Tampa Bay ends a five-year wait
Tampa Bay has won the American League East, holding off the New York Yankees to take the division for the first time since 2021. The Yankees, at 91-67, are left to sort out seeding in the wild card, where they are lined up to meet their division rivals, the Boston Red Sox, who sit at 85-73 and four games clear of the next chaser.
The rest of the American League is still moving. Cleveland has pulled ahead of the Chicago White Sox in the Central, at least for now. In the West, the Rangers and Astros are jockeying for the title, and the loser of that race takes the third wild-card spot. Seattle, at 74-84, has run out of steam.
Milwaukee holds the National League
Milwaukee has the National League's best record, which brings a bye past the wild-card round and home-field advantage in the division series. The Dodgers and Braves have also clinched, with Atlanta's lead over Philadelphia in the East compressed from nine and a half games in mid-August to four, with seven head-to-head games still to play in September.
The Cubs, Phillies and Padres are in strong position for wild-card places as Arizona fades. Chicago owns tiebreakers against both Philadelphia and San Diego from its regular-season record, which could decide a spot if the standings stay this tight.
What to watch
With the season ending this weekend, the seeding questions matter more than the qualifiers. The top two division winners in each league get byes, so finishing third in a strong division costs a team a best-of-three series it would rather avoid. The remaining wild-card races in both leagues are close enough that a single sweep can flip a bracket. In basketball, the WNBA closed its regular season on 24 September with the playoffs due to begin on 27 September; Minnesota, at +105 with bookmakers, is the favourite.