Where they stand in playoff race entering final two weeks

The Major League Baseball regular season ends Oct. 1. If the results this month are any indication, the National League wild card race will be decided that day.

Here’s where the Cincinnati Reds, who are seeking their first postseason berth since 2020, stand in the postseason picture as of Monday morning.

Last game: The Reds lost 8-4 to the New York Mets on Sunday to fall a half game out of the wild card picture. They won two of three games in the series and finished 4-2 on a six-game road trip.

Wild card race: The Philadelphia Phillies (81-68) have a 3½-game lead in the wild card race. That leaves five teams competing for two spots: the Arizona Diamondbacks (79-72); the Chicago Cubs and Miami Marlins (both 78-72); the Reds (78-73); and the San Francisco Giants (76-74).

If the season ended today: The Atlanta Braves (96-53) and Los Angeles Dodgers (91-57) would earn the top two seeds and first-round byes.

In best-of-three wild card series, the Marlins would earn the No. 6 seed and play the No. 3 Brewers in Milwaukee, and the No. 5 Diamondbacks would play the No. 4 Phillies in Philadelphia.

The odds: According to FanGraphs.com, the Diamondbacks (56.0%) have the best odds of winning the second wild card and are followed by the Marlins (55.5%), Cubs (46.5%), Reds (30%) and Giants (13.5%).

Road ahead: The Reds start a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins (79-71) at Great American Ball on Monday and then play three games at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates (70-80). The Twins are the last winning team the Reds play. As of Monday morning, the Reds had not announced any starting pitchers for the series.

Next week, the Reds close the season with five road games: two at the Cleveland Guardians (72-78) and three at the Saint Louis Cardinals (66-83).

MONDAY’S GAME

Twins at Reds, 6:40 p.m., Bally Sports Ohio, 700, 1410