What is the new format? MLB will implement a 12-team playoff bracket, featuring six teams from each league, rather than last year’s format with 10 teams (five from each league). Each side of the bracket will have three division winners and three wild-card teams.
The winners of the American League Championship Series (ALCS) and the National League Championship Series (NLCS) play each other in the best-of-seven World Series. The current system allows for up to 54 postseason games and at least 32 games.
The four wild-card round participants in each league comprise the division winner with the worst record among division winners and the three non-division winners with the best records. That division winner is automatically the No. 3 seed regardless of whether one or all of the other wild-card teams has a better record.
The top two division winners in each league will receive byes to the Division Series. The other four teams in each league will play best-of-three series in the Wild Card round, with the higher seed hosting all three games.
The new format will do away with the single wild-card game, and instead pit the third-best division winner against the last team in while the best and second-best wild-card winners play each other. These games will all be played in a three-game series’ hosted by the team with the better record.
The new, 12-team playoff format
The postseason field grows from 10 teams to 12 teams with the addition of an extra wild-card entrant in each league. The Wild Card Game has been replaced by the best-of-three Wild Card Series, which functions as the first round of play.
In Major League Baseball (MLB), the wild card teams are the three teams in each of the two leagues (American and National) that have qualified for the postseason despite failing to win their division.
The World Series pits the champion of the American League against the champion of the National League to determine an overall winner. Each league is divided into three divisions each – West, Central and East. The team with the best record in each division gets an automatic playoff berth.
The Division Series consists of two best-of-five series, featuring two of the division winners and the winners of the wild-card play-off.
AL/NL first-round series (best of three): Oct. 7-Oct. 9. NLDS (best of five): Oct. 11, 12, 14, with remaining games Oct. 15-16 if necessary. ALDS (best of five): Oct. 11, 13, 15, with remaining games Oct. 16-17 if necessary.
The Wild Card game is a playoff game between two teams that didn’t win their respective league. In the NFL, all teams playing Wild Card games can participate in the Super Bowl.
The top two seeds of the American and National leagues will receive first-round byes into the Division Series (DS) and the other two division winners will be the third seed in their respective league. The three Wild Card teams will be the fourth, fifth and sixth seeds.
How many teams in each league make the MLB playoffs? Six teams from each league qualify for the postseason, three division winners and three Wild Card winners. The top two seeds in each league receive first-round byes to advance to the Division Series.
The Blue Jays enter the series in the top wild card spot in the American League, two games ahead of the Rays and 2.5 up on the Seattle Mariners, who also are struggling.
Beginning with the 2012 playoffs, the MLB added a single elimination wild card game to both the American League and National League. This is not a series, as is the case with the remainder of the playoff matches, but instead one elimination game where the winner moves on and the loser is eliminated.
There are six wild card team in the MLB playoffs. Under the new MLB collective-bargaining agreement, the postseason was expanded starting in 2022. There are three wild card teams in the NL and thee teams in the AL. Each wild card team with the lowest seed faces the division winner with the lowest record.
The top three seeds in each league are the three division winners. The division winners are always assigned seeds No 1 through No 3, per their relative winning percentages. The wild cards in each league are the three teams with the best winning percentages among non-division winning teams.
Teams will play 13 games against each of 4 opponents within its division (52 games), as well as 6 games each against 6 of the other 10 opponents within its own league and 7 games each against 4 of the other 10 opponents within its own league (64 games).
World Series Champions
Year | Winner | Runner-Up |
---|---|---|
2022 | – | – |
2021 | Atlanta Braves | Houston Astros |
2020 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Tampa Bay Rays |
2019 | Washington Nationals | Houston Astros |
The Yankees clinched a playoff spot in the opener of a four-game series with their rivals as they look to put the AL East race out of reach. The Dodgers have the franchise single-season wins record within reach entering a matchup with a Cardinals team on the verge of wrapping up the NL Central title.
The 2-3-2 playoff format has been utilized in the World Series since 1924 and in MLB’s League Championship Series since 1998.
The Division Series is the quarterfinal round of the Major League Baseball playoffs. Four series are played in this round, two each for both the American League and the National League.
In baseball, a series refers to two or more consecutive games played between the same two teams. Historically and currently, professional baseball season revolves around a schedule of series, each typically lasting three or four games.
NLDS are a maximum of five games. Each series contains a minimum of three games and two additional games as needed. The first team in each series to three wins takes the series and moves on to the NLCS. As in a typical best of five series, the number of wins dictates the number of games in the series.