Major League Baseball's regular season wraps up this week, and there are still a handful of spot to fill in the 2023 MLB playoff bracket. The Phillies and Rangers could clinch berths in the 12-team postseason field on Tuesday night, and the Brewers' magic number to secure the NL Central title is down to one. Entering Tuesday night, six teams have clinched playoff spots: the Braves, Dodgers, Orioles, Rays, Twins and Brewers.
You can find the full MLB playoff picture, along with divisional and wild-card standings here. The Phillies and Rangers appear likely to join the playoff field soon, and that will leave three American League teams (the Blue Jays, Astros and Mariners) fighting for two playoff spots and four National League teams (the Diamondbacks, Cubs, Marlins and Reds) fighting for two playoff spots in the regular season's final days.
The 2023 MLB regular season wraps up Sunday (Oct. 1) and the postseason starts with the Wild Card Series in exactly one week (Oct. 3). This is the second year of MLB's 12-team playoff format. The top two division winners in both leagues get byes to the LDS round, while the other eight teams will square off in best-of-three Wild Card Series next week.
Trying to keep up with everything? We're here to help with a handy guide of what's at stake on Tuesday night.
Tuesday's key games
- Nationals at Orioles (Josiah Gray vs. Kyle Bradish, BAL -250) - 6:35 p.m. ET
- Pirates at Phillies (Mitch Keller vs. Aaron Nola, PHI -165) - 6:40 p.m. ET
- Yankees at Blue Jays (Michael King vs. Kevin Gausman, TOR -160) - 7:07 p.m. ET
- Marlins at Mets (Braxton Garrett vs. Joey Lucchesi, MIA -110) - 7:10 p.m. ET
- Cubs at Braves (Justin Steele vs. Bryce Elder, ATL -135) - 7: 20 p.m. ET
- Diamondbacks at White Sox (Zach Davies vs. Jose Urena, ARI -155) - 7:40 p.m. ET
- Cardinals at Brewers (Zack Thompson vs. Adrian Houser, MIL -178) - 7:40 p.m. ET
- Rangers at Angels (Cody Bradford vs. Reid Detmers, TEX -178) - 9:38 p.m. ET
- Astros at Mariners (Cristian Javier vs. George Kirby SEA -140) - 10:05 p.m. ET
Who can clinch on Tuesday?
- The Brewers clinch the NL Central with a win or a Cubs loss.
- The Phillies clinch a wild-card berth with a win or a Marlins loss. The Phillies clinch the NL's No. 4 seed with a win and a Cubs loss/a Brewers win or losses by the Diamondbacks, Cubs and Marlins.
- The Rangers clinch a playoff berth with a win and a Mariners loss.
Magic numbers
- Brewers' magic number to clinch NL Central: 1
- Phillies' magic number to clinch playoff berth: 1
- Rangers' magic number to clinch playoff berth: 2
- Orioles' magic number to clinch AL East/home-field advantage through ALCS: 3
- Braves' magic number to clinch home-field advantage through NLCS: 3
- Rangers' magic number to clinch AL West: 4
With the new playoff format, MLB has done away with Game 163 tiebreakers. All ties in the standings will be determined by tiebreaker rules, which begin with head-to-head record.
