Major League Baseball's postseason is rapidly approaching, with the Los Angeles Dodgers seeking a third straight World Series title. There are four days left in the regular season and six playoff spots are still available, though multiple teams could clinch Thursday.
The Dodgers are once again among the best teams in the big leagues, and they'll have several challengers in October, including the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays. All three teams could
finish the regular season with 100 wins or more. Los Angeles is rolling into the postseason and four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani returned to the lineup on Wednesday after a stint on the injured list and was 1 for 4 at the plate with two strikeouts and a walk.
The New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves have also clinched spots in the postseason. Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, a three-time AL MVP, is dealing with a right calf strain that will likely keep him out through at least the Wild Card Series.
While the 12-team playoff field appears mostly set, there are a few long-shot contenders for the postseason, and specific matchups are in flux.
Here's some of what to watch as the season comes to a close.
In the American League, the Cleveland Guardians can clinch a postseason spot with a win at Boston or a loss by the Rangers or a loss by the Astros.
The Chicago White Sox can clinch a postseason spot with a win at Kansas City.
Over in the National League, the San Diego Padres can clinch with a win at the Dodgers or a loss by the D-backs. The Chicago Cubs can clinch with a win vs. Miami or a loss by the D-backs.
The Philadelphia Phillies can clinch their spot in October with a win vs. Milwaukee and a loss by either the D-backs or the Padres.
There's quite a bit of mediocrity in the AL Central and West divisions this season, which has led to some fascinating pennant races and could lead to a sub-.500 team making the postseason.
The Guardians (82-76) have a narrow advantage over the White Sox (81-77) in the AL Central while the Rangers (78-80) and Astros (78-80) are fighting for the AL West. Houston has the tiebreaker if the season ends in a tie.
Over in the National League, the playoff bracket is close to set.
The Padres (88-70), Cubs (87-71) and Phillies (87-71) are jockeying for position in the wild-card race but will almost certainly make the postseason. The only team within shouting distance is Arizona (84-74), which is three games back. Chicago holds the head-to-head tiebreaker for home field over Philadelphia and San Diego, and the Phillies own the tiebreaker over the Padres after sweeping that season series 6-0.
MLB's major awards probably won't have much drama this season.
Both MVP races have strong favorites with Chicago's Pete Crow-Armstrong running away with the NL honor while Houston's Yordan Alvarez is the probable choice in the AL, though Tampa Bay's Junior Caminero has also had a fantastic season. Alvarez still has an outside shot at a Triple Crown. He leads the AL in batting average at .316 and his 41 homers are tied with Caminero, New York's Ben Rice and Baltimore's Pete Alonso. His 102 RBIs are eight back of Alonso.
For the Cy Young Award, Milwaukee flame thrower Jacob Misiorowski and New York ace Cam Schlittler are the favorites in the NL and AL, respectively.
The Rookie of the Year races also look set with Cincinnati's Sal Stewart and his 110-RBI season the leader in the NL and Detroit's Kevin McGonigle the favorite in the AL.
There are 12 teams that qualify for MLB’s postseason, including six teams from both the AL and NL. The three division winners in each league get seeds No. 1 through No. 3, ranked by win-loss record. Then the three wild-card teams get seeds No. 4 through No. 6, also ranked by win-loss record.
The top two teams with the best record in both the AL and NL automatically advance to the Division Series. The other eight teams play in the Wild Card Series, which is a best-of-three format beginning on Tuesday, Sept. 29. In both the AL and NL, the No. 6 seed will travel to face the No. 3 seed while the No. 5 seed goes to No. 4. The higher seed hosts all three games.
The winners then advance to the best-of-five Division Series, followed by the best-of-seven League Championship Series and a best-of-seven World Series between the winners of the AL and NL.
Wild Card Series: Sept. 29-Oct. 1 (NBC/Peacock)
Division Series: Oct. 3-10 (AL on TBS, NL on FOX/FS1)
Championship Series: Oct. 11-20 (AL on TBS, NL on FOX/FS1)
World Series: Oct. 23-31 (FOX)
The Dodgers (+200) are the favorites to capture a third straight World Series title while the Brewers (+550), Rays (+800) and Yankees (+850) are viewed as the top contenders.
___
See AP’s full MLB coverage here
