How Many Games Left In The Baseball Season?
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Even with an expanded baseball season, every game counts. Here’s a look at how many games each team has left to play.
How the baseball season is structured
The baseball season is a long one. It starts in April and ends in October. There are 162 games in a season. That means that each team plays almost every day for six months!
The regular season
The regular season is when all 30 Major League Baseball teams play 162 games each, which totals 2,430 games. These games are played over a six-month period from late March/early April ( Opening Day) to late September/early October (the end of the regular season). The regular season is then followed by the Postseason, which consists of the AL and NL Wild Card Games, the AL and NL Divisional Series, the AL and NL Championship Series, and finally the World Series.
The post-season
The baseball season is structured around a series of playoffs, culminating in the World Series. The playoffs, also known as the post-season, traditionally involve the ten best teams from each league. In recent years, however, this has been expanded to include two wildcard teams from each league (for a total of 12).
The playoffs are structured in a best-of-seven format, meaning that the team with the most wins over the course of seven games advances to the next round. In the event of a tie, an extra game or games are played until one team emerges victorious.
The first round of the playoffs is known as the Wild Card Round and features the two wildcard teams from each league facing off against each other. The winner of each game advances to the next round, where they play one of the divisional leaders.
The next round is called the Divisional Series, and it features two best-of-seven series between divisional rivals. The winners of those series then advance to the League Championship Series (LCS), where they compete in another best-of-seven matchup.
Finally, the last two teams standing face off in the World Series, a best-of-seven showdown to determine which team is crowned champion for that year.
How many games are in a baseball season?
A Major League Baseball season consists of 162 games for each of the 30 teams in the American League and National League.
The regular season
The regular season of Major League Baseball (MLB) is 162 games long, which starts in late March or early April and ends in late September or early October. Each team plays 161 games, except for the two teams in the World Series, which play 163.
The post-season
Even though the playoffs are sometimes unpredictable, the suspense is usually high as the best teams in each league compete for the chance to play in the World Series. The format has changed several times since baseball’s early days, but since 1969, it has consisted of four rounds: the Wild Card Game, the Division Series, the League Championship Series, and finally, the World Series.
The Wild Card Game is a one-game showdown between the two teams with the best record in each league who did not win their division. The winner of that game goes on to play the team with the best record in their league in the Division Series.
The Division Series is a best-of-five series between the two surviving teams from the Wild Card Game. The League Championship Series is a best-of-seven series between the winners of each Division Series.
Finally, the World Series is a best-of-seven series between the winners of each League Championship Series. The team that wins four games first is crowned champion of Major League Baseball.
How the baseball season affects the playoffs
The Wild Card
In baseball, the wild card is a designation given to the team(s) with the best record(s) who did not win their division. In other words, it’s a backup plan for teams that didn’t quite make the playoffs.
There are two wild card spots in each league (American and National), and the teams that occupy them face each other in a one-game playoff. The winner of that game goes on to play the team with the best record in their league in the Divisional Series.
Thewild card was introduced in 1994, and since then it has become an integral part of Major League Baseball. It has also added an extra layer of excitement to the final weeks of the regular season, as teams battle not only for division titles but also for those coveted wild card spots.
The Divisional Series
The Divisional Series is the first round of the playoffs. It is a best-of-five series played between the two division winners of each league. The team with the better record plays at home for games one, two, and five (if necessary). The other team plays at home for games three and four (if necessary).
In 2014, there were four teams in each division (East, West, Central, and Wild Card). The division winners were the Kansas City Royals (west), Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (west), Baltimore Orioles (east), and Detroit Tigers (central). The wild card teams were the Oakland Athletics (west) and Seattle Mariners (west) in the American League and the Pittsburgh Pirates (central) and San Francisco Giants (west) in the National League.
The first round of playoffs began on October 1st with the Wild Card game. The following day, the Divisional Series began.
The League Championship Series
The League Championship Series (LCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two round playoffs of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, which culminate in the World Series. It is played by the winners of the divisional 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.
