It’s Labor Day, and because Labor Day was later than usual this year, and the MLB playoffs actually begin in September, we are closer to the start of the postseason than perhaps many realize. They begin three weeks from tomorrow. We’re not coming up on the stretch run. The stretch run is happening right now.
These rankings, as always, are compiled from MLB.com contributors whose names you can find at the bottom of this (and every) piece, but the words are mine. If you dislike the rankings, yell at all of us. But if you dislike the words, feel free to yell at me.
1. Brewers (previously: 1)
The Brewers have been in Prepare For Postseason mode for a while now, and manager Pat Murphy sees all sorts of blue skies ahead. "It makes no sense to me that someone would say, ‘Well, they're built for the regular season,'" Murphy said. “Think about what you're really saying. They're built to win games. What's the difference?” Sorta difficult to argue with that!
2. Braves (previously: 2)
It’s a gauntlet of road series this week for the Braves, with trips to Wrigley Field and then Houston to play the first-place Astros, and it’s worth noting they only have three more home games left, against Cincinnati on August 22-24. Though the way they’re going, it sure looks like their fans are going to get to see them at home in the Wild Card round … and if they catch a few breaks and can get past the Dodgers, maybe it won't be until the NLDS.
3. Dodgers (previously: 3)
Could the Dodgers become the first team in baseball to clinch their division this week? They’ve got the largest division lead at 10 1/2 games, and 13 very winnable games coming up against the Reds (seven), Marlins and Giants. They may well clinch the division in Cincinnati within the next 10 days.
4. Rays (previously: 4)
The Rays are hanging onto first place, as well as the best record in the AL, and they’d be wise to take full advantage of the three games they have at home against the A’s from Sept. 15-17. After that, they’ve got a tough schedule the rest of the way: three at home against Boston, four huge ones in the Bronx and closing with three in Philadelphia.
5. Cubs (previously: 6)
Pete Crow-Armstrong is having one of the best seasons in Cubs history and, frankly, one of the best seasons in Chicago sports history. And his fellow Chicago stars are noticing. This week, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, along with Bulls players Matas Buzelis and Caleb Wilson, sat behind the dugout and even got a “PCA!” chant going. “They pulled up,” Crow-Armstrong said. "It was awesome having them here. I felt the energy from the crowd when they got put on the board."
6. Yankees (previously: 5)
Injury problems have obviously been nothing new for the Yankees this season, so you can’t expect them to roll over now that they have another one. But it’s certainly not ideal that Trent Grisham is on the IL with the same right hamstring injury that he was on the IL for earlier this year. “It’s disappointing, for sure, but that’s part of the game,” Grisham said. “We know what we’re signing up for. So hopefully, it’s nothing too problematic.”
7. Phillies (previously: 7)
If the Phillies and Braves end up facing each other in the postseason, we could see some fireworks between Zack Wheeler and Ronald Acuña Jr. After Acuña hit a 450-foot homer and thoroughly enjoyed his jaunt around the bases (and the boos that came from the Phillies faithful), Wheeler made sure Acuña knew he noticed postgame. “It doesn't really bother me all that much,” Wheeler said. “He can do whatever he wants. He hit a home run, so it's up to him to do what he wants. Our guy [Kyle Schwarber] just rounds the bases -- who hits 50 here, but he can do whatever he wants.” Those two just have to face each other in October.
8. Red Sox (previously: 8)
Sonny Gray, after taking a start off to refresh and rest for the postseason, came back looking fully like an ace this weekend, throwing seven shutout innings over the Orioles. “The layoff helped him,” said interim manager Chad Tracy. “He looked good. Pitched deep. He was awesome. Second night in a row we got a starter out there through seven innings.” At a 2.69 mark, Gray -- in his age-36 season -- is putting up the lowest ERA of his career.
9. White Sox (previously: 9)
There are many visible signs of how much improvement the White Sox have made this year, and how much fun they’ve been to watch, but you can’t do much better that having three 30-homer hitters in the lineup. Munetaka Murakami, Miguel Vargas and Colson Montgomery all reached the milestone this very weekend, becoming the first three White Sox players to reach 30 in the same year since Jermaine Dye, Carlos Quentin and Jim Thome did it in 2008.
10. Padres (previously: 10)
The Padres have been hoping to get hometown hero Joe Musgrove back at some point this year, but if it happens, it won’t be as a starting pitcher. And it may not happen at all. “As good as I felt a couple of starts ago, I’m not necessarily in the same place,” a frustrated Musgrove said this weekend. “I don’t think I’m a wrap for the year. We’re just trying to look at some different options -- shorter appearances, different theories. I’m running out of answers.”
11. Diamondbacks (previously: 11)
As the Diamondbacks and Padres trade the final Wild Card spot back and forth, it’s worth a reminder that the two teams do in fact play each other in the final weekend of the season, in San Diego. That series looms over everything these final two weeks: The teams are even on the season 5-5, which means that series will also decide the tiebreaker.
12. Astros (previously: 13)
The Astros are looking more and more like a division winner, and they’ve done it by navigating a difficult stretch of schedule in which they’ve played nothing but winning teams in September so far. They’ve got more coming, with road series against the Phillies and Rays this week. But closing with the Mariners and A’s could be a nice gift to have at the end of the year.
13. Blue Jays (previously: 16)
Is it really happening for the Jays? They finally got back over .500, at least briefly, and don’t forget how the schedule is playing out for them: They still have exactly zero (0) games against teams with a winning record the rest of the way. It is all laying out perfectly for them.
14. Guardians (previously: 12)
The Guardians’ most reliable hitter this year has not been José Ramírez: It has been Chase DeLauter, which is why his wrist injury is so concerning. A team that has been racked with injury issues all year absolutely cannot afford to lose its top hitter … and at the worst possible time. If the Guardians can sneak their way into the postseason, they will have earned it.
15. Cardinals (previously: 17)
Tilted Hat Gate was the entire conversation at Coors Field this weekend, but it should be noted that the Cardinals, despite seemingly running out of pitching, keep winning series and have stayed alive in the Wild Card chase. They credit it to the togetherness they've showed this past week. “The one superpower we've had through this whole season is our ability to unify and really stand up for all the guys we have in this clubhouse and to have each other's backs,” pitcher Matthew Liberatore said.
16. Marlins (previously: 15)
If you’re a baseball fan of a certain age, you’ll always see Jeff Conine as the face of the Marlins, which is why it’s so cool that his son is on the team. With his 20th career homer on Saturday, Griffin Conine joined his dad by hitting that many with the Marlins, becoming the 10th father-son duo in MLB history to hit 20 homers for the same franchise. “It's really cool,” Griffin said. “It's tough to do just because second generation, then also with the same team. There's a lot of factors involved that have to link up. It's definitely really special to me and him.”
17. Rangers (previously: 18)
The walls are starting to close in on the Rangers, and they can feel it. “We are doing whatever we can to win,” manager Skip Schumaker said after another rough loss to the Rays on Saturday. “We're going to do whatever we can to try to get this right because time's running out here. We gotta start collecting some wins because we're digging ourselves a little bit of a hole right now. We gotta fight out of it.”
18. Orioles (previously: 14)
And just like that … those Orioles Wild Card dreams are fading again. Their six-game losing streak, which arrived just as the schedule got tougher, has the Orioles and their fans back in their cone of frustration once again. “We’ve done it to ourselves,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “We’re just falling on our faces right now.”
19. Pirates (previously: 21)
The Pirates haven’t quite had the year they’d hoped, but it should be said that they’ve already equaled last year’s win total, in a year in which Paul Skenes has been a little bit of a disappointment. (Though he was great Sunday.) They are six wins away from their best season since 2018. This offense has been the key: They’re fifth in baseball in runs this year after being last in MLB in 2025.
20. Mariners (previously: 19)
All right, now the bottom has really fallen out. After losing a series against the A’s that they desperately needed, it’s starting to sink in for the Mariners that despite all the fun of 2025, this just isn’t the year. After Saturday’s loss, they fell 11 games under .500 for the first time in a full season since 2019, when they lost 94 games. That era was supposed to have been long in their past. But yet here the Mariners are, back here again.
21. Twins (previously: 23)
It may be too late for a Wild Card push, but the Twins do look set up to get Joe Ryan back this week. “I think we’ll wait and see where he’s at,” manager Derek Shelton said. “But I think there’s a good chance that his next start would be in the big leagues.” It has been more than a month since Ryan pitched, but remember, he made his second All-Star team this year. He has one more year of team control before what will be a fascinating free agency after 2027.
22. Tigers (previously: 20)
Riley Greene just missed putting together the first three-homer game for a Tiger at home since Carlos Peña in 2003, but he still had two homers and four hits on Saturday. He has had some injury woes that have cost him and the Tigers, but it shouldn’t be lost that he’s only 25 years old and is already a three-time All-Star.
23. Nationals (previously: 22)
At this point, it’s generally understood that Cade Cavalli is this team’s ace, but it’s maybe not appreciated just how good he has been in the second half. After an excellent start against the Dodgers on Saturday, he’s 7-1 with a 1.95 ERA, and his 75 strikeouts post-break are the most in the NL.
24. Reds (previously: 26)
The Reds apparently need to have Elly De La Cruz bobblehead days every home game. Elly homered on his bobblehead day Saturday for the second consecutive year, his first homer since Aug. 22. Then he went out and hit one more the next day and saved a bird. He might not quite yet be the MVP candidate the Reds have been wanting him to be, but he’s easily going to put up the best OPS of his career this year. And he’s still only 24.
25. Mets (previously: 25)
Juan Soto won his third LatinoMVP Award this weekend, an award given out every year since 1989 from the Latino Sports publication. He’s now tied for second with Juan Gonzalez for the second-most in history, behind his World Baseball Classic manager Albert Pujols, who has nine. “Pujols has been inspiring,” Soto said upon accepting the award. “He shared a lot of stuff with me in that short period. I’m really excited to be in a list where he is at the top. We’ll see who is going to be there at the end.”
26. Royals (previously: 24)
Right on the heels of him winning the AL Player of the Month Award for August, Jac Caglianone had to leave early on Saturday with a Grade 1 flexor strain in his left elbow. With the Royals likely out of the playoff chase, they’ll surely take it easy with Calgianone, but it’s clear that the breakthrough season they’d been hoping for is happening: This is now a player they can feel confident building around moving forward.
27. Giants (previously: 27)
No one’s complaining about the Rafael Devers trade anymore. Even in a lost season, Devers is having an all-timer Giants season. After his two homers Saturday, he joined rarified franchise air: Over a six-game span including that game, Devers had six homers and seven walks. Since at least 1900, Barry Bonds (2004) and Willie Mays (1958) were the only Giants with six or more homers and seven or more walks in that same span in a season. Devers now has 35 homers on the year.
28. A’s (previously: 29)
Lawrence Butler looked like a future All-Star a couple of years ago but then regressed. But he’s starting to work his way back to the player the A’s thought he would be, as evidenced by his 14-game hit streak that ended on Sunday, with 16 RBIs in those games. He’s the young player on the A’s people forget about, but remember, he’s still only 26 himself.
29. Rockies (previously: 30)
The Rockies seem likely to lose 100-plus games again for the fourth consecutive season, but no one in Denver thinks they’re not improving. As pointed out by MLB.com’s Thomas Harding in his Rockies newsletter, the Rockies are markedly better in many categories than they were last year. And with the White Sox turnaround this year, they have a model for hope. “They lost 121 games two years ago, and now they’re knocking on the door of the playoffs,” outfielder Mickey Moniak said. “I’m sure last year, if you ask them, it wasn’t the season they wanted to have. Now they’re at the top of the AL Central.”
30. Angels (previously: 28)
So, are the Angels going to avoid their first 100-loss season? They need to go 9-10 in their final 19 games to avoid it, though, considering the excitement around the fanbase in the wake of their sale, if there were ever a season to lose 100, and have it be a last pivotal moment before brighter days ahead, this would be the easiest one to swallow.
Voters: Theo DeRosa, Daniel Feldman, Jason Foster, Rick Gold Jr., Jared Greenspan, Will Leitch, Brent Maguire, Travis Miller, Brian Murphy, Arturo Pardavila, Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru, Andrew Simon, David Venn, Andy Werle.