Looking at the four teams battling for the wild card in the National League

Barring a history-making collapse, the Nationals are going to clinch the National League East. The Chicago Cubs are dominating the NL Central.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are leaders in the NL West, but the San Francisco Giants, despite a miserable record since the All-Star break, are hanging in there.

The Dodgers and Giants play six games in the final days, likely meaning nothing will be settled until the final weekend when the Dodgers go to San Francisco.

And while the American League wild-card race is wide open, the NL version is down to four teams.

Here's the nutshell on each:

Los Angeles: Rookie manager Dave Roberts is going to be strong candidate for NL Manager of the Year because his leadership has the Dodgers in first place, even though they've had a list of rotation injuries, including Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Brandon McCarthy, Scott Kazmir and Brett Anderson. Kershaw, was who sidelined with a back injury, returned pitching three innings in Miami. He'll have likely four starts to get his mojo back. The rotation has been relying on two rookies: Jose De Leon, who made his second big-league start Monday in New York, and 20-year-old Julio Urias, who has a 3.69 ERA. ... If the playoffs started today, the Dodgers would likely go with Kershaw, Kenta Maeda and Rich Hill in their first three slots. ... The Dodgers have the ability to score. They have four players - Joc Pederson, Yamani Grandal, Corey Seager and Justin Turner - with at least 20 home runs, the first time that's happened for the Dodgers since 2001.

New York: The Mets, who have won six consecutive series, went into this week as one of the wild card teams, even though they are redefining amazing. Consider their rotation is hardly recognizable after winning the NL pennant last season: Matt Harvey is gone, Jacob de Grom might pitch in relief and Steve Matz is on the disabled list, leaving Noah Syndergaard, Bartolo Colon, Rafael Montero, Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman. Montero, who couldn't get out of the second inning Monday against the Nationals, had a 7.20 ERA at Triple-A Las Vegas when he was promoted. Lugo was at 6.50 and Gsellman 5.73. ... As he did last season in the second half, Yoenis Cespedes is leading the offensive charge. Jay Bruce, acquired from Cincinnati in a July trade, was supposed to bat in the middle of the order, but hasn't hit, so he was dropped to sixth. ... The Mets have the schedule in their favor. After leaving D.C., they don't play a team with a winning record the rest of the way. They play the Phillies seven times, and the Braves, Twins are Marlins three each. ... Their goal is to win a wild card spot and then have Syndergaard ready for the one-game playoff.

St. Louis: The Cardinals are defined by their inconsistent play. Since mid-June, they've only had two winning streaks of more than three wins. Each was a five-game winning streak. ...The Cardinals' key stretch begins Thursday when they start a three-city trip to San Francisco, Colorado and Chicago at a time when the Mets are playing teams with losing records. ... The Cardinals have a list of problems: Brandon Moss, one of their best power hitters, has slumped during September, and Matt Holliday (thumb) is unsure when he'll return from the disabled list. ... The rotation's leader, Adam Wainwright, is coming off a 6.10 ERA during August. ... Pitcher Michael Wacha is expected to return from the disabled this week, but the team isn't sure what to expect. ... Closer Seung Hwan Oh, who took over for Trevor Rosenthal, is battling a groin injury.

San Francisco: It is difficult to believe that the Giants led the NL West by 6 1/2 games at the All-Star break and were in the league's top five for run production. The reason for the fall includes a thin bullpen, injuries, lack of offense and inconsistency at the back of the rotation. ...They went 21-5 in May and 17-10 in June and haven't had winning record, although they went into Monday 5-5 for September. ... The Giants hope to build on road weekend sweep in Arizona when they return home to play 13 of their final 20 games. Their sweep of the D-Backs was their first three-game winning streak since July 8-10. ... Giants manager Bruce Bochy will use a closer-by-committee approach, never the best idea for a contender in the final weeks. ... Hunter Pence, the Giants' sparkplug, is hitting .385 in September and his bat could re-energize the lineup. ... Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto lead the rotation. Bumgarner has 19 strikeouts and a walk in his last two starts. Cueto has given up three runs in his last two starts.