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Whether you call the current page of the MLB calendar the dog days or the stretch drive or both depending on circumstance and company, teams right now are scrambling for playoff position. So we're here to do our best when it comes to unscramble said act of scrambling.

Obviously, the current standings aren't giving us much in the way of clarity (this, of course, is a good thing, insofar as intrigue is concerned), so we'll be leaning heavily on the SportsLine Projection System when trying to sort things out.

Now let's drop each team into three different buckets: "Teams that are almost certainly in," "Teams that are almost certainly out," and "Teams that are in the thick of it." The first group are those with, per SportsLine, at least a 90 percent chance of making the playoffs, and the second comprises those teams with a 0.0 percent chance of being in the postseason or something close to it, again per SportsLine. Obviously, the third grouping is the one in which we're most interested for these purposes.

We've already looked at the American League. Now let's take a look at lay of the land in the National League ...

Teams that are almost certainly in

Unlike the AL, the Senior Circuit is very top and bottom heavy. There are the superpowers at the top and the rebuilders at the bottom. The Cubs (99.9 percent postseason odds, as of Saturday morning), Nationals (99.8 percent), and Dodgers (97.4 percent) are all viewed as extremely likely to qualify for the postseason. Chicago leads the NL Central by 13 games while the Nats are 7 1/2 up in the NL East. The Dodgers are actually one game back in the NL West, but SportsLine believes in their talent base.

Teams that are almost certainly out of it

Near the bottom of the standings we find six rebuilding teams in the NL. Six! SportsLine gives the Braves, Brewers, Diamondbacks, Padres, Phillies, and Reds each a zero percent chance to make the postseason. No chance whatsoever. Philadelphia is closest to a playoff spot among those six teams and they are seven games back of the second wild card spot with six teams ahead of them. Outside of the D-Backs, these clubs all came into the season in the middle of a rebuild and focused on building a young core.

Teams that are in the thick of it

That all leaves us with six teams that are in the thick of the NL postseason race. The bubble teams, I guess you could call them. Let's look at those six teams on a case-by-case basis. SportsLine currently projects the Pirates to claim the second wild card spot with 85 wins, so let's use that as our benchmark for postseason qualification.

San Francisco Giants

Playoff odds: 81.8 percent. When the second half opened, the Giants had a nice 6 1/2-game lead in the NL West. They've since lost 17 of 25 games in the second half, giving them the game's worst record since the All-Star break. That 6 1/2-game lead is now down to one game. The Dodgers were actually able to tie the Giants atop the division a few days ago before falling back again.

The good news is the Giants still have a five-game lead on a wild card spot and SportsLine forecasts them to win 89 games, well over our 85-win threshold. Also, their remaining opponents have a combined .500 winning percentage this season, so it's not the toughest schedule in the league. The Giants have important series with the Pirates and Mets coming up, not to mention six games left with the Dodgers. The two historic rivals close out their seasons with three games in San Francisco. The NL West title could very well be on the line.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Playoff odds: 48.8 percent. The Pirates have hovered around .500 pretty much all season, which is both good and bad. It's good because it's kept them close to the race, and it's bad because they haven't been able to take a firm hold on a postseason spot. Pittsburgh is currently one game back of a wild-card spot, though, as mentioned before, SportsLine projects them to win 85 games and claim the last postseason berth.

Going forward, the Pirates have a fairly tough remaining schedule -- their remaining opponents have a combined .509 winning percentage -- that has the club in the middle of a nine-game stretch against the Dodgers, Giants, and Marlins right now. We should have a much clearer picture of Pittsburgh's postseason chances come one week from Monday. The Pirates have six games left with the Cardinals and will close the season with three games in St. Louis.

St. Louis Cardinals

Playoff odds: 36.2 percent. The Cardinals were able to snap the Cubs' 11-game winning streak Saturday, but they're still 13 games back in the NL Central, so their division odds are minuscule. St. Louis is currently tied with the Marlins for the second wild-card spot, and SportsLine pegs them to win 84.5 games in 2016, just short of our threshold. Round up and we can say there projects to be a tie for the second wild-card spot. That would be fun.

With a remaining schedule that is close to average overall (.504 winning percentage), the Cardinals can look forward to series against the Mets, Giants, and Rockies. And, of course, the Pirates too. The NL Central rivals have those six games remaining, including the last three of the year at Busch Stadium. I'm conditioned to think the Cardinals will just find a way to get it done and qualify for the postseason, but this race is very tight, and they appear more vulnerable now than they have been at any point in the last few years.

New York Mets

Playoff odds: 17.8 percent. I'm pretty sure that if you asked Mets fans right now, they'd say their postseason odds are zero percent. It's been a rough week. Very rough. They've lost four straight games and six of their last seven by the combined score of 36-22. The Mets are now three games back of a wild-card spot and projected to win 83 games, according to SportsLine.

The good news is the Mets have a fairly easy schedule the rest of the season. That's one of the perks of being in the same division as the rebuilding Braves and Phillies. New York's remaining opponents have a combined .478 winning percentage the rest of the season, and they'll get a chance to make up ground with head-to-head series against the Giants and Cardinals. They also have seven games remaining with the Marlins.

The Mets will play 22 of their remaining 47 games against the Phillies, Reds, Braves, and Twins. Is it wrong to say they need to win at least 15 of those games to have a realistic shot at the postseason? I don't think so. The Mets close the season with three games against the Phillies. That could work to their advantage come the the end of the year.

Miami Marlins

Playoff odds: 14.4 percent. The Marlins actually have lower postseason odds than the Mets despite being three games ahead of them in the standings and tied for the second wild-card spot. SportsLine doesn't love their pitching staff, hence an 82-win projection. That's not enough to qualify for the postseason based on our benchmark.

Miami, like the Mets, has a relatively easy schedule the rest of the season (.482 winning percentage) thanks in part to plenty of head-to-head games with the Braves and Phillies. The Marlins will see those two rebuilding teams a combined 10 times in September. They also have key series remaining with the wild-card rival Dodgers and Pirates, plus of course those seven games with the Mets. The Marlins go on the road to play the first-place Nationals in the final series of 2016.

Colorado Rockies

Playoff odds: 3.5 percent. Colorado's postseason chances have taken a big hit this week. They've lost seven of their last nine games to fall 4 1/2 games back of a postseason spot. SportsLine projects them to win 80 games -- they've have to go 24-22 the rest of the way to get there -- and that's well short of our 85-win threshold. The Rockies have to hope the real threshold isn't something like 88 or 89 wins.

With a tough remaining schedule (.509 winning percentage) and not nearly enough series with wild-card rivals on the schedule, the Rockies face a tough uphill climb for the postseason. They'll see the Giants and Dodgers six and seven times, respectively, from here on out. Otherwise the Rockies have a series with the Cardinals and that's it. They're done with the Pirates, Mets, and Marlins.

Colorado is going to need a lot of help to make the postseason. They're going to need to win their games and get help from other teams. The Rockies won't have a chance to make up ground by winning series against their wild-card competitors, hence the 3.5 percent postseason odds.