We’re set for a crazy final week of the 2025 regular season!
The first order of business here is the Cubs, who still have a magic number of 4 to clinch home field over the Padres in their Wild Card series. (For the sake of this discussion, I am assuming the Padres will be the opponent, though they still have a magic number of 2 to clinch that spot.) The Cubs can thus clinch home field by going 4-2 this week against the Mets and Cardinals no matter what the Padres do.
The Padres play three games at
home vs. the Brewers beginning Monday, then have Thursday off before they host the Diamondbacks to finish the regular season. While the Brewers have clinched the NL Central and a first-round bye, they still have a magic number of 4 to clinch home field throughout the postseason, so they’ve still got something to play for. The D-backs remain one game behind the Mets and Reds, who are currently tied for the last wild card spot.
The Mets wrap their regular season in Miami facing the Marlins after they play the Cubs. And that won’t necessarily be easy for them — the Marlins are the hottest team in the NL, having won nine of their last 10.
The Reds host the Pirates for their final three home games this week, then finish the season with a three-game set in Milwaukee. That ought to be interesting.
It’s not impossible for the Padres to catch the Dodgers for the NL West title. San Diego trails Los Angeles by three games with six remaining, though the Dodgers have the tiebreaker. The Padres schedule is noted above, and the Dodgers will finish on the road, at Arizona and at Seattle, and that won’t be an easy task. Those are good teams and the Dodgers are 36-39 on the road this year.
And speaking of the Mariners, let’s look at the American League races, which are just as interesting.
The Blue Jays won Sunday and clinched a postseason berth. They lead the Yankees in the AL East by two games (and have the tiebreaker) and the Red Sox by five with six to go. Toronto could go a long way toward eliminating Boston not only from the division race but maybe from the postseason entirely in a three-game series beginning Tuesday in Toronto. Then the Jays host the Rays to end the season.
The Yankees host the White Sox and Orioles to wrap their regular season, so you’d think they might have a real shot at the division title. The Red Sox, after visiting Toronto, host the Tigers to end their regular season, and Detroit is in perhaps the most interesting postseason race of all.
The Tigers, who led the AL Central by 14 games in early July and were still up by 9.5 games with 16 to go, have lost nine of 10 since then while Cleveland has won 10 of 11. Only a Guardians loss Sunday prevented that race from being tied. The two teams meet for a three-game set in Cleveland this week. Cleveland currently leads that season series six games to four, so Detroit would have to sweep the series to have the tiebreaker (and if they do that, they would be AL Central champs, as they would lead by four games with three to go). The Tigers then finish their season at Boston, as noted above, and Cleveland hosts the Rangers.
The AL West is still up for grabs, but the Mariners have taken charge by sweeping the Astros in Houston over the weekend. The Mariners have won 14 of 15 and lead the division by three games, and they hold the tiebreaker. Seattle hosts the Rockies before finishing up against the Dodgers at home, and Houston is at Sacramento and Anaheim to wrap their regular season. The Astros lose tiebreaker to Seattle, Cleveland and Detroit.
There are so many permutations among the AL contenders that I won’t even pretend to try to suss them out here. It’s possible the Tigers could wind up out of the postseason entirely, which would have to be the biggest collapse in MLB history. Or the Guardians could wind up out after that long winning streak.
Should be a fun week to watch — after the Cubs clinch home field. Then we can all exhale a bit, until next week.
