Fantasy Baseball Forecaster Playoff Round 2, Week 1: Sept. 14-20

          Teams like the Milwaukee Brewers will soon be celebrating as they clinch postseason berths. Patrick McDermott/Getty Images
          • Tristan H. CockcroftSep 14, 2026, 02:27 PM
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              Tristan H. Cockcroft is senior writer for fantasy baseball and football at ESPN. Tristan is a member of the FSWA Hall of Fame. He is also two-time LABR and four-time Tout Wars champion.
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          If you've made it this far, congratulations! You've either advanced to the championship round in ESPN head-to-head leagues, or you're still in contention in your categories or total points league.

          Fantasy baseball's Week 24 is the penultimate week in the 2026 MLB regular (and fantasy) season, and it represents the first of the two-week championship round in standard head-to-head leagues. The two teams that won the two-week, Aug. 31-Sept. 13 semifinal matchups will now square off from Sept. 14-27.

          The Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers clinched playoff spots during the Sept. 11-13 weekend, but Week 24 should see several more postseason berths clinched. The Brewers (magic number of 2), Los Angeles Dodgers (4) and Atlanta Braves (7) can clinch their respective divisions, and the New York Yankees (1), Dodgers (2), Braves (4) and Boston Red Sox (6) can clinch wild-card spots (at the minimum) -- all of which seems likely to occur sometime this week.

          From a player motivation standpoint, fantasy managers should prefer players from games with something on the line, and it's not uncommon for a team clinching some type of postseason berth or seeding to rest veteran players afterward, often in the game immediately following that happening.

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