MLB Playoffs 2021: Playoff Picture, Bracket, Standings Before Season Finales

The final day of the 2021 Major League Baseball season is upon us, and in true cinematic fashion, it will come down to a handful of games to determine whose championship aspirations continue and who will watch the magic of the postseason play out from their couches.

The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are battling for their playoff lives, and baseball fans would have it no other way. The Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners are looking to throw a wrench into proceedings by jumping the embattled franchises and taking their shot at postseason immortality.

In the National League, the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers battle for the NL West crown. The only question remaining on that side of the bracket is which team will settle for the wild card and which will get a fancy new hat and T-shirt to wear during their locker-room celebrations.

Baseball has always been a drama-filled sport, and Sunday is setting up to live up to the hype.

Find out where things stand in both the AL and NL with this updated look at the playoff picture, bracket and standings ahead of the final day (or is it?) of the regular season.

In the American League, the Tampa Bay Rays, Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox have all guaranteed their spots in the postseason. Hoping to join them are four teams that enter the final day of the regular season very much alive for the league's two wild-card spots.

The Yankees squandered their opportunity to cash their ticket to the postseason and host the AL Wild Card Game when they dropped two consecutive contests against the league-leading Tampa Bay Rays. The Red Sox capitalized on their rival's inability to seal the deal, taking the first two of their weekend series against the Washington Nationals.

The Toronto Blue Jays have kept pace with two straight wins over the Baltimore Orioles, while the Seattle Mariners stumbled in their first game against the Los Angeles Angels to keep things tight.

AL Standings Entering Sunday  

1. Tampa Bay Rays (AL East)
2. Houston Astros (AL West)
3. Chicago White Sox (AL Central)
4. Boston Red Sox (wild-card No. 1)
5. New York Yankees (wild-card No. 2)
6. Seattle Mariners
7. Toronto Blue Jays

Entering the final day of the regular season, the Yankees and Sox have at least guaranteed an opportunity for a tiebreaker game Monday. A win for each team, and the legendary rivals would battle in the Wild Card Game, with Boston hosting because of their one-game advantage in this year's series.

Toronto gets into a tiebreaker game with a win over the hapless Orioles and a loss by either the Yankees or the Sox. Seattle needs a win Sunday and New York or Boston to lose to put itself in said tiebreaker game.

Fans of those four teams will be keeping a close eye on things Sunday as each domino falls and their playoff fates are revealed.

The NL race is much more clear-cut, as both wild-card participants have already been determined.

At stake is the NL West, which the San Francisco Giants lead. But a loss for them Sunday and a Dodgers win forces a 163rd game to determine the division champ. The stakes are high for both teams, who find themselves staring down the proverbial barrel of an NL Wild Card Game against a formidable St. Louis Cardinals squad that has the city thinking championship again.

Updated NL Standings Entering Sunday

1. San Francisco Giants (NL West)
2. Milwaukee Brewers (NL Central)
3. Atlanta Braves (NL East)
4. Los Angeles Dodgers (wild-card No. 1)
5. St. Louis Cardinals (wild-card No. 2)

The Dodgers have gotten the best of the Milwaukee Brewers ahead of Sunday, taking Friday's and Saturday's games. The Giants, though, have only managed to split their series with the San Diego Padres and could find themselves in an unenviable position of playing an extra game to win a title that looked to be all theirs just a few days ago.

Said date with the Cardinals may make it a moot point if their recent 17-game winning streak is any indicator. They, despite their place as the lowest seed in the NL bracket, might be the scariest team in the majors as we head into the playoffs.