Big Bear Nolan's Blog

With officially one week left of the MLB regular season. I want to take a deep dive at who is locked, who is still alive and what teams are on life support on the final week.

Locked in: Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox

These are the six that have officially locked their spot in the 2026 Postseason, in fact the three NL teams I listed are also their respective division’s champion. The three AL East teams are the only three locked in the AL, with the Rays and Yankees still TBD on who will be the AL East champion. Really the battle between these six is when and where they will begin their Postseason run.

Safe/Still alive: Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Guardians, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox.

The three NL teams I listed basically are right on the verge of locking in their playoff spots at least in the next 48 hours. The same also can be said for both Cleveland and Chicago (AL) as both right now hold a 4 and 3 game lead on the first team looking out in the ALWC race. Texas while they only hold a 1 game lead over Houston in the AL West just need to either match the same amount of wins Houston gets or have at least one more win this week to lock up the division. As easy on paper as that might sound with their opponents being 3 at home vs New York (NL) and 3 on the road at Minnesota, both are now eliminated.

On life support: Arizona Diamondbacks, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros.

Another year, another season where the 2023 runner ups in the Arizona Diamondbacks will probably fall just short of the NL Wildcard. Right now the snakes sit 4 back with 6 to play. Baltimore fell from contention into life support after having a very costly sweep at home in the hands of the best team in baseball (the Milwaukee Brewers). The O’s now sit 5 back in the AL Wildcard. Their next 6 are three against the Blue Jays and three at Yankee stadium. The aforementioned Blue Jays went from being 2 outs away from being last years World Champion to now sitting 3 back with a week left. While they’re in the best spot out of any of the teams I mentioned, with six left unless they get a sweep and have the White Sox really stub their toe in the final week it will be a disappointing early exit for the team in Toronto. The last team on life support is the Astros, they’re all but done in the wild card but still alive in the AL west. While they sit just a game back from Texas and do have the season series. They need to have a winning road trip at Seattle and at the Athletics while needing the Rangers to fall at least in one of their series vs the Mets and Twins. That’s not as bad as the other teams are in but relying on two eliminated teams to have to save your season is usually not a situation you want to be in. It has happened before but for the Astros they need to hope that the Mets and Twins take the last week seriously and don’t mail it in early. That’s why I have them on life support.