MLB League Standings

2021 Major League Baseball Magic Numbers

Update to how "No Control" numbers are presented

We've previously shown the letters "NC" if a team has no control of their own destiny for a seed. We've had some user feedback that suggested we try showing the number anyway, even if the team needs help to secure that seed.

We'll be testing this out on the MLB & NHL standings pages. You'll now see a teams Magic Number, faded out and surrounded by brackets, when they have no control of their own destiny, but can still achieve a seed with help from the other teams.

Let us know what you think via email or Twitter.

American League

AL GP/R W L W% GB WCGB
TAM 154/8 95 59 .616 – –   5 — 2 — ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ←
HOU 154/8 91 63 .590 4 – [13]   5 6 5 3 3 — ← ← ← ← ← ← ←
CWS 154/8 87 67 .564 8 – [17] [13]   [10] 9 7 7 5 ← ← ← ← ← ← ←
BOS 154/8 88 66 .571 7 – [16] [12] 8   8 6 6 4 ← ← ← ← ← ← ←
NYY 154/8 87 67 .564 8 – [17] [13] 9 [10]   7 7 5 ← ← ← ← ← ← ←
SEA 154/8 85 69 .551 10 2 • [15] [11] [12] [11]   9 7 ← ← ← ← ← ← ←
TOR 154/8 85 69 .551 10 2 • [15] [11] [12] [11] 9   7 ← ← ← ← ← ← ←
OAK 154/8 83 71 .539 12 4 • [17] [13] [14] [13] [11] [11]   2 — ← ← ← ← ←
CLE 153/9 75 78 .490 19.5 11.5 • • • • • • • [17]   9 7 5 3 ← ←
DET 153/9 74 79 .483 20.5 12.5 • • • • • • • [18] [11]   8 6 4 ← ←
LAA 154/8 73 81 .474 22 14 • • • • • • • • [12] [11]   7 5 ← ←
KAN 153/9 70 83 .457 24.5 16.5 • • • • • • • • [15] [14] [12]   8 ← ←
MIN 154/8 69 85 .448 26 18 • • • • • • • • [16] [15] [13] [11]   ← ←
TEX 154/8 56 98 .363 39 31 • • • • • • • • • • • • •   2
BAL 154/8 49 105 .318 46 38 • • • • • • • • • • • • • [16]  

National League

NL GP/R W L W% GB WCGB
SFO 154/8 100 54 .649 – –   — ← 8 ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ←
MIL 154/8 92 62 .597 8 – [17]   ← [16] 2 ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ←
ATL 153/9 81 72 .529 18.5 3.5 • •   • [13] 8 7 6 2 ← ← ← ← ← ←
LAD 154/8 99 55 .642 1 – [10] 2 ←   ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ← ←
STL 154/8 85 69 .551 15 – • [16] 6 •   4 3 2 ← ← ← ← ← ← ←
PHI 154/8 80 74 .519 20 5 • • [11] • [14]   8 7 3 — ← ← ← ← ←
CIN 154/8 79 75 .513 21 6 • • [12] • [15] [10]   8 4 2 ← ← ← ← ←
SDG 154/8 78 76 .506 22 7 • • [13] • [16] [11] [10]   5 3 ← ← ← ← ←
NYM 153/9 73 80 .477 26.5 11.5 • • [18] • • [16] [15] [14]   8 3 — ← ← ←
COL 153/9 71 82 .464 28.5 13.5 • • • • • [18] [17] [16] [12]   5 3 2 ← ←
CHC 154/8 67 87 .435 33 18 • • • • • • • • [16] [14]   7 6 ← ←
MIA 153/9 64 89 .418 35.5 20.5 • • • • • • • • [19] [17] [12]   9 3 ←
WAS 154/8 64 90 .415 36 21 • • • • • • • • • [17] [12] [10]   3 ←
PIT 153/9 57 96 .372 42.5 27.5 • • • • • • • • • • • [17] [16]   —
ARI 154/8 49 105 .318 51 36 • • • • • • • • • • • • • [18]  

Five teams from each league qualify for the playoffs:

  • The three division winners, who are ranked 1-3 regardless of their records
  • Two wild card teams, who play a single Wild Card game to determine who moves onto the Division round
Clinched division
Clinched wild-card berth
Eliminated from the playoffs

Two-way tie for the division or wildcard

  1. A one game tie-breaker is played between the two teams, winner take all.

Two-way tie between division winners

  1. The team with the best record in head to head play.
  2. The team with the best overall record in intra-division games.
  3. The team with the best record in the final 81 games of the season, ignoring inter-league play.
  4. The team with the best record in the final 82 games of the season, extending backward until the tie is broken.

Three-way tie for the division or wildcard

  1. The team with the best intra-division record is determined as Team C. If intra-division records are tied, refer to above tie-breakers to determine team C.
  2. The other two teams, A and B, play one game.
  3. The winner of this game plays team C in one game.
  4. The winner of this second game is the winner of the tie-breaker.

Tiebreaking procedures from mlb.com

Updated: September 25, 2021 6:00am ET