Which teams have officially been eliminated from the MLB postseason (September 21 edition)?

With less than two weeks left in the 2023 MLB season, there is a growing number of teams that have been officially eliminated from the MLB postseason.

Which teams have officially been eliminated from the MLB postseason?

In all, nine of the 30 MLB teams are already out of the equation for playing meaningful baseball in October according to Thursday’s standings on MLB.com.

On the American League side, six teams have been eliminated. Those six teams are the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels and Oakland A’s. Of the six, perhaps Chicago is a surprise as there were some high expectations for the team coming into the season with a new manager and All-Star talent on the roster. Cleveland could also be considered a surprise being the defending AL Central champions. And, if you had gone back to the MLB trade deadline when the Angels were among the most aggressive teams in acquiring talent for a postseason run and told yourself the season would go flat quickly in Anaheim, that might be a surprise as well.

Three National League teams are officially out of the postseason picture, with the Colorado Rockies, St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals already nixed from meaningful October baseball. Of the trio of teams, St. Louis is certainly a surprise, with the defending NL Central champions running into a buzzsaw of injuries and inefficiencies to see their season blow up early and often.

The next team facing elimination is the Boston Red Sox, a squad that enters Thursday with their Wild Card elimination number set at one. The Red Sox and the New York Yankees (with an elimination number of three) are the only two AL teams still alive outside the current Wild Card set, meaning the AL side of the bracket is narrowing, with Toronto, Seattle and Texas all separated by one game for the fifth and sixth Wild Card spots.

On the NL side, the New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates are the next on the chopping block as each franchise has an elimination number of three.