MLB eliminated teams and worst record 2026 - Colorado 57-98 cannot finish above fourteenth

Colorado is 57-98 and cannot finish higher than fourteenth in the National League. Seven games are left, so the Rockies top out at 64-98. San Francisco is 64-91 and bottoms out at exactly 64-98. Colorado's best possible season only meets the Giants' worst possible one, and the other thirteen clubs in the league all finish above 64-98 no matter what happens. That is why fourteenth is a ceiling and not a target. It is the hardest line on the board.

Every number below comes from the September 20 standings update. Clinch numbers assume the worst case, that every rival wins every game it has left. Tragic numbers assume the best case, that the club in question wins every game it has left. None of this is a projection and none of it is a probability.

Twelve of the thirty clubs are finished, and the split between the leagues is lopsided. Eight of the fifteen National League clubs are out: Pittsburgh, Miami, St. Louis, Washington, Cincinnati, the Mets, San Francisco and Colorado. The American League has four: Minnesota, Kansas City, the Athletics and the Angels. Each of the twelve carries a tragic number of zero, which is what elimination looks like in this table. Pittsburgh is the odd entry at 78-77, the only eliminated club in either league with a winning record, while Houston is still alive at 77-78. Arizona's three is the only live tragic number left in the National League. The races above the line are counted separately.

The National League floor is a two club affair. San Francisco (64-91) and Colorado (57-98) are the only clubs in the league that can finish fifteenth. Colorado is 38 games behind in the West and San Francisco is 31 back. The Giants' own range runs from thirteenth to fifteenth, so their seven remaining games decide whether they land above or below the Rockies, and nothing else in the league can reach either of the last two places.

Fourteenth is a three club question rather than a two club one. Colorado and San Francisco can both land there, and so can the Mets, whose range runs from eighth to fourteenth on a 71-84 record. Below that the rest of the eliminated group stops at thirteenth. Pittsburgh (78-77), Miami (76-79), St. Louis (75-80), Washington (73-82) and Cincinnati (72-83) can each fall that far and no further, which is the difference between being out of the bracket and being at the bottom of the league.

At the other end of the board the American League's last two places are already spoken for. Kansas City (67-88), the Athletics (61-94) and the Angels (60-95) are the only clubs in the league whose worst reachable finish is fifteenth. The Athletics and the Angels are both locked into thirteenth to fifteenth, so the two of them will take two of those three places over seven games each. Kansas City has more room, tenth to fifteenth. Five games behind Minnesota and Seattle and six behind Detroit, the Royals' ceiling of 74-88 clears all three of those floors, 72-90 and 73-89, and that is where tenth comes from. Sitting six clear of the Athletics with seven to play is what keeps fifteenth on the table at the same time.

Pittsburgh is the clearest illustration of what a tragic number measures. The Pirates are 78-77 with seven games left, so their ceiling is 85-77. Milwaukee (97-58) bottoms out at 97-65, the Dodgers (95-60) at 95-67, Atlanta (91-64) at 91-71, and the Cubs and San Diego (both 86-69) at 86-76. Philadelphia (85-70) bottoms out at exactly 85-77. Six National League clubs are therefore certain to finish level with or ahead of Pittsburgh's best possible season, and six is the size of the field. The reachable range still reads sixth to thirteenth. Sixth sits inside the bracket on the rank table and it is still not a place, because the rank range counts only the clubs that strictly beat Pittsburgh's ceiling while the elimination test hands Philadelphia the tie at 85-77. That is why the Pirates read sixth to thirteenth and eliminated in the same row.

What is left at this end of the table is order, not elimination. Two American League positions, fourteenth and fifteenth, are being sorted among Kansas City, the Athletics and the Angels. Thirteenth is still open to Detroit, Seattle and Minnesota as well, so it is not part of that three club question. In the National League only fifteenth is a two club question, San Francisco or Colorado, with fourteenth open to the Mets too. Seven games each settle all of it. One limit should be stated plainly: the engine returns reachable positions inside each league, not across the majors, so nothing here describes a league-wide finishing order or a draft slot. The standings refresh as results land and each club's remaining games are listed on the schedule page.

How to read these numbers. A magic or clinch number is the minimum further wins that guarantee an outcome even if every rival wins every remaining game. A tragic number is the further losses after which the outcome is impossible even if the club wins every remaining game, so a zero is elimination and a one is a single defeat away from it. A reachable rank range is the highest and lowest final position still arithmetically available. Ties are counted against the club in question, so a clinch or an elimination here can trail the official announcement by a day. Club by club figures are on the magic number page, the bracket and seeding rules on the postseason page, the arithmetic itself on the methodology page, and each club's own answer on its team page (/mlb/team/col and the rest).