2013 MLB Playoffs

No young MLB prospect is more intriguing than Billy Hamilton, who in a month has gone from struggling in Triple-A to becoming a huge asset to the Cincinnati Reds. The playoff-bound Reds need more of the same come October for a World Series run.

With the MLB playoff picture finally taking shape in the last week of the regular season, three teams are getting hot at just the right time. The Oakland Athletics have won their past five games, and have locked up the AL West. The Tampa Bay Rays are fresh off a sweep of the Baltimore Orioles, and the Cincinnati Reds have won seven of their past nine games.  

With one week to go in the MLB season, the playoffs continue to take shape.

While things could still change, there are eight teams who are basically locks to make it. The only playoff spots left to be decided are in the AL Wild Card.

With that said, it's time to predict how things will turn out.

This list will look at each team I think will make the playoffs, and what their final standing will be when all is said and done.

Here are the final predictions for all 10 playoff teams.

It's not official yet, but the careers of Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte, much like the former Yankee Stadium, will come to a close on a note as anticlimatic as can be. For only the second time in the wild-card era, the New York Yankees will not make the postseason.

The NL West has been clinched. The Los Angeles Dodgers have secured their first postseason berth since 2009.

Pop the champagne! Jump in the Diamondbacks’ pool!

At 93-61, the Boston Red Sox are steamrolling the American League, guaranteed a spot in the postseason and likely headed for the top seed in the league.

When October arrives, expect Boston to take on the winner of the six-team wild-card bonanza currently taking place in the American League. Assuming Boston does hold on to the top spot in eh AL, it will be taking on an opponent that expended energy throughout September just to reach the Division Series.

The MLB regular season wraps up at the end of the month, but with just those two weeks of games left, there are still 15 teams in the running for a postseason spot.

For some teams, the final two weeks will mean jockeying for seeding and playing for home-field advantage. For others, it means fighting for their postseason lives, as every game between now and the end of the season is incredibly important.

MLB teams can't earn postseason berths without huge contributions from their veteran mainstays, but in October, managers also rely on their secret weapons to do some damage.

They tend to be younger players who have reached the majors within the past few years. Perhaps these under-the-radar individuals were dominant as prospects (or at least held in high regard), but they certainly aren't perceived as stars at the highest level.

Despite a two-game losing streak, the Cleveland Indians find themselves just 1.5 games back of the fifth and final playoff spot in the American League. The Indians trail just three teams, those being the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers.

The Cleveland Indians are in prime position to make the postseason for the first time since 2007. With just 19 games left in the regular season, the Tribe find themselves 1.5 games back of the fifth and final playoff spot.

In addition to that final playoff spot being within reach, the Indians have an outside chance at grabbing the top wild-card spot if they can make up the five-game difference separating them and the Texas Rangers. The AL playoff picture is a crowded one, featuring nine teams within four games of some sort of playoff spot.