MLB Playoffs 2015: Playoff Picture, Bracket, Standings Before Season Finales

On Sunday, it's time for 20 MLB teams to finally bid farewell to the 2015 season. For the other gifted 10, it's hello to the postseason. In both cases, it's time for fans to stress about their teams' futures.

Five of the six division titles are wrapped up, as well as three of the four wild-card spots. The playoff picture would've been much clearer after Saturday if it weren't for a thrilling comeback.

Leading the Los Angeles Angels 10-6 heading into the ninth inning, the Rangers had a 99 percent chance of winning the game and, by extension, the American League West, per ESPN.com. However, they let the Angels score five runs in the top of the final frame for an improbable 11-10 come-from-behind win, one that kept both their AL wild-card hopes alive and the Houston Astros' hopes of winning the AL West division. 

“It’s probably the craziest game I’ve been part of,’’ Angels center fielder Mike Trout said, via USA Today's Bob Nightengale, “with everything we’ve got on the line. We lose that game, we’re in trouble.’’

The AL playoff picture is clearly in a state of flux, nor is everything settled in the National League.

Below are tables showing the playoff picture and standings heading into Sunday's finales, followed by a look at what's at stake on the final day of the regular season. The bracket can be found at MLB.com.

American League
National League
Round	Away	Home
Wild Card	Houston Astros	New York Yankees
ALDS	Texas Rangers	Toronto Blue Jays
ALDS	Astros/Yankees	Kansas City Royals
Round	Away	Home
Wild Card	Chicago Cubs	Pittsburgh Pirates
NLDS	New York Mets	Los Angeles Dodgers
NLDS	Cubs/Pirates	St. Louis Cardinals

American League
National League
Division Leaders	W	L
Toronto (AL East)	93	68
Kansas City (AL Central)	94	67
Texas (AL West)	87	74
Wild Card
New York Yankees	87	74
Houston Astros	86	75
Los Angeles Angels	85	76
Division Leaders	W	L
New York Mets (NL East)	89	72
St. Louis Cardinals (NL Central)	100	60
Los Angeles Dodgers (NL West)	91	70
Wild Card
Pittsburgh Pirates	97	64
Chicago Cubs	96	65

Sunday's Playoff Implications

Let's get the simplest scenario out of the way first. Pittsburgh and Chicago have wrapped up the NL wild-card spots, but the Cubbies could still steal home-field advantage in that contest with a win and Pirates loss on Sunday. 

The Pirates lost to the Reds 3-1 on Saturday, leaving the door open for Chicago, which rode six strong innings from Kyle Hendricks to a 1-0 win over Milwaukee. Having a home boost is important, but that isn't stopping Pittsburgh from saving its best pitcher for the postseason.

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press/Associated Press

According to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com), the Pirates will send ace Gerrit Cole (19-8, 2.60 ERA) out to the mound against Chicago for the wild-card tilt. Cole last pitched on September 30, so he theoretically could've started on Sunday. However, the Pirates feel it's more important to have him available for the postseason eliminator.

The Toronto Blue Jays fell a game behind Kansas City for the best record in the AL on Saturday. Not only does it put their chances of home-field advantage throughout the postseason in jeopardy—the AL won the All-Star Game and therefore World Series home rights—but it leaves them in doubt as to which team they will face in the playoffs. The Canadian Press' Stephen Whyno (h/t CBC.ca) ran through Sunday's scenarios: 

"

If they win and the Royals lose and Toronto becomes the top seed in the AL, the Blue Jays will face the winner of Tuesday's wild-card game between the New York Yankees and either the Houston Astros, Texas Rangers or Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The possibility still exists of a one-game playoff between two of those teams to earn the right to face the Yankees.

Otherwise, Toronto will face the AL West winner, either the Astros or Rangers, beginning Thursday at Rogers Centre. Home-field advantage throughout is something the Blue Jays would like.

"

Houston's saving grace is that it will play baseball somewhere, sometime after Sunday. The Rangers will play in the postseason no matter what (they'll just probably have a headache). It's the Angels hanging by a thread, but hey, they wouldn't be in this position were it not for that instantly famous win.

If the Rangers win, the result wraps up the AL West, finishes off the Angels' season and guarantees Houston the second AL wild-card spot. That's about as simple as it gets, making it the nightmare scenario for neutral observers looking for chaos.

A Rangers loss and Houston loss means the Astros play a tiebreaker game on Monday against the Angels for the second AL wild card, while the Rangers hold on to win the division. A Rangers loss and Houston win means a tiebreaker game between those two for the AL West crown, with the loser of that game taking the wild-card spot.

Oh, and to make matters more ridiculous, the New York Yankees are implicated in the AL shenanigans despite having already clinched a wild-card spot.

"Speaking of that possible Wild Card Game: It's no longer certain that the Yankees will host it; their record is only one game better than Houston's," FoxSports.com's Jon Paul Morosi wrote. "If the Yankees lose while the Astros (and Rangers) win on Sunday, the Astros will host the Yankees on Tuesday because they own the head-to-head tiebreaker."

It's enough to make your head spin, which means Sunday should be quite the ride in just about any scenario, a couple of which guarantee extra baseball.

The best part of all this potential mayhem is that every game starts at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday. It's akin to the frenetic action that can be seen on the English Premier League's final day of the season, when every soccer team starts off at the same time with scant knowledge of the other results.

Baseball isn't ruled by a clock, however, so games that finish early will send a message to those still continuing on and could create a buzzy, exciting atmosphere. Even though 161 games are in the books, so much depends on game No. 162.