How Many Baseball Teams Will Make The Playoffs This Year?

It’s that time of year again! Time to start thinking about baseball and which teams will make the playoffs. How many teams do you think will make it this year?

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is a professional baseball organization, the oldest of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. A total of 30 teams play in the National League (NL) and American League (AL), with 15 teams in each league. The NL and AL were formed as separate legal entities in 1876 and 1901, respectively.

The teams

Major League Baseball is back for another season and there are a few teams that have already started to separate themselves from the pack. The Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston Astros, and New York Yankees all look like they’re going to be fighting for the title of best team in baseball this year. But, there are a few other teams who could make a run at the playoffs as well. Here are the teams that I think have a chance to make the playoffs this year.

The Atlanta Braves have been one of the best teams in baseball over the past few years and they look like they’re going to be good again this year. They have a solid lineup, led by Freddie Freeman, and a pitching staff that includes some young, up-and-coming stars like Mike Soroka and Max Fried. I think they’re going to win the National League East and earn a spot in the playoffs.

The Cleveland Indians are another team that has been near the top of the American League for a few years now. They have a talented roster, led by Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez, and a deep pitching staff headlined by Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer. I think they’re going to win the American League Central and make it back to the playoffs this year.

The Seattle Mariners haven’t been relevant for many years now, but they made some big changes this offseason and they could be a dark horse team in 2019. They added slugger Edwin Encarnacion to their lineup, which already includes young stars like Mitch Haniger and Jean Segura. They also have a solid pitching staff, anchored by James Paxton and Felix Hernandez. I think they could sneak into one of the Wild Card spots in the American League this year.

The standings

As of September 26th, 2020, here are the MLB standings. The top team from each division automatically makes the playoffs, and then the two remaining teams with the best records receive Wild Card spots.

A look at the standings heading into the final week of the regular season:

NL East: Braves (clinched division)
NL Central: Cubs (clinched division)
NL West: Dodgers (clinched division)

NL Wild Card 1: Marlins (leading Brewers by 1.5 games for second spot)
NL Wild Card 2: Brewers (leading Cardinals by 0.5 game for first spot)

AL East: Yankees (clinched division)
AL Central: White Sox (clinched division)
AL West: Athletics (leading Astros by 1 game for first spot)

AL Wild Card 1: Rays (leading Indians by 1 game for first spot)
AL Wild Card 2: Twins (leading Royals by 3 games for second spot)

The playoffs

The playoffs are a best-of-seven series played between the two league champions and two wild-card teams.

The Wild Card teams

In baseball, the two teams with the best record in each league who did not win their division advance to the postseason via what are called wild cards. These teams play each other in a one-game playoff. The winner of that game advances to the Division Series, where they play one of the division winners.

The Divisional series

The Major League Baseball playoffs are a postseason tournament held after the conclusion of the MLB regular season. As of 2012, the playoffs consist of four rounds: the National League Division Series (NLDS), the American League Division Series (ALDS), the National League Championship Series (NLC), and the World Series. The NLDS and ALDS use a best-of-five game format, while the NLC and World Series use a best-of-seven game format.

The League Championship series

The League Championship Series (LCS) is a best-of-seven playoff pitting the two best teams from each league against each other to determine who will advance to the World Series.

In recent years, the LCS has been a best-of-seven series played over a nine-day period in October. The schedule is arranged so that there are two off-days built in, one after Game 2 and another after Game 5.

This year, the LCS is scheduled to begin on October 13 and conclude on October 21.

The World Series

The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in North America, contested since 1903 between the American League (AL) champion team and the National League (NL) champion team. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff, and the winning team is awarded the Commissioner’s Trophy. As the series is played during the fall season in North America, it is sometimes referred to as the Fall Classic.

The predictions

It’s that time of year again. The time when baseball fans’ hearts are broken as their teams fall just short of the playoffs. This year, there are a few teams that seem to have a real shot at making the playoffs. Let’s take a look at the predictions.

The experts

Despite the shortened season, there are still a lot of moving parts and a lot of things that can go wrong. So what do the experts think? Here are the predictions from some of the top baseball analysts.

ESPN’s Buster Olney is predicting that the Yankees, Twins, Astros, A’s, Indians, Rays, Chicago White Sox, and Toronto Blue Jays will make the playoffs.

Baseball Prospectus is a bit more cautious with their predictions. They have the Yankees, Twins, Astros, A’s, Indians, Tampa Bay Rays , Chicago White Sox , and Toronto Blue Jays making the playoffs. But they also have the Cleveland Indians , Milwaukee Brewers , Los Angeles Dodgers , and San Francisco Giants as teams “on the bubble” that could make a push for a playoff spot.

Finally, FanGraphs has nearly identical predictions to Baseball Prospectus. They have the Yankees, Twins, Astros (the only team they have winning their division), A’s , Indians , Rays , White Sox , and Blue Jays making the playoffs. They also have the Indians , Brewers , Dodgers , and Giants as teams “on the bubble” with a chance to make the playoffs .

The fans

The fans have spoken, and they think the New York Yankees will take home the World Series this year. The Yankees are favored to win it all by nearly 30 percent of respondents, with the Houston Astros (12 percent) and Los Angeles Dodgers (11 percent) rounding out the top three.

The results

Of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball, 10 make the playoffs each year. This year, there are a few new teams that have a chance of making it to the postseason. The Houston Astros, Boston Red Sox, and New York Yankees are all teams to watch out for.

The Wild Card teams

This year, there are ten teams vying for the five playoff spots in Major League Baseball. In the American League, the Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros have already clinched their divisional titles, and the Yankees have clinched a spot in the AL Wild Card game. The Cleveland Indians are on the verge of clinching their division (the AL Central), which would leave the Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, and Tampa Bay Rays to battle it out for the final two playoff spots.

In the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers have clinched their division (the NL West), and the Atlanta Braves have clinched a spot in the NL Wild Card game. The Chicago Cubs are on the verge of clinching their division (the NL Central), which would leave the Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, and Colorado Rockies to battle it out for the final two playoff spots.

The two Wild Card teams will face off against each other in a one-game playoff, with the winner advancing to play one of the divisional winners in a five-game series.

The Divisional series

The Divisional series is the first step of the playoffs. In this series, the teams that won their respective divisions face each other. The teams that win in the Divisional series advance to the League Championship series.

The League Championship series

In Major League Baseball, the playoffs are a best-of-seven series between the two winners of each league’s divisional series, played under playoff rules. The four team survivors then progress to a best-of-seven league championship series.

The World Series

The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in North America, contested since 1903 between the American League (AL) champion team and the National League (NL) champion team. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff, and the winning team is awarded the Commissioner’s Trophy. As the series is played during the fall season in North America, it is sometimes referred to as the Fall Classic.