4 teams that could land in the crossover spot in the 2026 Grey Cup Playoffs

Week 18 is upon us in the CFL and the playoff picture is beginning to come together nicely.

In Week 14 the Montreal Alouettes were the first CFL team to clinch a playoff spot and will host a playoff game. In the following two weeks, Edmonton and Toronto both punched their tickets to the November sprint. And last week the West to East crossover was confirmed for the second-straight season.

As a reminder, the crossover rule states that if the fourth-place team in Division A (West in this case) has more points than the third-place team in Division B (East in this case), the West team will cross over and take the place of the third-place team from the East in terms of playoff seeding.

Last year the Winnipeg Blue Bombers played that role as they bumped the Toronto Argonauts from postseason play and went to Montreal for the Eastern Semi-Final, where they fell to the Alouettes. The Als then carried their momentum through Hamilton in the Eastern Final before eventually losing in the 113th Grey Cup to Saskatchewan.

With the crossover confirmed, the question now becomes who will take the trip East in 2026?

Much of this comes down to momentum, and not sliding backwards into a playoff opportunity. With so many highly competitive matchups in the West this year, and more on tap as we head down The Final Stretch, you have to wonder which club would be best suited to a crossover opportunity and how they might get there. With this being the final year of the current playoff structure, wouldn't it be poetic to see a West club make it to the Grey Cup for the first time ever via crossover?

Let’s take a look who could cross over.

SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS

Calgary heads to Saskatchewan this week in what feels like another must-have game for the Stampeders, who officially sit last in the division currently. If Calgary pulls off the victory, don’t look now, but they’d have just as many wins as Saskatchewan! Adding to the importance of a win this week is the fact that the Roughriders are heading for a possible playoff preview against Montreal next week. That's followed up with a home-and-home against the Montreal Alouettes and they finish their regular season against the West’s top club, Edmonton.

With so many top-flight opponents over the final month of the CFL season, could the Roughriders charge towards Edmonton and make Week 21 interesting in terms of who gets the bye. Or will they slide backwards and potentially see Montreal a third time over a month on the East side of the playoff bracket?

BC LIONS

The Canadian Football League’s hottest club over the last few months is the BC Lions. Charging their way to 8-6, the Lions have a potential Eastern Semi-Final preview in Toronto on Saturday, before welcoming the currently winless REDBLACKS to Vancouver in Week 19. Then they head to Calgary the following week, before finishing at home against Winnipeg in Week 21.

A victory against the REDBLACKS is a must given the opponent's record and home-field advantage, but that’s where things get interesting. Depending on how Saskatchewan plays over the next month and their impact on Calgary’s standing location, the potential exists for Week 21 to be a stay West or go East kind of game for Rourke and the Leos.

WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS

It's been such a strange year for Winnipeg with their home losses, but they’ve rounded into form in various phases as the season has progressed and will finish up in Montreal, host Calgary, then travel to Edmonton and BC.

With just one home game remaining and the West standings so tight, I’ll be interested to see what the tension at Princess Auto Stadium is like with fans knowing it might be their final chance to see a home game this season.

Could Winnipeg become road warriors and dominate the crossover with lessons learned from last postseason? A good place to start would be a victory over the Alouettes in Montreal this week.

CALGARY STAMPEDERS

Here’s the dark, cold reality of the CFL postseason in 2026: A very good West Division team is going to get left behind as a direct result of the next four weeks.

Currently, it’s the Calgary Stampeders, who know they should be in a better place, but have struggled to find consistency all season long.

The Red and White finish with three games, starting this week in Saskatchewan, then at Winnipeg next week before wrapping up Week 20 at home against BC. Needless to say, each of those three matchups carries maximum weight due to the current shape of playoff seeding.