There’s still a month left in the regular season, but we don’t need to wait that long to declare this to be true: the 2026 American League playoff race is the worst in MLB history.
Specifically, the AL West and final wild-card spot form the crux of what’s been a yearlong sojourn to infamy. There are perhaps no five words in the sports lexicon more irrelevant than “If the season ended today.” However, applying that moniker at present would leave us with a .500 division winner (the Astros) and two AL playoff teams with negative run differentials (Houston and the Guardians).
