Latest 2026 MLB Playoff Bracket Predictions With 2 Weeks to Go

Can you refer to the playoffs this season as "October" when the first two days of the postseason slate will be on Sept. 29 and 30?

Whatever you refer to the postseason as, it should be a fun one.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are looking to become the first team in a generation to win three consecutive World Series titles. However, they seem mortal as the postseason approaches, and the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies will be among the teams vying to upset them.

Meanwhile, this is the worst American League field in more than a generation. Because of that, there's an assumption that the New York Yankees are going to get hot and return to the World Series for the second time in three years. But the Tampa Bay Rays have the best record in the AL.

As we close in on the MLB postseason, let's take a look at the latest MLB playoff bracket predictions.

Projected Wild-Card Teams: New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox

The Rays were kind of the forgotten team in this division entering the season, but Kevin Cash's squad—barring a dramatic collapse—is going to not only win the AL East, but also claim the top seed in the junior circuit.

Aaron Boone's Yankees still have an outside shot at catching the Rays, but they're most likely going to have to settle for the top wild-card spot in the AL. It's unfortunate in the sense that they have the second-best record in the AL but won't get a bye because they won't win their division. If Aaron Judge and Max Fried are healthy and productive when the postseason rolls around, they still could be the favorites to win the pennant.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox have had a miraculous in-season turnaround. At the end of June, they were 37-47. Interim manager Chad Tracy has guided them to the third-best record in the AL. They'll be in the postseason as a wild-card representative as well.

The defending AL Champion Blue Jays are worth a mention here. While we're not going to predict they get into the playoffs, they are still pushing the Cleveland Guardians for the final AL playoff spot. If Vladimir Guerrero Jr. catches fire and the Blue Jays sneak into the postseason, all we're saying is that stranger things have happened.

Projected Wild-Card Teams: Cleveland Guardians

Two seasons after losing a staggering 121 games, the White Sox are not only on pace to win the AL Central, but also to earn a first-round bye as the division leader with the second-best record.

Even if the White Sox win their division but don't get the first-round bye—or even if they have to settle for a wild-card spot—it's been a miraculous step in the right direction for this franchise. With a budding young core that includes Miguel Vargas, Munetaka Murakami, Tristan Peters, Chase Meidroth and Colson Montgomery, this should be the start of a string of successful seasons on the south side.

With that said, the Guardians are still nipping at their heels. Cleveland has a negative run differential, although they also did last season and still stole the division from the Detroit Tigers down the stretch. This year, a wild-card spot is the most likely outcome for the Guards, but the division is still very much in play.

If the Guardians can get Foster Griffin back on track, they could be a tough out in October with a rotation that also includes Parker Messick and Gavin Williams.

This division arguably doesn't even deserve one postseason representative. But between being guaranteed a division winner and the third wild-card spot, it's still possible that the AL West winds up with two playoff teams.

The Astros are the current favorites to win. When you're probably only talking about having to get to 82 or 83 wins, just having likely AL MVP Yordan Alvarez anchoring the lineup might be enough to get Houston into the postseason. However, general manager Dana Brown has already been dismissed. Even with an AL West title, manager Joe Espada might not be back in 2027.

First things first, the Astros have to get into the postseason. With the Seattle Mariners fading, the in-state rival Texas Rangers seem to be the biggest threat to the Astros. While a rotation with Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and MacKenzie Gore could be scary in a short series, the Rangers are currently on pace to finish below .500.

The AL West best encapsulates how much of a disaster the AL is as a whole this season.

MLB playoff picture after two more teams clinch

Projected Wild-Card Teams: Philadelphia Phillies

The Braves have all but wrapped up the NL East, which will snap a two-year streak of the Phillies winning the division. Both teams will be in the playoffs, though, and there's a scenario where the Braves could host the Phillies in the NLWCS.

Ronald Acuña Jr. is red hot, which should scare the rest of the league, considering the Braves have had most of their success this season without the former NL MVP being at his best. If Acuña is going well, a Braves lineup that also includes Matt Olson, Drake Baldwin, Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II can hit with just about anyone.

It's fair to wonder whether the Braves have enough starting pitching to make a World Series run, but Chris Sale will make them the favorites in just about any Game 1. Plus, Tyler Mahle has been tremendous since being acquired from the San Francisco Giants.

As for the Phillies, it's not hard to envision the best-case scenario where Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber are red-hot in the postseason, while the starting pitching trio of Jesús Luzardo, Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sánchez pitch them deep into the postseason. However, this past weekend in Atlanta was troubling, particularly because Luzardo was scratched from Saturday's outing with shoulder stiffness.

Both of these teams have had similar cores for an extended period. It will be interesting to see where they go from here if one or both exit the postseason early.

The culture that the Brewers have built is about to win them their fifth division title in six seasons. However, at a certain point, it's not good enough to just be in the postseason. The Brewers have only been to the World Series once. That came when they were in the AL in 1982.

Likely NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob Misiorowski offers the clearest reason why this October could be different for the Brew Crew, who are likely to be the No. 1 seed in the senior circuit. Rookie Logan Henderson has also been excellent, though the Brewers probably don't have as many rotation options as some other NL contenders.

Pat Murphy's lineup is deeper than most fans might realize. Second baseman Brice Turang is one of the most complete players in baseball. First baseman Jake Bauers is in the midst of a career year, as he leads the NL in on-base percentage. Catcher William Contreras has an OPS above .800 since the All-Star Break. This is a lineup good enough to win a World Series.

The Cubs are still trying to lock down the top wild-card spot in the NL, but they have as good of a lineup trio as there is with presumptive NL MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong, Alex Bregman and Seiya Suzuki.

For the Cubs, the biggest question is whether their pitching staff can get hot and stay healthy. Clay Holmes, Matthew Boyd, Kevin Gausman and Shota Imanaga could be a strong group, but there are definitely health concerns (plus Gausman hasn't been great since being traded to the Cubs).

Projected Wild-Card Teams: San Diego Padres

After not having a first-round bye in 2025, the Dodgers are likely to be the No. 2 seed in the NL postseason in 2026, allowing them to surpass the wild-card round. That puts them a step closer to being the first team to win three World Series titles in a row since the Yankees did so from 1998-2000.

A year ago, the Dodgers rotation got healthy and hot at the right time. They'll need that to happen again. It appears Shohei Ohtani is done pitching this season. However, with Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow, the Dodgers should still have as good of a pitching staff as any in the postseason.

Ohtani is still hitting, and as always, a lineup including him and Freddie Freeman is going to be intimidating. What's particularly scary for the rest of the league is that Teoscar Hernández, Mookie Betts and Kyle Tucker have all heated up in September.

The Padres are currently in control of the final wild-card spot in the NL. Fernando Tatis Jr. has a .996 OPS since the All-Star Break, while Jackson Merrill is at .933. If Manny Machado heats up, this could be a tough team to face in a short series because they have arguably the best bullpen in baseball with a unit that includes Mason Miller, Adrián Morejón, Bradgley Rodriguez, Yuki Matsui and Wandy Peralta.

We can debate whether either of these teams actually belongs in the playoffs, but the Guardians have better starting pitching. It's also hard to feel great about the ability of the Astros to get the ball from their starters to closer Josh Hader with a lead intact.

For the second year in a row, the Yankees and Red Sox will meet in the ALWCS at Yankee Stadium. Last year, Cam Schlittler's coming out party was a dominant performance in Game 3. This year, the AL Cy Young contender will take the ball against his favorite childhood team in Game 1, giving the Yankees a 1-0 series lead. It may take all three games again, but we lean Yankees.

How will a team with very little collective playoff experience respond to having a first-round bye? That's fair to wonder. For the Guardians to be here, they're going to have to have gathered a little bit of momentum. That will work in their favor, as José Ramírez, Steven Kwan and the Guardians will upset the division-rival White Sox in four games.

There's an expectation that the Yankees are going to be able to flip a switch in the postseason and run through a weak AL. Perhaps they will. But Aaron Judge only just returned from a stress fracture in his right ribcage that cost him the entire summer. Max Fried has a 5.31 career postseason ERA. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is on the IL with a right thumb sprain. Itr's not a guarantee everything comes together for the Yankees in October.

Meanwhile, the Rays have been the best team in the AL wire to wire, and perhaps haven't received the respect they deserve. Well, if Junior Caminero, Yandy Díaz and Jonathan Aranda lead the Rays to the series victory over the Yankees, no one is going to be overlooking them anymore.

Frankly, there's not one team in the AL that necessarily feels like a World Series team.

Even though the Guardians have a pitching staff that could make them dangerous in the postseason, the way they've played, they would be out of the playoff picture if they were in the NL.

The Rays don't know if they'll get Shane McClanahan back from forearm tightness. Freddy Peralta has a 4.35 ERA in seven starts since being acquired. This rotation could be tremendous at its best because Drew Rasmussen (14-5, 2.81 ERA) and Nick Martinez (14-4, 2.92 ERA) are both having excellent seasons. But it's not certain.

Still, the Rays have been the best team in the AL this season. Truthfully, the three playoff teams from the AL East are probably the best ones in the AL. Whichever of the Rays, Yankees and Red Sox goes the farthest will probably represent the AL in the World Series. The Rays are our bet.

The Braves need to get out to leads early, because with Mason Miller and the Padres bullpen looming, San Diego isn't going to blow many leads after the sixth inning. With Chris Sale looming in Game 1 and Ronald Acuña Jr. getting hot at the right time, the Braves should have enough to win this series in three games.

Part of you wonders whether Kyle Schwarber will go crazy playing a postseason series at Wrigley, and whether the Phillies will surpass the team he helped break a 108-year World Series drought a decade ago. At home, though, we'll give the Cubs the edge in three.

The best bet for the Braves will be to jump out to an early series lead, hoping that the Dodgers are groggy after the first-round bye. For as much as it might seem like the Dodgers are untouchable, they were upset by the San Diego Padres in 2022 and the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2023 under similar circumstances.

Ultimately, though, the Braves probably don't have quite enough pitching to compete with the staff the Dodgers are going to throw at them. We'll go Dodgers in four.

For as great a season as Jacob Misiorowski has had, it's fair to have some skepticism about the ability of the Brewers to translate tremendous regular-season play into a World Series run. We're not saying they can't, but the onus is on them to prove it this October.

It could get late early if the Cubs open this series by upsetting Misiorowski and company in Milwaukee in Game 1. We're going to predict that's what happens, with the Cubs ultimately knocking the Cubs out in four games.

If you're just going by talent on the roster, the Dodgers should not only win the NL pennant, but also win their third consecutive World Series. This might be the easiest path to a World Series they've had. But it is really, really hard to win two years in a row, let alone three. Call it intuition, but we think someone is going to complete the job that the Blue Jays came so close to last October.

It will take a special series from the stars, but Pete Crow-Armstrong just seems unable to miss right now. We'll predict that the Cubs upset the Dodgers in seven games, with PCA winning NLCS MVP.

This will be the third time in Rays history that they've reached the World Series. It will be the third time in as many tries that they fall short of winning the franchise's first World Series.

Remember when the Red Sox finally got through the Yankees in seven games in 2004? There were some people who thought they might have used all their energy to slay the Yankees. Instead, once they got through the boogeyman, they swept the St. Louis Cardinals.

Well, it might take the Cubs seven games to upset the Dodgers, but if they're able to prevent a three-peat, it might feel like light work to finish off the representative of a generationally weak AL.

Our prediction is that Seiya Suzuki will win the World Series MVP in a sweep, which would be quite the way to head into free agency.