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What’s at stake final week 2025 mlb season

The final week of the regular season has arrived and plenty is at stake.

While the Phillies and Brewers have clinched their respective divisions, things have not been settled in both the West divisions, the AL East and the AL Central. The final Wild Card spots, too, are still up for grab in each league. In fact, entering Monday, the Blue Jays are the only AL team that has clinched a playoff spot. Meanwhile, there are several intriguing individual storylines, including a slugger vying for a 60-homer season.

With this in mind, hereâ€s whatâ€s at stake during the final week of the season.

1. Can the Guardians really pull this off?

The Guardians could very well pull off one of the biggest late-season comebacks in MLB history. A whopping 15 1/2 games back of the Tigers in the AL Central as late as July 8, the Guardians are, stunningly, one game behind them entering the final week. Cleveland has won 15 of its last 17 games and nearly erased the 10 1/2-game deficit in the AL Central it had entering September.

As luck will have it, the Guardians and Tigers will face off in a three-game series in Cleveland starting on Tuesday. If the Guardians win just one of those games, they will hold the vital tiebreaker advantage over the Tigers, meaning Cleveland would win the division if the two clubs ended the season with the same record.

Even if they lose out in the divisional race, theyâ€re tied with the Astros for the final Wild Card spot and they also hold the tiebreaker edge over Houston.

2. The battles in the wild, wild West

The battles for the western divisions have been consistently close for months, but we’ve gained more clarity after this past week. The Astros and Mariners have been neck-and-neck for weeks but after Seattle’s sweep of Houston over the weekend, the Mariners have a commanding three-game lead in the AL West and secured the tiebreaker advantage by winning the season series.

The Dodgers, too, are in good shape entering the week. With a three-game lead over San Diego and the tiebreaker advantage, the Dodgers are destined to win the NL West yet again. Barring a miracle, though, the Dodgers will not have a first-round bye in the Wild Card round, as the Brewers already clinched one of the top two NL spots, and Los Angeles is four games behind Philadelphia for the second seed.

3. Will the Mets make the playoffs?

Through the end of July, the Mets were seriously vying for the NL East division and were battling for the No. 1 seed in the National League. Itâ€s been downhill since then, with the Mets going 18-29 since the beginning of August, tied for the fourth-worst record in the Majors. After the Mets lost on Sunday and the Reds won, Cincinnati has possession of the third NL Wild Card spot. Both clubs have an 80-76 record, but the Reds took the season series and therefore hold the tiebreaker advantage.

The D-backs, too, are in the mix for that final NL Wild Card spot. After winning on Sunday, Arizona is one game behind the Reds and Mets. The D-backs, however, lost the season series against the Reds and split the season series against the Mets, meaning a tie between Arizona and New York would come down to intradivision record.

4. Could Cal hit 60 homers?

Itâ€s been a historic season for Cal Raleigh, who has crushed 58 home runs, the most by a switch-hitter in MLB history, the most in Mariners franchise history and the most by a primary catcher. Next on the list is getting to 60 home runs, a milestone reached only nine times by six different hitters. Raleigh is already firmly in the AL MVP race with Aaron Judge, but reaching 60 homers could be a deciding factor. Raleigh will need to hit two home runs in the final six games, hardly an insurmountable goal for him considering what he’s done this season.

The Brewers won the NL Central and have secured one of the top two spots in the National League, giving them a first-round bye in the Wild Card Series. The Phillies won the NL East and will likely join the Brewers shortly with a first-round bye. The Dodgers will likely take the NL West and the third NL spot, while the Cubs are poised to secure the top NL Wild Card spot.

Beyond those clubs, thereâ€s still plenty to be determined. Entering Monday, the Blue Jays are the only AL team that has secured a postseason spot, so we could see plenty of shuffling between teams this week. That includes the extremely close races for divisions and Wild Card spots.

6. How many 50-homer seasons will there be?

Raleigh (58 home runs), Kyle Schwarber (53) and Shohei Ohtani (53) have all cleared 50 home runs in 2025. Aaron Judge (49 home runs) is on the cusp of joining those three, while Eugenio Suárez (47) is three homers away. The most players to hit 50-plus home runs in a season is four, which was done in 1998 (Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Ken Griffey Jr. and Greg Vaughn) and 2001 (Barry Bonds, Sosa, Alex Rodriguez and Luis Gonzalez).

If Judge hits one more home run, the 2025 season will be in a three-way tie for the most 50-homer players in one season. And if Suárez can also hit three more, the ‘25 season would stand alone with five 50-homer players, the most in a single season in MLB history.

7. Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor try to become third pair of 30-30 teammates

Soto became a first-time member of the 30-30 club, with his 42 home runs and 35 stolen bases. Lindor is nearly there, too, with 28 home runs and 31 stolen bases. If Lindor gets to 30 homers, he and Soto would become the third pair of teammates to hit 30 homers and steal 30 bases in a season, joining Ellis Burks and Dante Bichette (1996 Rockies) and Howard Johnson and Darryl Strawberry (1987 Mets).

8. Could Rafael Devers play in 163 games?

What a year it’s been for Devers. The longtime Red Sox third baseman and franchise cornerstone was traded to the Giants in a blockbuster move in mid-June and has had another ho-hum Devers season, posting an .841 OPS with 31 home runs between the two teams. After playing in 73 games with the Red Sox, Devers has played in 84 games with the Giants, giving him 157 total games. If he plays in San Francisco’s final six games, Devers will become the first player to play in more than 162 games in a season since Justin Mourneau for the Twins in 2008.

9. Ohtani’s quest for 150 runs

With 141 runs scored entering the final week, Ohtani is vying for a level of run-scoring that few players have ever reached. If Ohtani manages to score nine runs in the Dodgers’ final six games, he’d be the first player with 150 runs scored since Jeff Bagwell had 152 for the 2000 Astros. Before Bagwell, you have to go all the way back to Ted Williams in 1949. A 140-run season is impressive in its own right, but 150 runs is incredibly rare.

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Shaikin: Here’s what’s at stake for the Dodgers over the fin…

This is the time to bring on the rivals. The Dodgers are used to taking on challengers down the pennant stretch: the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres — and, in a previous version of the National League West, the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds.

The final two weeks of the regular season are upon us. The Dodgers have one remaining head-to-head matchup that really matters — and that series starts Monday at Dodger Stadium, against the Philadelphia Phillies.

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The Phillies?

The Phillies have not been realigned into the NL West. However, although the three division champions automatically qualify for the playoffs, the two with the best records earn a bye into the division series. The division champion with the third-best record — right now, that would be the Dodgers — must play in the first round.

The Milwaukee Brewers, the presumed champions of the NL Central, boast the best record in baseball. The Phillies, the presumed champions of the NL East, lead the Dodgers by 4 ½ games. The Dodgers have 13 games to play.

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The Dodgers got a bye and lost in the division series in 2022. They got a bye and lost in the division series in 2023. They got a bye and came within one game of elimination in the division series in 2024. Would they be better off not getting a bye and playing in the first round?

“There is not a question in my mind that that does not make sense,†Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers†president of baseball operations, told me last week. “It is better for your World Series odds to not play those three games.â€

The five days off that come with a bye can disrupt the timing of hitters. They also can allow time for injured and weary players to recover — that could be critical for Dodgers catcher Will Smith, in particular — and for the Dodgers to arrange their starting rotation just the way they might like it. And, of course, you canâ€t be eliminated in the first round if you donâ€t play in it.

“We have made our life more difficult to this point,†Friedman said, “but I still think we have a really good run in us, and weâ€ll make it competitive. So obviously these three games against Philly are really important in that.â€

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What if the three games against the Phillies go poorly?

Even if they donâ€t, the Dodgers might not win the division. The Padres are closer to the Dodgers than the Dodgers are to the Phillies.

San Diego trails the Dodgers by 2½ games in the NL West.

If the Padres win the NL West, how much would that hurt the Dodgers†chances of a lengthy postseason run?

Not much, if at all. Both teams almost certainly would end up in the wild-card round.

The NL West champion would play the last team into the NL field, most likely the Giants or New York Mets and maybe even the Reds or Arizona Diamondbacks, with the chance the opponent exhausted its pitching just to get into the playoffs. The other team would play the Chicago Cubs, and would avoid the possibility of facing the surging Phillies until the NLCS.

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If the NL West comes down to the last day or two, the Dodgers would have to determine whether to use their best starters on that final weekend or line them up for the wild-card series.

In that scenario, what might be the decisive factor in the Dodgers†calculus?

The NL West champion would play all three games of the wild-card round at home; the runner-up likely would play all three games on the road. The Dodgers are 48-26 at home, 36-39 on the road. (The Padres are 47-28 at home, 35-40 on the road.)

Would there be any precedent for the Dodgers not minding if the Padres won the NL West?

In 1996, the Dodgers and Padres were tied for the NL West lead heading into the final day of the regular season, with the two teams facing one another. Both teams were guaranteed a playoff spot.

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In Game 162, the Dodgers started Ramon Martinez — undefeated in his previous nine starts — then removed him after one inning.

The Padres won the game, and with it the division. The Dodgers started Martinez in their playoff opener three days later. They lost that game, and they were swept in the series by the Braves. The winning pitchers in that series, in order: John Smoltz, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine.

How many games are the Dodgers on pace to win?

Ninety-one.

In Friedmanâ€s previous 10 seasons running the Dodgers, what is the fewest number of games they have won?

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Ninety-one, in 2016.

How did the Dodgers do that October?

They earned a bye into the division series, in which they beat the Washington Nationals. They lost to the Chicago Cubs in the league championship series.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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