinched AL East)
- White Sox (clinched AL Central)
- Brewers (clinched NL Central)
- Astros (clinched AL West)
- Braves (clinched NL East)
- Giants (clinched playoff spot)
- Dodgers (clinched playoff spot)
- Cardinals (clinched second NL wild card)
MLB standings, playoff races
Here’s a look at the current standings. Division and postseason projections are via SportsLine. For expanded standings, click here.
American League standings
| Tampa Bay – x | 100 | 61 | — | 100% | 100% |
| N.Y. Yankees | 91 | 70 | 9.0 | 0.0% | 91.2% |
| Boston | 91 | 70 | 9.0 | 0.0% | 93.5% |
| Toronto | 90 | 71 | 10.0 | 0.0% | 11.4% |
| Baltimore – e | 52 | 109 | 48.0 | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| AL WILD CARD | W | L | WCGB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boston | 91 | 70 | — |
| N.Y. Yankees | 91 | 70 | — |
| Toronto | 90 | 71 | 1.0 |
| Seattle | 90 | 71 | 1.0 |
National League standings
| Atlanta – x | 87 | 73 | — | 100% | 100% |
| Philadelphia – e | 82 | 79 | 5.5 | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| N.Y. Mets – e | 77 | 84 | 10.5 | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Miami – e | 66 | 95 | 21.5 | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Washington – e |
65 | 96 | 22.5 | 0.0% | 0.0% |
2021 MLB postseason gear now available
The 2021 MLB Playoffs start Oct. 5 and 6 with the AL and NL Wild Card games. In celebration, 2021 MLB postseason gear is now available for select teams. Shop hoodies, shirts, and more here.
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