MLB playoff push: Sept. 17

2024 MLB postseason push

With four series left for each team in the 2024 Major League Baseball regular season, the push for the postseason is at its peak with no teams having clinched a spot yet.

The next two weeks will determine which teams will be riding high and low into the postseason and those who will make it.

Division battles

The New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles are still fighting for the American League East, with the Yankees leading by three games and a three-game series against Baltimore in the Bronx still to come beginning September 24.

The Yankees’ Aaron Judge overcame a 16-game home run drought with a grand slam on Friday, his 52nd homer of the season, while the Orioles have dropped their last three series.

The Yankees also play three in Seattle against the Mariners and then in Oakland against the Athletics before hosting Baltimore then will finish their regular season at home with three against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Baltimore will host the San Francisco Giants and Detroit Tigers in three-game sets before going to the Bronx, then they’ll play the Minnesota Twins on the road to end their regular season.

The Cleveland Guardians have a comfortable five-game lead over the Kansas City Royals in the AL Central with three games to go against the Twins.

Cleveland will then have three in St. Louis against the Cardinals followed by a five-game homestand with two against the Cincinnati Reds and three against the Houston Astros to finish their regular season.

For Cleveland, José Ramírez clinched his first career 35/35 season with a home run on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Astros are leading the AL West by four games with a three-game home series against the Mariners, the team behind them, beginning Monday.

Before the series against Seattle, Houston has two more games in San Diego against the Padres then four at home against the Los Angeles Angels, then after hosting Seattle, they’ll go to Cleveland to wrap their regular season up.

As Kyle Tucker acclimates to playing following his shin injury, Jason Heyward has provided a spark in the Houston outfield with two home runs last week.

As for the AL seeding picture, the Guardians are within half a game of the Yankees for the league’s best record.

The National League West is the only other division with some semblance of competition, with the Los Angeles Dodgers up 3.5 games on the Padres.

The Dodgers stretch run includes the NL’s two worst teams: Three on the road against the Miami Marlins, then three-game home and away series against the Colorado Rockies.

In between the series against Colorado is a critical three-game home series against San Diego beginning September 24.

For the Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani is three home runs and two stolen bases away from the first 50/50 season in MLB history.

The Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers have the NL East and NL Central, respectively, all but locked up with leads of eight and 10 games.

The Phillies and Brewers are in the middle of a three-game set in Milwaukee that’ll have major seeding implications in the NL, with Milwaukee three back of Philadelphia and the Dodgers just one game behind.

Taijuan Walker will start on Thursday for the Phillies against the Mets after a couple of weeks in the bullpen, while 11 of Milwaukee’s Jackson Chourio’s 13 hits in September have gone for extra bases.

Philadelphia concludes its regular season with four at the New York Mets, three at home against the Chicago Cubs then three in D.C. against the Washington Nationals.

After playing the Phillies, the Brewers will host the Arizona Diamondbacks for four games, play three at the Pirates then host the Mets for three to end their regular season.

Wild-card chases

Aside from the Orioles, Kansas City is the only team comfortably in playoff position in the American League at 2.5 games ahead of the Twins for the second wild-card spot.

The Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. is one stolen base away from his second straight 30/30 season.

Currently locked in a three-game home series against Detroit, Kansas City has three versus San Francisco and a six-game road trip with three against Washington and three against the Atlanta Braves still to go.

The Twins are in the last AL wild-card spot, but they’ve been tripping over themselves lately, having lost 10 of their previous 14 games.

The Tigers are only a game and a half back of the Twins, though Minnesota holds the season series tiebreaker.

The Twins’ pitching has struggled mightily lately, with the bullpen having the second-worst ERA in baseball since August 18 and no starter not named Pablo López or Bailey Ober has been able to give them length.

Minnesota is locked into a four-game road series against Cleveland, and after that, they’ll go to Boston to play three against the Red Sox, followed by three against the Marlins and Orioles each at home.

In the NL, the Padres are 2.5 games up on the Diamondbacks for the top wild-card spot as they seek at least to host a playoff series.

Jason Adam has only given up one run in 21 appearances out of the San Diego bullpen since coming from the Rays.

After San Diego finishes their series against Houston, they host three against the lowly Chicago White Sox, followed by a pair of critical three-game road series against the Dodgers and Diamondbacks.

Speaking of the Diamondbacks, they’re only one win off their win total from last year, 84, which is how many they made the World Series with.

The Diamondbacks are in Denver playing a three-game set against the Rockies, and they have four in Milwaukee, followed by a three-game home set against the Giants before they play the Padres.

The last wild-card position in the NL will likely come down to the Mets and Braves, who are within one game of each other and play a three-game series in Atlanta starting September 24, which may be the biggest in the majors for the rest of the season.

The Mets are currently hosting the Nationals for three games, and after they play Philadelphia and Atlanta, they’ll finish the season in Milwaukee.

The Braves have a six-game road trip with three in Cincinnati and three in Miami beginning Tuesday before their season-ending homestand against the Mets and Royals.

Both teams feature excellent starting pitching, with the Mets’ David Peterson posting a 2.22 ERA in 56.2 innings since August and Chris Sale of the Braves leading the NL Cy Young race.

Down, but not out

The Tigers are one of the few teams that can make the postseason but have less than a 20% chance, per ESPN.

Detroit has been the best team in baseball since August 11, going 23-10 to get within 1.5 games of the Twins, and their bullpen has the best ERA in the majors since then at 2.11.

After playing their three-game series in Kansas City, the Tigers will go to Baltimore for three followed by a six-game homestand with three games each against the Rays and White Sox.

The Mariners are two games back of the Twins as they try to make amends for blowing a 10-game lead in the AL West.

Seattle hosts the Yankees for three starting Tuesday followed by three in Arlington against the Texas Rangers, three in Houston then three at home against the Athletics.

The Red Sox are four games back of the Twins and they’ve lost 15 of 23.

Boston will be in St. Petersburg for three against the Rays starting Tuesday, followed by three at home against the Twins, three in Toronto against the Blue Jays, and then three home games against Tampa Bay.

The Cubs are the only other team that has somewhat of a chance to make the postseason.

The Cubs have seen youngsters Miguel Amaya and Pete Crow-Armstrong develop into solid hitters in the season’s second half, but it’ll likely be too late, as they’re five back of the Mets for the NL’s last wild-card spot.

The Cubs are now in a three-game home series against Oakland, then they’ll host the Nationals for four, followed by three in Philadelphia and three at home against the Reds.

No team in baseball is on pace to reach 100 wins for the first time since 2014, with only the Phillies and Dodgers, with 60 and 61 losses, respectively, having a chance to do so, so the door is wide open for another surprise World Series matchup like 2023’s.

All stats and records are as of before the games on September 17, 2024.

Owen Klein is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email ojk5092@psu.edu.