2024 MLB playoff picture: Baseball standings, magic numbers, tiebreakers, postseason predictions

With less than 20 days left until the 2024 Major League Baseball regular season, the MLB playoff situation is taking shape. There are many exciting postseason races currently on the line, including some that are likely to come down to the last minute. The Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, Milwaukee Brewers and Cleveland Guardians are among the teams trying to punch their ticket to the playoffs first.

As a reminder, MLB now awards 12 playoff spots — six total to the division winners and then three wild-card spots in each league. The top two division winners in each league, based on overall record, receive a first-round bye, meaning they don't have to play in the best-of-three wild-card series that acts as the first round.

The Yankees and Orioles are locked in a tight battle for the AL East division title and possibly first place in the American League. The Cleveland Guardians have already started to pull ahead in the AL Central, but the Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins still hold a wild card position. In the AL West, the Astros are on the verge of another division title (their seventh in eight years).

In the National League, the Phillies and Dodgers are locked in a tight battle for first place. The Brewers, meanwhile, have the most comfortable division lead in baseball, having pulled away from the rest in the NL Central. The NL wild card could be the most exciting race in these final two and a half weeks. The San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks have held the No. 4 and No. 5 spots for some time, but both the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves are battling for sixth place — and those NL East teams aren't far behind their NL West counterparts.

Now we want to bring you up to speed on all of these races as we enter the final weeks of the regular season. All divisional and postseason predictions mentioned in the standings come from SportsLine.

Picture of the 2024 MLB playoffs

If the season ended today…
American League
Byes: No. 1 Yankees, No. 2 Guardians
Wild Card Series: No. 3 Astros vs. No. 6 Twins, No. 4 Orioles vs. No. 5 Royals

Bundesliga
Byes: No. 1 Phillies, No. 2 Dodgers
Wild Card Series: No. 3 Brewers vs. No. 6 Mets, No. 4 Padres vs. No. 5 D-backs

The magic numbers of the MLB

(Entry on Wednesday, September 11th)

• Phillies secure a playoff spot: 8
• Yankees secure a playoff spot: 8
• Guardians who secure a playoff spot: 8
• Brewers win the NL Central: 9
• Orioles secure a playoff spot: 9
• Dodgers secure a playoff spot: 9

Notable tiebreakers

(Note: MLB tiebreakers between two teams are determined by head-to-head results. If the teams have the same head-to-head record, the result within the division is used.)

• The Orioles currently have the tiebreaker against the Yankees
• The Yankees won the tiebreaker against the Guardians
• The Guardians won the tiebreaker against the Orioles
• The Phillies won the tiebreaker against the Dodgers
• The D-backs currently have the tiebreaker against the Padres
• The Mets currently have the tiebreaker against the Braves

American League table

Table of the National League

MLB Wildcard Rankings

Odds for the 2024 World Series

• Dodgers: +340
• Phillies: +460
• Yankees: +550
• Orioles: +650
• Astros: +700
• Guardian: +1200
• Padres: +1400
• Brewer: +1400
• D-back: +2000
• Braves: +2200
• Royal: +2200
• Gemini: +2500
• Mets: +2500