After 161 games, it all comes down to this. Sunday marks the last day of the 2025 MLB regular season, and there are still three significant storylines in play as it all wraps up. 

One playoff spot is still up for grabs, and two division titles are on the line. What exactly is at stake on the final day of the regular season? 

Here are the top MLB storylines entering Sunday:

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Mets or Reds, who will win the final NL wild-card spot?

The task for the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday is simple. Win and they are in. On the final day of the 2025 MLB regular season, the Reds and New York Mets are still in contention for the final playoff spot. Both teams have 83-78 records entering Sunday, but the Reds hold the tiebreaker after winning the season series 4-2. If both teams finish with the same record, the Reds would secure the final playoff spot in the NL. The only thing that can sink Cincinnati is if they lose and the Mets win. In every other scenario, the Reds are in.

For the Mets, in order to stay alive, the team needs to win Sunday. A loss would immediately eliminate them, as they would, at best, have the same record as the Reds when the season ends. Even if the Mets win, though, the team would need the Reds to lose for New York to grab that final playoff spot. 

Can Yankees topple Blue Jays in AL East?

The New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays are in the playoffs, but only one team can win the AL East crown. New York and Toronto enter Sunday with 93-68 records. Toronto is in the driver’s seat there, as the team holds the tiebreaker over New York after taking the season series. All the Blue Jays need to do Sunday is win in order to secure the AL East title. They can also clinch the title if both teams lose.

The Yankees find themselves in a similar spot to the Mets. New York needs to win Sunday, but also needs the Blue Jays to lose in order for the Yankees to win the AL East.

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There’s a significant advantage to winning the division. Whichever team comes out on top Sunday will earn the No. 1 seed in the American League and would immediately get a bye until the division series. 

The team that wins the wild card would have to turn around and immediately play in a best-of-three series in the playoffs. 

Can Guardians beat Tigers for AL Central Crown?

The same scenario is in play in the AL Central. After a miraculous September comeback, the Cleveland Guardians have the edge Sunday. The team holds the tiebreaker over the Detroit Tigers for the AL Central crown. All Cleveland needs to do is win to clinch the division. Even if the Guardians lose, they can still win the AL Central if the Tigers also lose.

The Tigers must win Sunday to have a chance to win the division. Even then, they would also need to Guardians to lose in order to take the AL Central. If both teams finish with the same record, Detroit would receive a wild-card spot.

The team that wins the AL Central will be the No. 3 seed in the AL and will play in the wild-card round. They’ll have home-field advantage in that series, so there is plenty of incentive to win the division.

Sunday’s notable games

Detroit Tigers at Boston Red Sox, 3:05 p.m. ET
Baltimore Orioles at New York Yankees, 3:05 p.m. ET
Tampa Bay Rays at Toronto Blue Jays, 3:07 p.m. ET
Texas Rangers at Cleveland Guardians, 3:10 p.m. ET
New York Mets at Miami Marlins, 3:10 p.m. ET
Cincinnati Reds at Milwaukee Brewers, 3:10 p.m. ET

Al Horford leaving Celtics to join Warriors in free agency: Report originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

At long last, Al Horford’s time in Boston has come to an end.

The veteran big man has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Golden State Warriors in NBA free agency, his agent confirmed to ESPN’s Shams Charania on Sunday. After spending eight of his 18 NBA seasons with Boston (five in his second stint), Horford likely will end his illustrious career in a new uniform.

Horford confirmed his departure on Instagram, posting a farewell message to Boston fans:

Horford, who turned 39 on June 3, remained productive during the 2024-25 season despite his age. The five-time All-Star averaged 9.0 points over 42 regular-season games, then 8.0 points and 6.0 rebounds over 11 playoff appearances.

Above all else, the Celtics will miss Horford’s veteran leadership. Horford was beloved in Boston’s locker room, with superstar Jayson Tatum going as far as to call him his “favorite teammate.”

Horford’s absence will be glaring during what could be Boston’s most challenging season in years. Multiple pieces of the championship core already have been moved — the Celtics traded Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, then lost big man Luke Kornet in free agency — while Tatum will spend most (if not all) of the 2025-26 campaign recovering from a ruptured Achilles.

Tatum’s injury as well as the offseason departures of Holiday, Porzingis and Kornet factored into Horford’s decision to sign elsewhere, according to The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach, but it was still “quite hard” for Horford to leave Boston, “which he considers a second home,” Himmelsbach reported.

With Horford, Porzingis and Kornet out of the picture, Boston’s current frontcourt consists of Neemias Queta, Xavier Tillman Sr., free-agent addition Luka Garza and rookie Amari Williams.

Tatum’s latest workout video amid Achilles rehab has NBA world stunned originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

We now know why Jayson Tatum isn’t ruling out a return to action at some point in the 2025-26 season.

The Boston Celtics forward, who underwent surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon just over four months ago, posted a six-minute video to YouTube on Saturday that featured footage of him lacing up his brand-new Tatum 4s and doing actual basketball drills at the Auerbach Center in Boston.

The good stuff starts around the 5:10 mark, with a clip of Tatum deadlifting a large amount of weight before hitting the court for dribbling, shooting and running drills.

Did we mention that Tatum ruptured his Achilles — an injury that sidelines many professional athletes for a full year — in MAY??

The 27-year-old has attacked his recovery maniacally, however: After getting surgery just hours following his initial injury, Tatum stayed in Boston the entire offseason, essentially treating his rehab like a full-time job and taking only the occasional weekend trip throughout the summer.

Tatum’s hard work appears to be paying off, to the point where he’s leaving his fellow NBA superstars in awe. Houston Rockets superstar Kevin Durant, who tore his Achilles during the 2019 NBA Finals, reacted fittingly on X after seeing Tatum’s workout video:

“Insane. Let’s get it JT,” Durant wrote.

Of course, there’s still no guarantee Tatum will return to action this season. The Celtics likely will take a conservative approach with their superstar, and there are risks associated with throwing Tatum into the fire late in the regular season if Boston is fighting to make the playoffs.

But it’s clear that Tatum is hell-bent on returning to action as soon as possible — Tatum admitted to Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix he has a date “circled” on his calendar that he wants to return by — and at this rate, it’s hard not to envision his potential return becoming a serious storyline when the calendar flips to 2026.

How Al Horford addition gives Warriors something they’ve never had at center originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Walking into the Warriors’ locker room at Chase Center, looking directly to the left and seeing an emptiness to spaces Klay Thompson used to occupy was an unfillable void left behind by a legend last season. 

Kevon Looney isn’t headed for the Basketball Hall of Fame like Thompson. His locker room presence will be just as missed, or more, when turning to the right and seeing somebody else in that first spot that served as an invitation to laughs and real wisdom for teammates and media members alike. 

“Loon is everything I talked about in terms of committing to the team and sacrifice and getting through adversity,” Coach Steve Kerr said more than four months ago after the Warriors’ 2024-25 NBA season ended. “He is in many ways our moral compass in that regard.” 

The Boston Celtics will find themselves in a similar situation for the 2025-26 season. They’re already in a gap year knowing star forward Jayson Tatum is out for the season after tearing his Achilles in the second round of the NBA playoffs, deciding to make multiple trades and shed money over the offseason. Boston still will have a second star in Jaylen Brown to lean on, as well as Derrick White, Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard and a handful of other talented players. 

Who they won’t have is Al Horford, missing both his play and veteran leadership on and off the court. 

Brown will do his best replacing the talents of Tatum. Horford will be a different kind of absence, especially emotionally. 

“You can’t replace Al,” Pritchard said the day after the Celtics’ season ended. “I definitely hope we get that figured out because his locker room presence alone is just crucial. We definitely need him back.”

Horford isn’t coming back to Boston, he’s finally coming to the Bay Area to join the Warriors. Golden State and Horford, according to the center’s agent Jason Glushon, have committed to a multi-year contract.

Horford, 39 years old, in his own ways will have influence over the few young players on the Warriors, most notably for 25-year-old centers Quinten Post and Trayce Jackson-Davis. Plus, any help at center is a win for Draymond Green and his health for a full season. Horford also bring something the Warriors have never had at his position. 

Through Horford’s first eight NBA seasons, he attempted a total of 65 threes, making 21 for a 32.3 3-point percentage. Everything changed for him the next year in the 2015-16 season, the same season that Steph Curry won his second consecutive NBA MVP while making a record 402 threes – taking 886 shots from beyond the arc. 

That also was the season Horford took nearly four times as many threes as he had his first eight years in the NBA. Horford went from a total of 65 3-point attempts for his career to making 88 and taking 256 in one season. He now has made the fourth-most threes (877) by a center in NBA history, behind only Karl-Anthony Towns, Brook Lopez and Nikola Vučević, in that order. Horford has made at least 100 threes in each of the last three seasons while connecting on 40.9 percent of them.

This past season he only played 60 games, a career low for a full season, yet still made his second-most threes (114) and also attempted his second most (314). 

Post was an afterthought for the Warriors last season as a rookie until late January. It didn’t take long to notice what a change his ability to stretch the floor as a center made for the Warriors. Post played 42 regular-season games and went 73 of 179 (40.8 percent) on threes. His prowess from deep as a center was a revelation in the Curry era. 

The 73 threes Post made were the second-most ever by a center to play with Curry, one behind Dario Šarić’s 74 two seasons ago in 64 games. Aside from them, we’re talking about Nemanja Bjelica making 54 threes in the Warriors’ 2021-22 NBA championship season, Omari Spellman making 43 in their 15-win 2019-20 season when Curry only played five games, DeMarcus Cousins making 26 in 2018-19 and Marreese Speights draining 24 in 2015-16. 

Just like in Boston last season, Horford likely won’t play both games of a back-to-back for Golden State, putting more of an emphasis on needed leaps from Post and Jackson-Davis. Horford isn’t the same lockdown defender he once was, but still can be highly effective on that end. He isn’t going to erase the legacy Looney created over his decade as a Warrior. 

Between Kerr and Horford’s new Warriors teammates, that won’t be asked of him. They’ve seen and heard what kind of leader Horford is and won’t want him to change a thing. The Warriors also know what Horford still brings to the hardwood and the history he has against them. 

In the 25 regular-season games Horford has played against the Warriors, he has averaged 14.9 points and 9.4 rebounds, both being career bests of his vs. any team. 

Horford, even at his age, is the player the Warriors had to add this offseason as much as anybody else.

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Al Horford committed to signing multi-year Warriors contract, per agent originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

With Jonathan Kuminga’s situation potentially nearing a resolution, the Warriors finally have added big man Al Horford to the mix.

The 19-year NBA veteran has committed to signing a multi-year contract with Golden State, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Sunday, citing Horford’s agent, Jason Glushon.

Horford entered the offseason as one of the league’s top unrestricted free agents after spending the last four seasons with the Celtics — his second stint in Boston. He seemingly will replace longtime Warriors center Kevon Looney, who signed a two-year, $16 million contract with the New Orleans Pelicans at the start of free agency.

The 39-year-old is a career 37.7-percent shooter from 3-point range and a valiant defender. A 2024 NBA champion with the Celtics, Horford averaged 9.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 0.9 blocks during the 2024-25 season, where he admirably played in 60 regular-season games and started in 42 of them. Horford stands as one of five active players with 750-plus triples and 1,000-plus blocks.

Horford’s floor-spacing abilities should fit right into Warriors coach Steve Kerr’s offense centered around superstar Steph Curry. The center, too, should help Golden State combat the shooting limitations that come when co-stars Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green are on the floor, especially at the same time.

The newfound partnership in the Bay makes sense. Boston seems out of contention for the near future with star forward Jayson Tatum recovering from a ruptured Achilles, and Golden State is trying to climb the mountain once again, aiming for a fifth title in 12 seasons.

Horford, entering Year 19, doesn’t have time to waste, making the Warriors a fitting destination for him.

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