Benjamin Ashford|MLB playoff bracket 2024: Wild card matchups, AL and NL top seeds for postseason

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With no more than seven games separating the top five teams in each league, Major League Baseball's playoff field remains an exercise in fluidity as the regular season winds down.

While a handful of division leaders have comfortable leads - or counting down increasingly granular magic numbers to clinch - the wild-card spots and overall seedings are very much up for grabs.

Here's how the American and National league playoff fields stack up if the postseason began today:

(Updated through games played Sept. 17)

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American League

Top seeds

No. 1 New York Yankees (88-63) – bye to AL Division Series, vs. Royals-Orioles winner

No. 2 Cleveland Guardians (87-65) – bye to AL Division Series, vs. Twins-Astros winner

AL wild card series

No. 6 Minnesota Twins (80-71) at No. 3 Houston Astros (82-69)

No. 5 Kansas City Royals (82-70) at No. 4 Baltimore Orioles (84-67)

National League

Top seeds

No. 1 Philadelphia Phillies (91-60), bye to NL Division Series vs. Padres-Mets winner

No. 2 Los Angeles Dodgers (89-62), bye to NL Division Series, vs. Diamondbacks-Brewers winner

NL wild card series

No. 6 Arizona Diamondbacks (83-68) at No. 3 Milwaukee Brewers (87-64)

No. 5 New York Mets (83-68) at No. 4 San Diego Padres (86-66)

Mets hold tiebreaker vs. Diamondbacks

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