Pennant race standings and projected playoff matchups: September 23

Standings updated through all the games of Sunday, September 22. NOTE: For the remainder of the regular season, The Strike Zone will have a daily post updating

Standings updated through all the games of Sunday, September 22.

NOTE: For the remainder of the regular season, The Strike Zone will have a daily post updating the standings relevant to the postseason races. The positive numbers under Games Behind for the wild-card leaders indicate their lead over the third-place team in the race, or how far they are from being knocked out of a playoff spot. The Elimination Number (E#) column indicates the total number of the given team’s losses and leading team’s wins needed to eliminate that team from the race (essentially the reverse of a magic number). The magic number of the leading team is the elimination number of the second-place team. Postseason Odds are from ClayDavenport.com and will be updated in the mornings only.

d = clinched division title

p = clinched playoff berth

If the season ended today:

  • The Rays would host the Indians in the Wild Card Game on Wednesday, Oct. 2.
  • The Wild Card Game winner would face the Red Sox in the Division Series.
  • The A's would have homefield advantage against the Tigers in the other Division Series.

If the season ended today:

  • The Pirates would host the Reds in the Wild Card Game on Tuesday, Oct. 1 (homefield determined by the Pirates' superior intradivision winning percentage since the two teams are tied 8-8 in their head-to-head season series)
  • The Wild Card Game winner would face the Braves in the Division Series
  • The Cardinals would have homefield advantage against the Dodgers in the other Division Series.

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Cliff Corcoran
CLIFF CORCORAN

Cliff Corcoran is a contributing writer for SI.com. He has also edited or contributed chapters to 13 books about baseball, including seven Baseball Prospectus annuals.