Major League Baseball Is Heading Towards An Exciting Pennant Race

Major League Baseball must be pinching itself.

Before the start of the 2024 season, discussion centered around the haves and the have nots. Teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees made high-profile acquisitions at the expense of smaller market teams. The San Diego Padres, dealing with payroll issues, traded superstar outfielder Juan Soto to the Yankees. The Los Angeles Angels refused to match the contract offer Shohei Ohtani proposed to the Dodgers and other interested teams.

The widely-held assumption across the sport was that some teams would run away with their respective divisions, while the rest of the smaller market teams would fight for the remaining crumbs.

Fast-forward to August, with just a month and a half remaining in the regular season, and just two of the six divisions have bigger than a five-game spread between the first and second-place teams. The wild card race in the National League is wide open. And the lack of elite teams means that seeds in both leagues are up for grabs.

It's going to be an exciting September of baseball.

Los Angeles Dodgers DH Shohei Ohtani celebrates a two-run homer with SS Mookie Betts at Dodger Stadium. (Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)

Division Races, Wild Card Chase Heating Up In MLB

Earlier in the summer, it seemed like the Dodgers would once again make the NL West race a bit of a formality. But then Mookie Betts got hurt, Yoshinobu Yamamoto got hurt, Walker Buehler and Bobby Miller were ineffective, Freddie Freeman missed a few weeks, and the Dodgers stumbled in July to their first losing month in six years.

At the same time, the Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks stopped losing. The Padres are 18-3 in their last 21 games, and the Diamondbacks are 17-3. They're 35-6 combined in their past 41 games. Relatedly, the Dodgers' NL West division lead is down to just three and a half games over both teams.

The other superteam, the New York Yankees, has been markedly inconsistent, opening the door for the Baltimore Orioles. Who then promptly closed it on themselves. That division race, which once also seemed like the Yankees to lose, is within a half game. The Cleveland Guardians, long holders of baseball's best record, have also fallen back to the pack, allowing the surging Minnesota Twins to pull within just three and a half games.

The American League West is also tight; the Astros shrugged off a brutal start to the season to once again take first place in the division, but the Seattle Mariners are just one and a half games back and playing better after the arrival of Randy Arozarena.

Even the Philadelphia Phillies, who at one point looked like they'd win 110 games, have allowed the injury-ravaged Atlanta Braves to hang around. Yes, Atlanta's six games back, but the Phillies are just 11-19 in their last 30 games and 6-14 in their last 20. 

In the NL Wild Card, there are five teams within five games of the third playoff spot. The Mets, Giants, Cardinals and Cubs have all at one point or another looked doomed to a long winter, but the Braves' struggles have opened the door for teams long assumed out of the race. 

Even the Padres and Diamondbacks, as good as they've looked over the past month, will inevitably see their fortunes turned. Unless they both play like 135-win teams the rest of the season. 

The American League has more effectively eliminated teams, but the Red Sox and Mariners are both within two games of the Kansas City Royals for the final playoff spot. 

Seeding too, has potential drama building. The Dodgers, somehow, have grabbed the best record in the National League…by a whopping game and a half over the Phillies. They're just three and a half ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers for the three seed. It's anyone's race, which impacts which teams can secure a bye and avoid the Wild Card series. 

There are exciting races and close divisions up and down the sport. And that's exactly what MLB wants. A September full of meaningful baseball for fans to watch, with 20 teams out of 30 within five to five and a half games of a playoff spot. It's going to be fun to watch.