With 11 days remaining in the 2026 MLB regular season, there are eight playoff spots left to fill as four teams clinched postseason berths over the past week.
The Rays secured the season’s first postseason spot and were followed later that night by the Brewers, who have been the first team to clinch the past two seasons. They are also the only club to have clinched the division so far. The Dodgers and Yankees joined Tampa Bay and Milwaukee a few days later.
Now, we wait to see who’s next.
It’s just a matter of time before additional clubs lock up berths — such as the Braves and Phillies — but others still have a lot to play for. We’ve seen in the past how runs in the final weeks of the season can totally shift a playoff picture. Will that happen again in 2026?
Our expert panel has ranked every team based on a combination of what we’ve seen so far and what we already knew going into the 162-game marathon that is a full baseball season. We also asked ESPN MLB experts Bradford Doolittle, Alden Gonzalez and David Schoenfield to weigh in with an observation for all 30 teams.
Week 24 | Second-half preview | Preseason rankings
Record: 95-57
Previous ranking: 1
The NL Central was formed in 1994. Before the Brewers wrapped up the division with a victory over the Pirates on Tuesday night — behind an electric Jacob Misiorowski, fittingly — no team had ever won it four consecutive times. The Brewers haven’t just claimed four straight division titles, they’ve won five of the past six. They hold the best record in baseball and haven’t given up their perch atop their division since May. They are a dominant team, even if they’re not a popular or expensive one. As usual, Brewers manager Pat Murphy said it best amid the champagne celebration. “This ’26 club, there hasn’t been a spot where you say, ‘Wow, we’re really special. But it’s starting to grow on me.” — Gonzalez
Record: 92-60
Previous ranking: 2
The Dodgers locked up their 14th consecutive postseason appearance this week, tying Atlanta for the all-time record, and are on their way to clinching their 13th division title. They’re also cruising toward a first-round bye, but that doesn’t mean they are without concerns. Among them: the back end of the bullpen. Edwin Diaz has looked so bad in his rehab assignment that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts threw out the possibility of him not cracking the playoff roster. And Edgardo Henriquez, an overpowering right-hander who has had a great year, has landed on the injured list with back discomfort. The Dodgers’ bullpen concerns might not be as big as they were at this time last year, but they’re a concern, nonetheless. — Gonzalez
Record: 92-59
Previous ranking: 3
Junior Caminero, in his age-22 season, has reached 40 home runs for the second consecutive season. He joins Eddie Mathews as the only players with two 40-homer seasons through age 22 (Mathews holds the age-21 record with 47 with Caminero second with 45). Caminero is also just the ninth player to reach 40 home runs in his age-22 season — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Fernando Tatis Jr. were the last to do it, in 2021, although neither has reached those heights since. — Schoenfield
Record: 88-64
Previous ranking: 5
Ben Rice has been leading off this month against right-handed pitchers as manager Aaron Boone looks to fix a seasonlong lack of production in that spot. Rice got some action there earlier in the season before Boone gave Trent Grisham a long run. But Grisham hit .199 with a .303 OBP in 358 PAs there, so it’s back to Rice, with Paul Goldschmidt in the leadoff spot against lefties. The ultimate goal: Get somebody on base in front of Aaron Judge now that he’s back and hitting second against lefties and third against righties. — Schoenfield
Record: 89-64
Previous ranking: 4
The Braves still need to put the finishing touches on winning their seventh NL East title in the past nine seasons, and the odds are heavily in their favor. There’s more drama in the quest to figure out Atlanta’s postseason pitching staff, and it’s possible what happens between now and the end of the regular season will inform that. The rotation will be headed by Chris Sale and likely followed by red-hot Tyler Mahle. But what about Nos. 3 and 4? In the bullpen, Robert Suarez is nearing his return from the IL, but will he be ready to hold down the second-highest leverage role after Raisel Iglesias? Stay tuned. — Doolittle
Record: 85-68
Previous ranking: 7
The Cubs acquired Edward Cabrera over the offseason believing he could be a difference-maker for them atop their rotation. But he put up a 5.68 ERA in 15 starts, while working around blister issues and adductor and hamstring strains. When the Cubs activated him off the IL on Saturday, they put him in the bullpen, hoping he could be a weapon late in games similar to the way Roki Sasaki was for the Dodgers last October. But Cabrera proceeded to serve up a two-run homer in the ninth inning of the Cubs’ loss to the Braves on Tuesday night. Chicago’s bullpen remains an area of concern going into the playoffs, especially with Jacob Webb’s recent struggles. — Gonzalez
Record: 84-68
Previous ranking: 6
The Phillies’ playoff seed could end up from anywhere from two to six. The seeds involving an NL East title are a long shot at this point — although crazy things can happen down the stretch — so that leaves the Phillies jockeying for one of the three wild-card slots among four deserving teams. With starter Jesus Luzardo landing on the IL with a sore shoulder, the question becomes who will fill his slot for what will be two or three vital outings? He hasn’t been ruled out for the playoffs, but the Phillies have to get there first. — Doolittle
Record: 83-69
Previous ranking: 9
San Diego had its seasonlong eight-game winning streak snapped in Colorado on Tuesday. It had to end at some point.
Before it did, the Padres showed just how dangerous they can be with Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill running as hot as they’ve been lately, and with Manny Machado, Ty France and Luis Campusano contributing as well. A lack of offensive production kept the Padres down for most of the first half, but since the All-Star break, they boast the second-highest OPS in the majors. Combine that with a dominant back end of the bullpen and a much deeper starting rotation, and you have a dangerous playoff opponent — if they get there. — Gonzalez
Record: 82-70
Previous ranking: 8
Adley Rutschman got the headlines at the trade deadline following the blockbuster deal that sent him from Baltimore to Boston, but while he hasn’t really made much of an impact, two players in lesser deals have been key pickups. Lefty reliever Erik Miller, acquired from the Giants, has become a key setup pitcher, adding depth to a bullpen that needed it. Jahmai Jones, acquired from the Tigers, has been a right-handed DH and pinch hitter and has raked in his opportunities. These depth players — including a player such as Mickey Gasper, claimed off waivers from the Nationals in February — have been vital to Boston’s success. — Schoenfield
Record: 80-73
Previous ranking: 10
The Padres went on a roll of late, but the D-backs remain within striking distance, doing their best to set up a winner-take-all series in San Diego on the last weekend of the regular season. Before that, though, they have to keep holding their own. And they will face a big test starting Friday, when they begin a three-game series against a Yankees team still vying for a division title. The Diamondbacks are hopeful Jesus Sanchez will help. Sanchez, the 28-year-old left-handed-hitting outfielder, was plucked off waivers Monday to help Arizona with its .683 OPS against right-handed pitching, second worst in the majors. — Gonzalez
Record: 77-75
Previous ranking: 11
As the White Sox cling to a playoff spot despite an ill-timed slump, their flailing offense could really use a strong finish from their prized offseason signing, slugger Munetaka Murakami. For much of the season, he was as good as advertised, mashing 31 homers to go with his 85 walks. Lately, the homers have been largely missing — just two since Aug. 19 — leaving just a smattering of walks on the positive side of the ledger. A prototypical three-true-outcomes hitter, Murakami has a chance to become just the third player among batting title qualifiers to hit under .200 while still managing an OPS of at least .800. The first two were Joey Gallo (2021) and Kyle Schwarber (2023). — Doolittle
Record: 78-75
Previous ranking: 13
While the Guardians’ focus will be on whether they can earn a postseason spot for a third straight season, a lesser pursuit regards their home run leaderboard. At present, Angel Martinez leads the club with 15, with a slew of others crowded behind him. If the season ended today, that would be the fewest homers a Cleveland team leader has hit since Bo Diaz led the team with just seven in the strike-shortened 1981 season. It would be the lowest team-leading total in a full season since Tony Horton’s 14 dingers in 1968. Strange stuff for a 2026 major league offense. — Doolittle
Record: 76-76
Previous ranking: 12
If the Astros manage to hold on and win the AL West, don’t underestimate their chances to pull off an October surprise. Josh Hader has been close to unhittable as their closer, and Bryan Abreu is finally pitching like the reliever we saw the past four seasons. If Hunter Brown can get on a roll, he and Hayden Wesneski could be a tough one-two duo. Of course, they’ll need to get Yordan Alvarez hot again just to hold off the Rangers: He just went through a 15-game stretch where he hit .196 with two home runs and five RBIs. — Schoenfield
Record: 75-77
Previous ranking: 15
The Pirates are a major long shot to make the playoffs, sitting eight games back of the NL’s final wild-card spot. But they’re doing their best to keep things interesting, winning eight of their first 14 games in September to at least give themselves a reasonable chance at their first winning record in eight years. Oneil Cruz, Brandon Lowe and Bryan Reynolds have done most of the heavy lifting of late, though Pittsburgh’s starting rotation has been better this month. Regardless of how this season ends, the Pirates will finish with a top 10 offense. Few saw that coming heading into this season. — Gonzalez
Record: 76-77
Previous ranking: 14
Big on the home run front for the Blue Jays: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. finally hit his first home run at Rogers Centre in 2026 — in his 68th game there this season. Absolutely incredible. Meanwhile, Kazuma Okamoto slugged his 33rd home run, passing Seiya Suzuki for the most by a Japanese right-handed batter. Still, with 148 home runs on the season, the Jays are going to finish way under last year’s team total of 191, which helps explain why they are in a battle for fewest runs scored in the majors. — Schoenfield
Record: 76-76
Previous ranking: 16
Nathan Eovaldi returned from the IL on Saturday after missing more than a month and allowed one run in 2⅔ innings, throwing 45 pitches in an abbreviated outing as he ramps back up. The key pitcher of late for Texas, however, has been Cal Quantrill, who is 5-1 with a 1.88 ERA in seven starts since essentially replacing Eovaldi in the rotation in August. Quantrill has had three scoreless starts of at least six innings in that stretch and has walked just six batters. The Rangers will need to clean up on this current nine-game homestand before finishing the season with a series in Minnesota. — Schoenfield
Record: 75-78
Previous ranking: 18
For as encouraging as the Cardinals’ record has been, this year is still about gathering intel and determining who can be an integral part of their next contending team. Thomas Saggese is certainly making his case. The 24-year-old infielder struggled mightily at the start of the year, but he came back up from the minor leagues in late August and has been on a tear ever since, slashing .352/.387/.574 in September while filling in admirably for Blaze Jordan. Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol gave Saggese a shot in the leadoff spot earlier this week, and he responded with two hits. — Gonzalez
Record: 76-77
Previous ranking: 17
The Marlins are finishing up a so-so season that feels like it could have been more. One thing still on the table is a winning record, not a trivial feat for a franchise that hasn’t seen many of them. Miami has finished over .500 eight times in 33 seasons before 2026, and just twice since 2009. More incredibly, the Marlins entered this season with a 15-year streak of finishing with a negative run differential. After beating Arizona on Wednesday, Miami is at plus-eight on this season, putting that epic futility streak in jeopardy. –– Doolittle
Record: 75-78
Previous ranking: 19
What has happened to Gunnar Henderson? Two years ago, he had one of the best seasons in Orioles history when he hit 37 home runs and was worth 8.8 WAR (fourth highest by a position player in franchise history). Since then, his average bat speed has slowed from 76.2 mph to 74.2 mph, producing a hard-hit rate that’s 10 percentage points lower, and his chase rate has deteriorated from 23% to 30%. He’s also hitting just .168 against four-seam fastballs, 132nd out of 136 qualified hitters. Henderson will need some kind of offseason swing and approach makeover for next season. — Schoenfield
Record: 72-80
Previous ranking: 23
Somehow, the Tigers’ playoff odds have not quite reached zero, though it would take something almost otherworldly for them to make a postseason return. Assuming that doesn’t happen, the watch is on to see if Justin Verlander can make it back for a last hurrah before the end of the season.
The future Hall of Famer has been out since early April and has made just one start all season. He threw off the mound last weekend and things went well enough that manager A.J. Hinch told reporters that the team is hoping to get Verlander a start during Detroit’s last series against Pittsburgh at Comerica Park, when his career will be celebrated in advance of his looming retirement. Verlander hasn’t made a start for the Tigers at Comerica Park in over nine years. Fingers crossed. — Doolittle
Record: 69-83
Previous ranking: 25
The Mets have been mired in last place of the NL East for most of the season, but a better second half has them in a close battle with the Nationals to avoid the cellar. For the Mets, a last-place finish would be the wrong kind of throwback look. New York hasn’t finished last in the division since 2003. That club, managed by Art Howe, lost 95 games only three years after the Mets’ World Series appearance in 2000. It featured three Hall of Famers in Mike Piazza, Roberto Alomar and Tom Glavine. The current Mets feature at least a couple of likely Hall of Famers in Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor, but the club is surely hoping that’s all they have in common with their 2003 predecessors. — Doolittle
Record: 71-81
Previous ranking: 20
While the Twins play out the string, one thing they would like to get down the stretch is a decent finish from Walker Jenkins. The much-hyped prospect has struggled during his first shot at the big leagues, managing just four hits in his first 45 at-bats and just one in September. He’s 0-for-11 against left-handed pitchers. These are tiny samples, and no great reason for alarm. Still, it would be nice for Jenkins and the Twins if the talented left fielder could end the season on a strong note. — Doolittle
Record: 71-82
Previous ranking: 24
CJ Abrams’ hot first-half bat cooled during the second half, along with much of the team around him. It has been a career pattern for the Nationals’ shortstop and, apparently, future second baseman. Abrams has a career first-half OPS of .794 that drops to .673 after the All-Star break. Still, he remains on the cusp of several nice round numbers in 2026. Abrams is four RBIs away from his first 100 RBIs season and needs one more steal to become the third player in Expos/Nationals history to record a 30-homer/30-steal campaign. The first two were Vladimir Guerrero Sr. (2001, 2002) and Alfonso Soriano, who had a 40/40 season in 2006. — Doolittle
Record: 71-82
Previous ranking: 22
The final dagger to a disappointing season arrived Sunday when Andres Munoz allowed a two-run, walk-off home run to the A’s in an 8-7 loss. It was Munoz’s 10th blown save of the season, most in the majors, and his sixth loss. He still has big-time strikeout stuff, but he’s been at his worst in high-leverage moments, allowing an .856 OPS compared to .294 in medium leverage and .471 in low leverage. Combined with Matt Brash’s injury and Eduard Bazardo’s second-half meltdown, the Mariners will need to reconfigure the bullpen for 2026. — Schoenfield
Record: 71-81
Previous ranking: 21
With a 4-1 loss to the Dodgers on Monday night, the Reds were officially eliminated from postseason contention. The franchise has now missed the playoffs in 26 of its past 31 seasons. Fittingly, that loss occurred on a night when Elly De La Cruz hit a baseball out of the stadium. Cincinnati’s offense has been one of the worst in the majors in 2026, even though De La Cruz is having the best season of his career and Sal Stewart will probably be the NL Rookie of the Year. The Reds also rate below average on defense and have suffered a litany of injuries to their pitching staff, compromising what was once seen as enviable depth. — Gonzalez
Record: 67-85
Previous ranking: 26
Earlier this season, Seattle’s Julio Rodriguez became the first player in MLB history to post at least 20 homers and 20 steals in each of his first five big-league seasons. What does that have to do with the Royals? With two more homers, Bobby Witt Jr. would become the second. Witt hasn’t hit for as much power this season as during his first four campaigns, and he has gone deep just five times since the All-Star break. He has hit 13 homers at Kauffman Stadium, at which the fences were moved in before the season, but has hit just five on the road. — Doolittle
Record: 64-89
Previous ranking: 27
Before Rafael Devers’ season ended as a result of a lingering core muscle injury earlier this week, the Giants’ high-priced first baseman proved he remains one of the game’s premier sluggers, producing at an elite level for much of the past four months. On the other side, though, the same can’t be said for longtime Giants ace Logan Webb. Webb has been charged with 23 runs in 21⅔ innings over his past five starts, including six runs in five innings against the Padres on Sunday. Giants manager Tony Vitello told reporters recently that, like Devers, he’s considering shutting Webb down for the rest of the season. — Gonzalez
Record: 61-91
Previous ranking: 28
It’s certainly been a rough year for the A’s, who will finish the season with the worst run differential in the majors barring an unlikely late-season winning streak. Lawrence Butler’s walk-off home run Sunday was a bright spot this past week as he continued his second-half surge following a terrible first half in which he posted a .591 OPS. The pitching continues to struggle, but pitching in Sutter Health Park needs to be factored into the evaluation as the A’s have a 6.30 ERA at home and 4.49 on the road. — Schoenfield
Record: 58-94
Previous ranking: 30
A reason to be — yes — optimistic for 2026: The Angels are third in the majors in ERA since the All-Star break and second in rotation ERA behind only the Yankees, and that’s after trading Jose Soriano to the Blue Jays at the trade deadline. Reid Detmers has led the way, but 22-year-old rookie Walbert Urena has flown completely under the radar with a 2.88 ERA in 25 starts. The stuff is legit, with a 98 mph fastball and a terrific changeup. He’s improved his walk rate in the second half, and if he continues to improve there, he could be a frontline starter. — Schoenfield
Record: 56-96
Previous ranking: 29
The Rockies and their new front office have made strides this year, but the bar was also very low. After a recent 0-6 road trip that gave them just five wins in their past 25 games, they are now well on their way to a fourth consecutive 100-loss season. That can’t be summed up as anything other than a disappointment. “You can’t be so future-focused that you’re not trying to win every day,” Rockies general manager Josh Byrnes told MLB.com recently. “… In terms of progress, 100 losses is a sightline. It means something. But the White Sox lost 100 last year.” — Gonzalez
