MLB Projected Playoff Teams and Seeding - Through 9/15/20

With less than two weeks left of this COVID-shortened Major League Baseball season, I think we can safely start looking at which teams are going to make the playoffs.  In case you haven't heard, in addition to the shortened 60-game regular season, this year, the playoffs are going to be expanded to eight teams from each league.  The last day of the regular season is September 27, and the playoffs start September 29.  

Here's how they playoffs are going down:

1.  The top two teams from each division will make the playoffs, regardless of record.  The division winners will be seeded 1-3, and the second-place teams from each division will be seeded 4-6, all by record, of course.

2.  The remaining two best teams in each league will be seeded 7-8.

3.  The first round of the playoffs will be called the Wild Card Series, even though all teams will be participating.  It will be a best-of-three series, and all games will be played at the higher-seed's home stadium.

4.  The remaining series will be the same format as usual.  The LDS will be best-of-five, and the LCS and World Series will be best-of-seven.

5.  From the LDS on, games will be played in a bubble.  

• The AL will be playing in California, and the NL will be playing Texas, all in stadiums that are home to teams from the opposite league.  
• In the AL, the winners of the 1-8 and 4-5 Wild Card Series will play in Petco Park in San Diego, while the winners of the 2-7 and 3-6 Wild Card Series will play in Dodger Stadium in LA.  
• In the NL, the winners of the 1-8 and 4-5 Wild Card Series will play in Globe Life Park in Arlington, while the winners of the 2-7 and 3-6 Wild Card Series will play in Minute Maid Park in Houston.
• The ALCS will be played in Petco Park in San Diego.
• The NLCS will be played in Globe Life Park in Arlington.
• The World Series will be played in Globe Life Park in Arlington.
• There is no re-seeding in the playoffs.

6.  Unlike in normal years, if there are any ties (either for division winners, seeding, or the last two spots), there will not be any one-game playoffs.  Instead, any ties are going to be resolved mathematically.  Here are the tiebreakers:

• Head-to-head record (if applicable, as some teams will not have played each other)
• Intradivision record
• Record in the final 20 division games (plus one game until the tie is broken)

Needless to say, this is going to be a crazy MLB postseason, and it should be a lot of fun to watch, especially since there is the very real possibility that the Wild Card Series will feature multiple intradivision matchups.  

Through the games played on September 15, here would be the playoff seeds if the season ended today.  I'll try to update this every day (but will probably skip a weekend day or two), and of course, once teams clinch playoff berths, divisions, or certain seeds, I'll note that.  No team has yet to clinch a playoff spot, but the White Sox and Dodgers could both clinch a spot today.  I'll include magic numbers for each team for winning the division and for clinching a playoff spot.  For the magic numbers, I'm relying on the MLB Magic Numbers Twitter account, as my brain hurts trying to figure out magic numbers, especially when not every team will have played the same number of games, thanks to COVID-related cancellations.

American League

1.  Chicago White Sox, 32-16 (.667) (1st in AL Central)
--Magic Numbers (win division/clinch playoff spot):  9/2

2.  Tampa Bay Rays, 31-17 (.646) (1st in AL East)
--Magic Numbers (win division/clinch playoff spot):  8/4

3.  Oakland Athletics, 30-19 (.612) (1st in AL West)
--Magic Numbers (win division/clinch playoff spot):  6/5

4.  Minnesota Twins, 30-20 (.600) (2nd in AL Central)
--Magic Numbers (win division/clinch playoff spot):  15/5

5.  New York Yankees, 27-21 (.563) (2nd in AL East)
--Magic Numbers (win division/clinch playoff spot):  17/8

6.  Houston Astros, 24-24 (.500) (2nd in AL West)
--Magic Numbers (win division/clinch playoff spot):  18/10

7.  Toronto Blue Jays, 26-21 (.553) (3rd in AL East)
--Magic Numbers (win division/clinch playoff spot):  18/9

8.  Cleveland Indians, 26-22 (.542) (3rd in AL Central)
--Magic Numbers (win division/clinch playoff spot):  19/9

x - clinched playoff spot
y - clinched division title

Teams eliminated from playoff contention:  None

National League

1.  Los Angeles Dodgers, 34-15 (.694) (1st in NL West)
--Magic Numbers (win division/clinch playoff spot):  9/2

2.  Chicago Cubs, 29-20 (.592) (1st in NL Central) (21-15 intradivision record) 
--Magic Numbers (win division/clinch playoff spot):  10/7

3.  Atlanta Braves, 29-20 (.592) (1st in NL East) (19-14 intradivision record)
--Magic Numbers (win division/clinch playoff spot):  10/7

4.  San Diego Padres, 32-18 (.640) (2nd in NL West)
--Magic Numbers (win division/clinch playoff spot):  14/4

5.  Miami Marlins, 24-22 (.522) (2nd in NL East)
--Magic Numbers (win division/clinch playoff spot):  17/12

6.  St. Louis Cardinals, 21-22 (.488) (2nd in NL Central)
--Magic Numbers (win division/clinch playoff spot):  20/13

7.  Philadelphia Phillies, 24-23 (.511) (3rd in NL East)
--Magic Numbers (win division/clinch playoff spot):  17/12

8.  San Francisco Giants, 23-24 (.489) (3rd in NL West)
--Magic Numbers (win division/clinch playoff spot):  23/13

x - clinched playoff spot

y - clinched division title

Teams eliminated from playoff contention:  None