MLB Power Rankings Week 26: Where teams stand entering playoffs - ESPN

We're down to the final days of the 2026 regular season with still quite a number of teams that have something to play for — including a few who are fighting for their postseason lives.

Such is the case with the Astros and Rangers, who are tied atop the AL West (with Houston owning the tiebreaker); the team that loses the division will most likely miss the playoffs entirely. Elsewhere in the American League, the Guardians and White Sox are still battling for the division title, though the loser of that should slot into the third wild-card spot.

While all the divisions in the National League have been clinched already, the wild-card race, specifically in terms of seeding, is very much heating up, with the Phillies, Cubs and Padres entering play on Wednesday in a three-way tie.

Which clubs will get to keep playing into October? And which will watch their playoff aspirations come to an end?

Our expert panel has ranked every team based on a combination of what we've seen so far and what we already knew going into the 162-game marathon that is a full baseball season. We also asked ESPN MLB experts Bradford Doolittle, Buster Olney and Jorge Castillo to weigh in with an observation for all 30 teams.

Week 25 | Second-half preview | Preseason rankings

Record: 99-59
Previous ranking: 1

With the season down to a handful of games, the Brewers have all but run out of time for Kyle Harrison to recover his first-half form. Harrison was 8-2 with a 3.01 ERA before the break; he's 2-3 with a 7.80 ERA since. His strikeout rate has remained steady, even as his velocity and movement measures have become more volatile. Meanwhile, his walk rate has more than doubled, and his homers-allowed rate has nearly tripled. Suffice to say, this is not a