Here’s the good and bad news about the Royals’ potential playoff tiebreakers
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Royals trail Mariners by 3 games for final AL wild-card with 18 left to play.
- MLB tiebreakers use head-to-head record, then divisional and league play.
- Royals must beat Guardians this week to secure head-to-head tiebreak edge.
Eighteen games.
That’s all that remains for the Royals in the regular season, but they hope to continue playing games in the postseason.
As of Tuesday morning, the Royals have a 73-71 record and are 3 games behind the Seattle Mariners for the final wild-card spot. Ahead of the Royals are the Guardians (73-70) and Rangers (75-70).
If two or more teams end the regular season tied for a playoff spot, then a tiebreaker is used to determine who advances to the postseason. MLB has eliminated Game No. 163 tiebreakers.
MLB playoff tiebreakers
The first tiebreaker for two teams tied is head-to-head play. Second is intradivisional play.
This is from MLB.com: “Clubs’ records within their division will break the tie. This applies even if the tie is for a Wild Card spot between two teams that do not reside in the same division.”
If the teams still are tied, then it goes to how they fared against teams in the American League that are not in their division.
If the Royals end up tied with two other teams, then the team with the highest overall winning percentage among the other two clubs would qualify.
If the three clubs are still tied, it would go down to play in intradivision games and then play in American League games.
Royals’ head-to-head records
This week’s series against the Guardians is big for the Royals for multiple reasons. First is the obvious: The Royals need to make up ground in the race.
Second, the Royals need wins in their division. They have a 25-25 record against AL Central division teams as of games on Sept. 9, which would hurt them in a potential tiebreaker.
The Royals are 4-7 against the Guardians with two games to play. The Royals’ two losses this week mean Cleveland has clinched the season series and the Guardians hold a potential tiebreaker.
Here are the Royals’ other head-to-head tiebreakers.
Mariners: The Royals split a four-game series with Seattle earlier this season, so whichever team wins next week’s three-game set at Kauffman Stadium will win the season series.
Rangers: The Royals won the season series 6-1, so they hold a tiebreaker over Texas.
Red Sox: Boston won the season series 4-2 and has the tiebreaker over KC.
Astros: The teams split their season series 3-3. Houston currently has a 19-21 record against its own division, which could aid the Royals in a tiebreaker scenario.
Yankees: New York swept the season series 6-0.
Blue Jays: The Royals won two of three in Toronto earlier this season, and they can win the season series by beating the Blue Jays twice when they visit Kansas City next month.
This story was originally published September 9, 2025 at 9:20 AM.
