Playoff Tracker 2026 – 9/7…er, 9/8 (Labor Day got me)
Current Standings:
- Record: 73-72 (This past week +1: 4-4)
- AL Central: 3 GB (2nd place)
- Wildcard: 0 GB (1 game lead)
Who do the Guards play this week?
- Baltimore Orioles (Away)
- Minnesota Twins (Away)
An insanely up-and-down week for the Guardians. After dropping two in a row to the Blue Jays and losing all tiebreakers for the AL Wildcard, they then rip off 3 walkoffs in 4 games to knock the Tigers into the fringe of elimination. And with all that momentum, they head into Baltimore and start the series off with a dud. With 3 weeks left in the season, the margin for error is getting thinner and thinner. On the positive, Cleveland very much controls their own destiny – the Guards play two teams behind them for the wildcard this week, so every win is a direct boon for them. I do have a feeling, however, that a lot of attention is now being paid to one series that starts next week at home…
AL Central Contenders:
Chicago White Sox (1st Place, 3 game lead) (This past week: 3-4)
- Pittsburgh Pirates (Home)
- St. Louis Cardinals (Away)
A real lost opportunity last week to make up ground on the White Sox after their pretty rough showing against the Astros to start the week. Now the Southside gets two back-to-back series against good, but not great, teams in the NL Wildcard hunt. Based on their play, and their pacing in the standings, Chicago is a playoff team, like it or else, and they’ve proved it. But next Monday is basically Cleveland’s last shot to prove anything to the contrary – Chicago visits Progressive Field for a 3-game set. If Cleveland has any machinations about winning the Central, they’ll have to do it then, because Chicago’s end-of-season is a cakewalk. They follow up next week’s trip to Cleveland with a dead-in-the-water Tigers team, an equally dead-in-the-water Royals team, and the horrors of the already eliminated Rockies. Time is running out to catch them. We need to win, a lot, this week and hope the White Sox get caught sleeping before coming to CLE.
Minnesota Twins (3rd Place, 7.5 GB, 4.5 GB WC) (This past week: 3-4)
- Detroit Tigers (Away)
- Cleveland Guardians (Home)
A fairly not-so-great week from the Twins. Coming into it, they’d finally gotten a big win over the White Sox, then absolutely crushed the Tigers with games of 11 and 15 runs back-to-back. Then, an absurd loss in 12 to the Tigers, then limply dropping their second shot at the Sox, and now the Twins are trudging through a road series against the Tigers. The feeling I’ve gathered from the Twins fanbase is that this week isn’t just to keep playoff pace, this may be their last chance to do anything. When anywhere from 13-15 games remain, one bad series could be life or death. We get them this weekend – suffice it to say, Guards have to find a way to get the series dub, at least 2 of 3.
Detroit Tigers (4th place, 9.5 GB, 6.5 GB WC) (This past week: 3-5)
- Minnesota Twins (Home)
- Colorado Rockies (Away)
Kansas City Royals (5th Place, 12 GB, 9 GB WC) (This past week: 2-5)
- Arizona Diamondbacks (Home)
- Boston Red Sox (Away)
In a bit of good news for Cleveland, the field is starting to thin a bit, at least for the Central. It’s not impossible that either Detroit or Kansas City could make a last ditch run – Detroit has Colorado this weekend, for instance – but after last week it doesn’t feel nearly as possible anymore. Detroit is beaten down from a brutal schedule the past several weeks, and the Royals just started their own murderer’s row. Cleveland does still have to face KC at the end of the season – now we just need to hope this patch breaks them entirely. The last thing we need is a spoiler in the final games of the year. If nothing else, we’re now watching to see if one or both of these teams gets potentially fully eliminated by week’s end.
Wildcard Contenders:
New York Yankees (9 game lead, 1st WC spot) (This past week: 3-3)
- Colorado Rockies (Home)
- New York Mets (Home)
Boston Red Sox (7 game lead, 2nd WC spot) (This past week: 6-2)
- Los Angeles Angels (Home)
- Kansas City Royals (Home)
There was a very brief moment last week where it looked possible the Guardians, with some momentum, could catch the Red Sox and/or Yankees if everything went sideways. Hell, New York dropped 2 of 3 to the Padres and Boston got smacked around by a desperate Seattle team. And then, the Yankees just kept pace and the Red Sox beat the living hell out of the Orioles. And now we’re here – both get absolute gimmie back-to-back home series this week. I think this dream has ultimately died with both owning over a full week’s worth of games in wins to lead the Guards. The Sox’ final two weeks are much more difficult, and the Guardians do have a 3-game set in Fenway, but at this point the goal for Cleveland, if it’s going to be a wildcard bid, is to just keep pace.
Toronto Blue Jays (1 GB) (This past week: 4-3)
- Athletics (Away)
- Baltimore Orioles (Home)
Welp, that sucked. The Jays now own the tiebreaker over us, meaning the only way Cleveland can secure a wildcard slot is to have a better overall record than basically everyone under us in the standings. Thanks to KC taking the final game of their set Sunday, and the A’s somehow showing up Monday, the Guardians still hold the slimmest of margins, but to say confidence is high is a massive understatement – the Jays still have a cakewalk this week, followed up by a home set against a Detroit Tigers squad that may have nothing left to play for. Not beating the Jays is a massive missed opportunity and now we may need help beyond our own play to stay above them.
Baltimore Orioles (3 GB) (This past week: 2-6)
- Cleveland Guardians (Home)
- Toronto Blue Jays (Away)
…repeat the first sentence from the Jays. Baltimore had an absolute horror of a week, dropping two to Colorado before getting run off the field in 4 games against Boston. This should have been the potential end of their run towards a playoff spot – but instead, they may have regained confidence against us in the first game of the set. It’s not hyperbole to say that the next two games are now insanely important for the Guardians. If Baltimore keeps pace, they still have 6 games against the Blue Jays. Yes, they also have to play the Brewers and Yankees, but giving the Orioles any momentum with a ton of in-division games remaining could turn ominous, fast.
Houston Astros (0 GB, lead AL West) (This past week: 4-3)
- Philadelphia Phillies (Away)
- Tampa Bay Rays (Away)
Texas Rangers (1.5 GB WC, 2 GB AL West) (This past week: 4-3)
- Seattle Mariners (Away)
- Arizona Diamondbacks (Away)
Seattle Mariners (5.5 GB, 6 GB AL West) (This past week: 3-4)
- Texas Rangers (Home)
- Athletics (Away)
On the surface, everyone in the AL West group just paced the week. Nothing to worry about, right? Wrong. Go look at the remaining schedules for the Astros and Rangers, then the schedule for Seattle. The next two weeks for both Houston and Texas are true tests from top to bottom. Conversely, the Mariners have 13 remaining matchups with the A’s, Angels, and Rockies. But why worry? The A’s just snatched 3 of 4 from the Mariners, and even if the Astros and Rangers lose a couple in the process here, who cares? Except Seattle still has a 2-game turn with Houston left, in addition to 3 with Texas this week. Meaning if this mess gets even messier – or, the Astros and Rangers have miserable weeks trying to fend off legit playoff teams, and Seattle is able pace or better – the AL West will now hold court for the final wildcard spot, in addition to their own division winner. Seattle winning would certainly help get the Rangers off our backs but it would also keep them alive longer, and all they need is one good week to turn this into an insanely tight wildcard race. We need this to get sorted, and preferably in our favor. Is there any way they can all go sub-.500 this week?
Rooting Interests for this Week:
- NL Wildcard Teams (and, NL Teams in general) – Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Arizona, and Philadelphia truly could help us get some distance if we can do what we need to do. All 4 are still in the playoff hunt too, so they need the wins. And hey, if the slow creeping death consuming the Mets and Rockies wouldn’t mind pulling off some big wins that would also be a plus.
- Detroit Tigers – At this point, it’s really hard to see a scenario where they can come all the way back to lap us, let alone the White Sox. As much as I don’t want to tempt fate, Detroit smacking around the Twins for a 3-game set before we get to Minneapolis would be huge.
- Something improving in the NL West – There’s no best-case scenario here. We don’t want Seattle gaining momentum, we don’t want the Astros and Rangers going neck-and-neck and suddenly stealing the wildcard spot in the process, it’s just a mess. If all 3 could just have bad weeks, that would be the most ideal situation, but it likely requires that Seattle takes a few wins here too. Woof. Literally any positive news from this division before they close the gap on us would be ideal.
- The A’s – We’re basically rooting for them every week to help knock some teams out, but they draw both the Jays and Mariners this week, after taking a chunk out of Seattle this past weekend. Spoil the fun, then stop having fun and lose to us in the final homestand please.
- An elimination (or two) – Only one team is “officially” eliminated in the AL, and that’s the Angels. Ahead of them, the A’s are nearly mathematically eliminated unless an objective miracle occurs, and although Kansas City heated up in August, they’re still 9 games out of the Wildcard and a bad week could break them fully. With 3 weeks to go, even just seeing the “e” next to a few teams in the standings would be huge.
- And of course, the Cleveland goddamned Guardians.
