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The Major League Baseball season is down to its final days with plenty of uncertainty and playoff spots still to be clinched.

In the AL West, the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros have been exchanging first place in recent days and it’s the Rangers who hold a one-game leading entering play on Tuesday, Sept. 22. The Cleveland Guardians have overtaken the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central, but the Sox are still likely to earn a wild card spot.

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The Chicago Cubs, San DIego Padres and Philadelphia Phillies basically have the NL’s three wild card spots locked up, but only one game separating the three teams in the seeding.

The regular season ends on Sunday, Sept. 27, with the best-of-three wild card series beginning two days later.

Here’s the latest standings and updates on the MLB playoff race:

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MLB teams ranked by their World Series championships

The New York Yankees lead the pack by a wide margin with 27 World Series titles, the most championships in major American professional sports. They’re followed by the St. Louis Cardinals, who have won the Fall Classic 11 times, while the back-to-back champion Los Angeles Dodgers have catapulted into the No. 3 spot with their ninth championship − and third in the last five years − in 2025. Also tied for third-most World Series are the Boston Red Sox and the Athletics. The A’s former neighbors across the Bay, the San Francisco Giants, are fourth (eight championships). The Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates round out the top five with five titles apiece. Here’s a complete ranking of every MLB club by World Series titles:

(Bettmann, Bettmann Archive via Getty Images)

MLB playoff bracket 2026

#-division champion; *clinched at least a wild card spot

American League

  • Wild card series:

    • White Sox (6) at Rangers (3) – Winner vs. Guardians

National League

  • Wild card series:

    • Phillies (6) at Braves* (3) – Winner vs. Dodgers

    • Padres (5) at Cubs (4) – Winner vs. Brewers

AL wild card standings

Top three teams qualify

NL wild card standings

Top three teams qualify

AL East

  1. *New York Yankees (89-66) – 5 GB

AL Central

  1. Cleveland Guardians (81-75)

  2. Chicago White Sox (80-76) – 1 GB

AL West

  1. Houston Astros (77-79) – 1 GB

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Ranking 25 greatest home run hitters in MLB history

(Manny Rubio, Imagn Images)

NL East

NL Central

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NL West

*clinched at least a wild card spot

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MLB playoff picture: Wild card standings, AL and NL postseason bracket

Read the full article here

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