A look at the 2016 MLB playoff race at the three-quarter mark

It's currently the middle of August, and when you reach this point in baseball season, normally you are what your record says you are. If you're under .500 heading into the final month and a half of the long, tough slog that is baseball's regular season, then it's probably time to start focusing on what lies ahead of you beyond this season since a divisional title is probably beyond you.

Meanwhile, if you're over .500 but still trailing in the divisional race, then the advent of the wild card game has given these teams a choice: Should they go for a spot in the wild card and put 162 games of hard work in the hands of the baseball gods via a single-game playoff, or should they turn their focus to making a run next year?

A few teams still have time to change their fates as we enter the latter stage of this particular season. With just a quarter of the regular season remaining, here's where things stand in the 2016 MLB playoff race.

AL East

For the Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox, this division is still very much up for grabs. Additionally, this will probably be the division that produces at least one wild card team.

Right now, the AL East in position to have both wild card spots, with the Orioles and Red Sox holding the top positions at the moment. All three of these teams are known for their strong offenses, so the division will more than likely come down to which team's pitching staff can perform the best down the homestretch.

Either way, all three teams figure to play prominent roles in the race for the postseason, whether it's the division or the wild card.

AL Central

Earlier this season, it seemed like the Cleveland Indians were going to run away with the division and continue what's been a lovely summer for the city of Cleveland and its sports teams. However, baseball is a marathon, and while Cleveland may have burst out of the blocks, the Tigers hit a full-on sprint following the All-Star break and managed to get within two games of Cleveland.

The gap is now at five games, but there's still plenty of time for this race to take another turn before we get to October. Still, barring a major collapse, the Indians will be a major player in October baseball this season, so maybe Cleveland fans will have even more to celebrate later on this year.

AL West

Coming into August, the Rangers were still the prohibitive favorites to take the AL West with no problems, but the Astros seemed to be making a race of it when they got to 2.5 games back of their rivals in Arlington. However, the Rangers received a huge boost at the trade deadline with the additions of Jonathan Lucroy and Carlos Beltran, and they've now got a 5.5 game lead over the Mariners.

So, what happened to the Astros? They've once again fallen by the wayside, and while they're four games over .500 right now, they're still not playing the type of baseball that will get them into the postseason.

AL Wild Card

As mentioned earlier, the two wild card spots are currently held by AL East teams, and with the way that they've been playing all season, that probably won't change as we get closer to the end of the season. So for teams like the Mariners, Tigers and Astros, they know that they'll have to overcome two very strong teams in the East if they want to make it into the roulette that is the wild card.

Meanwhile, the Yankees may be three games over .500 right now, but it's pretty clear that they're focusing on the future since they've realized that having a ceiling of being a wild card team like they were last year is unacceptable in the Bronx.

Then we have the Royals, who find themselves three games under .500 and 7.5 games back of the second and final wild card spot. Their World Series defense is probably over now, and they've got major questions on their hands as to whether or not they should rebuild for the future.

NL East

The Mets entered this season as the favorites to win this division and make a strong defense of the NL Pennant. However, New York has been disappointing this season, and the defending NL champs may have hit rock bottom last week when they lost 9-0 to the Diamondbacks, causing Terry Collins to go on a rant in a post-game press conference.

While the Mets have stumbled, the Nationals have thrived, and they currently have the inside track on reclaiming the NL East title. Meanwhile, the Marlins are actually in second place, but they're 8.5 games back so they're focusing on the wild card. Those hopes took a major blow with the loss of Giancarlo Stanton over the weekend, so there's a very good chance that the Nats will probably be the only representative of the NL East in October.

NL Central

Going into spring training, we all knew that the Cubs were going to be a great team this season, and they haven't disappointed. They came out of the gates winning at a blistering pace and are going to end up being wire-to-wire divisional champions this season. The only question is if they can translate regular-season success into postseason joy so they can give their long-suffering fan base the title it's been craving for over a century now.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals and Pirates are basically playing for the wild card at this point. The Pirates have the benefit of a "soft" schedule going forward, but you still have to actually play the games on the field, so there's no guarantee that they'll be participating in the festivities come October.

NL West

It's an even year, which means that the San Francisco Giants are a major contender for October. That's just the way baseball works these days, apparently. They've been battling the Dodgers for NL West supremacy this season, and the two fierce California rivals should both make the playoffs one way or another.

Right now, the Giants have a slim one-game lead on the Dodgers in the division, and despite going through plenty of injury woes with their pitching staff, the Dodgers are 3.5 games ahead of the Cardinals for the right to host the wild card game. Both of those margins are slim enough to change as we get closer and closer to the end of the year, but with the way both teams have been playing this year, there's no reason to believe that either will fall by the wayside.

NL Wild Card

With the Cubs and Nationals currently dominating their respective divisions and a bunch of National League teams clearly in the throes of the rebuilding process, that only leaves a handful of serious contenders left for the wild card. The second-place finishers in the NL West and Central will almost certainly claim those spots, which basically leaves the Cardinals, Pirates and the two contenders out west as the only serious players for this spot.

The American League figures to have the more compelling playoff races this season, and that's mostly due to the top-heavy nature of the National League. Two of the three divisional races in the NL are basically over, which is in contrast to the American League, which still has a bit of drama left at this point of the season.

Of course, there are still plenty of games left to be played, and that means there's still a shot for a twist — but right now, we're starting to get a solid look at what the playoffs will look like in a couple of months.