To say that the National League has been far superior to the American League this season wouldn't be revealing some big secret. It has been the case since the start of the season. We've lamented at times that as many as two AL teams -- and as late as August -- were holding playoff positions with a losing record. Right now, the top non-playoff team in the NL would have a shot at the fourth-best record and even the two seed in the AL.
Let's not focus on the AL, though. It's too depressing. Instead, let's concentrate on what this likely means in October for the NL. This thing looks absolutely stacked and there are all kinds of fun matchups possible.
We don't need to review how good the Dodgers can be, nor does anyone need a reminder of how big every single series against the two-time defending champions/resident MLB Big Bad Wolf will be. Whether it's one, two, three or four Dodgers' series, they'll all be huge.
The Cubs have had stretches of 20-3 and 41-17 over the course of the season. There's a lot of talent, and they're on pace to top 90 wins. Right now, they'd be the five seed.
After a disaster of a start, the Phillies fired their manager and have gone 72-44 since, which is a full-season pace of 100 wins. Right now, they'd be the four.
The Braves are on pace for 96 wins, and they'd have to play in the Wild Card Series as the three seed as things stand.
The Brewers remain the best team in baseball and in the Golden Era of Brewers baseball: they're on pace to set the franchise record in single-season wins for the second consecutive year.
You're talking about a league possibly with three 96+ win division winners and two wild cards with at least 91 victories. You cannot find such a dominant league in this current playoff format. We'd have to go back to the 2019 American League to find a league so powerful at the top.
It should be noted that even when the league looks like a powerhouse, it doesn't necessarily mean one of the top powers will emerge. Take the 2015 NL bracket. The Cardinals won 100 games and didn't win a playoff series. The Pirates won 98 games and lost the Wild Card Game. The Cubs won 97 games and lost in the NLCS after taking out the two aforementioned teams. The Dodgers won 92 games and didn't advance. It was the 90-win Mets who won that league.
That's a nice illustration that we can't discount whatever team ends up with the six seed.
The Padres and Diamondbacks have been formidable at times, too, and there's fun history here. Notably, what if the Dodgers end up in the three seed? The Padres took down the 111-win Dodgers in the NLDS in 2022 and had them on the ropes in 2024. The 84-win Diamondbacks took down the 100-win Dodgers in a three-game sweep in 2023.
Pick almost any scenario you want out of the National League playoff matchups. There are all kinds of opportunities for heightened drama.
What if the Cubs fall to a six seed? They could easily just get swept, but we've seen enough from them to believe they could take out the Braves or Dodgers. Then again, Cubs-Phillies in a three-game playoff sounds juicy. It is possible to end up with divisional rivalries in so many different spots, but something like Braves-Dodgers in the NLCS would be appointment television. Put together any NLCS from the group of Dodgers, Brewers, Braves, Phillies and Cubs and it sounds awesome.
Then again, isn't the simplest answer the best answer? A rematch of the Dodgers and Brewers?
Even if that's where we end up again, the journey to that series might well be just as much fun as the series itself. The NL is loaded.
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | I remain very bullish on the Brewers' chances at a run to the World Series. Perhaps some are concerned about Jacob Misiorowski merely being "good" instead of superhuman (3.34 ERA in his last five starts), but they just keep winning. | -- | 89-56 |
| 2 |  | Blake Snell since his return from the injured list: 3-0, 0.93 ERA, 38 K, 29 IP in five starts. | 2 | 87-57 |
| 3 |  | Since Aug. 12, the Rays have gone 11-12 and have let the Yankees hang around in the AL East. Now Shane McClanahan has a forearm injury. Gulp. | 1 | 85-58 |
| 4 |  | All they really needed to do in Philadelphia was spilt and they did so. Now this coming weekend, they need to take two of three and that essentially puts the East away, barring extreme circumstances elsewhere. | 1 | 85-59 |
| 5 |  | The Yankees have won 13 of 20 and now Aaron Judge is back. It might take him a second to get going with no rehab assignment, but the Yankees are well positioned to cruise into October. | -- | 81-62 |
| 6 |  | Jesús Luzardo threw his first career shutout on Monday and it was fastest game in the majors this season at a tidy one hour and 51 minutes. | -- | 81-63 |
| 7 |  | Remember, it was less than a month ago that Adley Rutschman returned from a wrist injury. He was 1 for 17 with nine strikeouts in his first five games. So far in four September games, he's hit three home runs. It's worth watching. | 1 | 80-65 |
| 8 |  | Since that 41-17 run I mentioned in the intro, the Cubs are 9-13 and the bullpen has completely fallen apart. There are only so many times PCA and Alex Bregman can put on the cape offensively. | 1 | 81-64 |
| 9 |  | The only players in MLB history to get to 20 in doubles, triples, home runs and stolen bases in the same season are Frank Schulte (1911), Willie Mays (1957), Jimmy Rollins (2007) and Curtis Granderson (2007). Corbin Carroll right now in 2026 has 30 doubles, 16 triples, 19 home runs and 21 steals. The triples will be a tall order there, right? But it's close enough to monitor. | 1 | 77-68 |
| 10 |  | Robbie Ray hasn't been very good since the deadline acquisition, but, man, they need more from Casey Mize (6.67 ERA in six starts). Still, the Padres have won three of four and remain right in the thick of the race. | 1 | 76-68 |
| 11 |  | He's still liable to go absolutely bonkers at the drop of a proverbial hat, but Yordan Alvarez in the past month hasn't been overly great. He's hitting .253 with three home runs and nine RBI in his last 27 games. | 2 | 73-71 |
| 12 |  | The AL Central lead over Cleveland is three games with three weeks left and there are three head-to-heads left (in Cleveland). These upstart Sox are gonna have to earn it. They've been far too feisty this season to start doubting now. | 3 | 75-68 |
| 13 |  | You know the old and easy phrase, "just keep winning series." The Jays have won three straight series. They keep it up, they'll be back in October. | 1 | 72-73 |
| 14 |  | They're trying to get that late-season magic going again. The Guardians' last three wins have been walk-offs. | 2 | 73-72 |
| 15 |  | I still can't get over an umpire making a player straighten his hat. I stand with the Cardinals here, notably them all wearing their hats crooked the following day. Excellent show of solidarity in the face of clowndom. | 2 | 72-73 |
| 16 |  | Keep in mind that he's only 23 and has already gone through major surgery at the big-league level, but Eury Pérez can't find consistency. He's back in another funk, with 21 hits and 15 earned runs allowed in his last three starts (11 ⅔ innings). | 1 | 72-73 |
| 17 |  | Esmerlyn Valdéz hit 14 home runs in his first 37 games. In his last 32? Just one homer with a .165 average. This would be the point in a career where the player has to adjust to the adjustments the league made to him. | 2 | 71-73 |
| 18 |  | Give it up for Cal Quantrill. Among so many other question marks for the Rangers, he's joined the rotation and pitched to a 1.16 ERA in his last five outings. | -- | 71-73 |
| 19 |  | Coby Mayo has shown promising growth all season, rather progressively. The latest extended stretch of success is in his last 19 games: he's hit .297 with a .366 OBP, three doubles, six homers and 13 RBI. | 3 | 70-75 |
| 20 |  | The Reds were a playoff team last year, added Chase Burns to the rotation on a full-time basis this year and might have the NL Rookie of the Year. It's pretty depressing even from the outside how much other stuff has gone poorly. I bring this up now because they are actually playing good baseball at the moment, which makes everything all the more depressing. | 4 | 69-75 |
| 21 |  | Joe Ryan returned from the injured list Monday and looked like himself -- mostly good, with a home run mixed in and a lot of strikeouts per inning. Remember, he's very likely ticketed for free agency this offseason (there's a mutual option and those almost never come to fruition). | -- | 68-76 |
| 22 |  | We discussed rather heavily that, after last week's Red Sox series, the Mariners had the easiest schedule in baseball by a significant margin. They celebrated by losing three straight games to the A's to start the easy stretch. If that doesn't just sum up the 2026 Mariners, I'm not sure what does. | -- | 67-77 |
| 23 |  | On principle, it just feels like the Mets deserve to finish in last place. And yet, they're about to pass the Nats in short order, though, possibly for good. The Mets have actually gone 19-12 since Aug. 2. I'm sure their fans are doing that thing where, yes, it's fun to watch wins, but also, kicking and screaming with "where was this all season?!?!?" | 3 | 66-78 |
| 24 |  | Kenley Jansen is now only six saves away from being the third player ever to 500. Sitting third all-time, though, he doesn't have any upward mobility on the leaderboard. The top two (Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman) are both above 600. | 1 | 66-78 |
| 25 |  | Through July 28, the Nats were 53-55 and one of the most pleasant surprises in all of baseball. Since then? 12-26 and the worst NL team. | -- | 67-79 |
| 26 |  | For a brief stretch, the Royals got awesome and were within miracle range of the playoffs. What's the phrase? Water finds its level? The Royals have lost six of their last eight. | 6 | 64-81 |
| 27 |  | When a team disappoints to this extent, it's easy to lose something like this in the shuffle: Rafael Devers has been on one of those hot streaks that almost make things worthwhile for the fan base. You just get to forget about the rest of the team for a few weeks and enjoy one hitter. In his last 22 games, he has seven doubles, 11 homers and 27 RBI with a .349 average. The slugging percentage? .831. | -- | 60-85 |
| 28 |  | Every other team has at least 30 wins at home. The A's are 26-44 in Sacramento. The funny thing is, they started out 10-10 at home. They've been utterly pitiful at Sutter Health Park since. | -- | 58-87 |
| 29 |  | Earlier this season, I was tracking Hunter Goodman home runs in hopes he'd be the first Rockies player ever to get to 50. That won't happen unless he goes on a historic binge. He is, however, only four away from 40 and no Rockies catcher has ever gotten there. The only Rockies players who have are franchise legends Todd Helton, Larry Walker Andres Galarraga, Vinny Castilla, Nolan Arenado, Dante Bichette, Ellis Burks and Carlos Gonzalez. | -- | 55-88 |
| 30 |  | Arte Moreno selling the team was the best news of the season. | -- | 54-90 |
