Preview/Prediction

With the three National League division races wrapped up and the top record in the league already well in hand, the remaining drama in the dwindling days of the 2016 regular season stems from the wild-card race.

The Chicago Cubs, Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers have already clinched the NL Central, East and West, respectively, with the former pacing the majors with 101 wins and counting. 

Less than a week remains in the 2016 MLB regular season, and there are still a handful of playoff spots up for grabs.

On the American League side, the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers have clinched their respective divisions, and the Boston Red Sox have locked up a playoff spot with their magic number at one to clinch the AL East.

Baseball lost an exuberant young star who would have frequented the top of pitching leaderboards for years.

On Sunday morning, Jose Fernandez and two other men were killed in a boating accident. The Miami Marlins pitcher, who was 24, had far more greatness on and off the field to offer.

While furious battles for MLB's four available wild-card berths will take place over the regular season's final week, indirect competitions for the game's highest individual honors are raging as well.

With only a handful of awards looking like they're wrapped up, players (and managers) have one final chance to impress voters. Some will rise to the occasion, while others will fold under the pressure. These award races only make the last stretch all the more intriguing.

With just over one week left in the long slog that is the MLB regular season, the playoff pictures in both leagues are becoming clearer with each passing day. Each of the six division races is all but over, but teams in both the American League and National League continue to claw at each other's heels in their final attempts to secure wild-card spots. 

We are less than two weeks away from the start of the 2016 MLB playoffs, with the AL Wild Card Game set to be played on Oct. 4 and the NL Wild Card Game slated for Oct. 5.

Anything can happen in October—as we've seen time and again—and trying to predict how the postseason will shake out is often an exercise in futility.

That being said, it's still fun to try to guess the results before the postseason festivities begin, and that's exactly what we've done here.

There is still an exciting month of playoff baseball separating us from what promises to be another busy offseason around the league, but it's never too early to start looking ahead at how free agency might play out.

This year's free-agent class is headlined by a number of notable bats.

When MLB added a second wild-card spot for each league in 2012, this is exactly what it wanted.

Less than two weeks remain before the 2016 regular season ends, but all four bids in the American League and National League Wild Card Games are still up for grabs. While three teams fight furiously for a shot at the NL play-in game, multiple teams still lurk in the AL picture.

Roughly two weeks are left in the 2016 MLB regular season, and while the playoff picture is taking shape, there is still a lot to be decided before October.

The American League is home to 10 teams that can call themselves legitimate contenders. The Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers have a strong hold on their respective division leads and the Boston Red Sox have started to put some ground between themselves and the rest of the AL East.

MLB's 162-game regular season might not prove enough to set the playoff picture.

In order to manufacture more drama, MLB instituted a second wild-card spot and one-game matchup for entry into the division series. The initiative has paid dividends this season, when 10 teams remain five or fewer games from one of those spots.