MLB Playoffs

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 Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox clinched the first berths into the 2013 MLB playoffs on Thursday afternoon, and it should only be another few days before the other four teams listed here join them.

But who are these shoe-ins for the postseason hoping to draw as an opponent in October?

Based on the strengths and weaknesses of each team and its potential counterparts, we've nominated one team in the thick of a playoff race that each projected division winner would possibly sweep right out of the playoffs.

With roughly two weeks to go in the 2013 MLB schedule, there are still postseason berths up for grabs in the American League, and a handful of teams are still very much in contention. 

Obviously, the Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers and Oakland Athletics have all essentially booked their trips to the playoffs, but beyond that trio, there's much to be decided in the final days of the regular season. 

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.

With about two weeks left in the 2013 Major League Baseball season, the playoff pictures are starting to come into focus, but there's still a whole lot of jockeying for position going on, especially in the wild-card races.

From this Friday, the 13th, until the last day of the regular season on Sept. 29, teams that are already in the picture will be looking to fight for a better position in front of the camera, while those who are on the outside looking in will be hoping to elbow their way into the frame.

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.

At 77-66, the Baltimore Orioles are 1.5 games back from a Wild Card spot. If they can make up that ground in the final 19 games of the season and make it to the postseason, it would be their second straight playoff birth after 14 years of disappointment.

Sitting 3.5 games back for the second AL Wild Card spot, the Cleveland Indians got a little bad news concerning Justin Masterson.