Reviewing MLB Playoff Picture 2025 and Most Pivotal Games to Decide Final Bracket
The stretch run of the 2025 MLB season is shaping up to be...well, exactly that.
For those who haven't secured their seat at the playoff table yet, it'll be a furious race to the finish line. There are a number of uncalled races still, and exactly none of them leaves any margin for error.
After reviewing the current playoff picture, we'll spotlight a couple of the most pivotal games left on the schedule.
Playoff Picture Review
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While the regular season comes to a close on Sunday, very little has actually been decided. Six teams have officially punched their playoff tickets—the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Phillies, San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays—but their seeds are still up in the air.
That means there are six postseason spots still up for grabs. And yes, five of the six are found in the American League.
It's not quite as wide open as it sounds, as there are essentially six clubs fighting for the five spots: the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Guardians and Houston Astros. The Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals haven't been mathematically ruled out just yet, but that's a formality—they aren't getting out of five- and six-game holes, respectively, in the next six days.
In the National League, the picture looks a lot clearer. Two division crowns have been claimed (by the Brewers and Phillies) and only the final wild card spot needs filling. That said, there is all of one game separating the Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks, although the Reds technically sit atop the race for now by virtue of holding tiebreakers over the two others.
Tigers at Guardians
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It's no minor miracle that this series, which starts Tuesday night, holds any relevance. Coming into this month, there was a 10.5-game gulf in between these teams.
Fast-forward to today, though, and Detroit's lead is down to a single game. That's because few teams are hotter than the Guardians (16-5 in September) or colder than the Tigers (5-13). Adding to the intrigue, Cleveland leads the season series 6-4, meaning it only needs one of these next three head-to-head games to take the tiebreaker.
"I think this last month, a lot of people could say we were out of it," Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan told reporters. "I think [players] could have started looking at their numbers and just tried to look to the offseason. But we've been playing some really unselfish baseball, grinding together, sticking together. It's been really fun, and we've got a really exciting week coming up."
The winner of this series will take a sizable step toward claiming the AL Central crown. The loser will be left tussling with the Red Sox and Astros for the final two wild card spots.
Red Sox at Blue Jays
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This three-game series, which gets rolling Tuesday night, could have a big hand in determining a division champ and settling the wild card chase.
Toronto, which has dropped four of its last five, heads into it with just a two-game edge on New York for the AL East crown—and the first-round bye likely to come along with it. The Blue Jays also have the inside track toward the AL's top seed, but the Yankees and Mariners are close enough to still capture it with a strong week.
Boston, which has split its last eight outings, isn't really in the AL East hunt (five games back of Toronto), but it still needs to use this series to better its chances of getting a wild card spot. The Red Sox are just a single game up on the Guardians and Astros, although they do own the tiebreaker over both.
In other words, this is a series that two really good teams both desperately need. This should have a playoff feeling and all of the excitement you'd expect from that setting.
