How Many Teams Make The Major League Baseball Playoffs?

Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization. There are 30 teams in MLB, and each team plays 162 games during the regular season. The regular season starts in late March/early April and ends in late September/early October. At the end of the regular season, the top team in each division (there are three divisions in each league) automatically makes the playoffs. The next best team in each league (the team with the second best record) also makes the playoffs

The Structure of the MLB

The Major League Baseball playoffs are a tournament held after the conclusion of the MLB regular season to determine the pennant winners. The playoffs are divided into two parts, the American League Championship Series (ALCS) and the National League Championship Series (NLCS). Each series is a best-of-seven playoff.

The American League

The American League (AL) is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Midwest, which eventually aspired to major league status. It is sometimes called the Junior Circuit because it claimed Major League status in 1901, 25 years after the formation of the National League (NL).

The 2017 American League champion Boston Red Sox defeated the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2018 World Series. This was the fourth AL title for the Red Sox in 15 years.

The National League

The National League (NL) is one of the two major professional baseball leagues in North America, the other being the American League (AL). It operates under the umbrella of Major League Baseball (MLB), which also oversees the AL. A total of 15 teams play in the NL, with five in each of the league’s three divisions: East, Central, and West.

The winner of each divisional playoff series then advances to the best-of-seven NL Championship Series (NLCS), in which the divisional winner with the best regular-season record plays the wild-card team—i.e., the non-division-winning team with the best regular-season record. The winner of that series advances to Major League Baseball’s annualbest-of-seven World Series championship.

How the Playoffs Are Determined

The Major League Baseball playoffs are a best-of-seven tournament held after the conclusion of the regular season by the top four teams in each of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). These teams compete in two rounds of the playoffs, the AL and NL Division Series (ALDS and NLDS, respectively), and if successful they advance to the best-of-seven League Championship Series (ALCS and NLCS).

The Wild Card

In 2012, Major League Baseball expanded the playoffs to include two Wild Card teams in each league. The two Wild Card teams play each other in a one-game playoff, with the winner advancing to the Division Series to play the team that had the best record in their league.

The Wild Card was first introduced in 1994, when baseball realigned into three divisions in each league. At that time, the team with the best record in each league advanced to the World Series and the two second place teams played each other in what was then called the League Championship Series. With three divisions in each league, it became possible for a team to win its division but still have a worse record than another team in its league, so baseball added a fourth playoff team – the Wild Card.

The Division Series

In each League, the three Division winners and a “Wild Card” team (the club with the next best record, regardless of Division) make up the first round opponents. The Division Series is a two-out-of-three format with the Wild Card team playing at the home ballpark of the Division winner with the best record. The League Championship Series (ALCS and NLCS) features the winners of each League’s Division Series, and is a best-of-seven format played in a 2–3–2 home-field advantage sequence.

The World Series matches up the two League champions in a best-of-seven series. It is played in a 2–3–2 home field advantage sequence, meaning that if one team has home field advantage (either by winning their League’s pennant or by having a better regular season record than their opponent), that team will host Games 1, 2, 6 and 7, while their opponents will host Games 3, 4 and 5.

The League Championship Series

The League Championship Series (LCS) is a best-of-seven game series played between the two remaining teams in each respective league—the American League (AL) and the National League (NL)—after their Division Series have been completed. The AL winner plays the NL winner in the best-of-seven World Series.

In baseball, the playoffs are a series of elimination games played by the four teams that win their respective leagues’ regular season championships, who then compete to determine which two teams will play in the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series, the annual championship series of MLB.

The World Series

The modern World Series has been played every year since 1903. (There were two years, 1904 and 1994, when the Series was not held because thetwo pennant-winning teams could not agree on terms for player compensation.) The Series always pits the winner of the American League against the winner of the National League. In a typical year, each team plays 162 regular-season games between late April or early May and early October. The team with the best won-lost record in each league automatically earns one of the two berths in the World Series.

The remaining berth in each league is determined by a playoff system. In 2012, for example, there were two divisional playoff series (the winners of which advance to play each other in a best-of-seven “championship series”) followed by a single “wild card” game (in which the team with the best record among all non-division winners plays the divisional playoff winner with the worst record). The divisional playoff winners then play each other in a best-of-seven game “championship series” to determine which team will represent its respective league in that year’s World Series. The divisional and championship playoffs are played entirely within each league: no interleague play is involved.

The History of the MLB Playoffs

In 1903, the first World Series was played between the Boston Americans and the Pittsburg Pirates. The Boston Americans won, 5 games to 3. There was no playoff system in place at that time, so the Boston Americans were crowned the first ever World Series champions. In the years that followed, the World Series became the premier event in baseball and more and more teams began to compete for the title.

Expansion

The Major League Baseball playoffs are a best-of-seven series of elimination games played by the top four teams in each league—the American League (AL) and the National League (NL)—during October. The playoffs began in 1969, when both leagues were split into two divisions each. The winners of each division would meet in a best-of-five series to determine who would advance to the World Series. In 1985, the league championship series (LCS) was expanded to a best-of-seven format. In 1995, both the AL and NL added a second wild card team to their playoff systems, meaning that if both wild card teams won their divisional series, they would face each other in the LCS. The current playoff format was adopted in 2012, with each league having three divisional winners and two wild card teams. The two divisional winners with the best record in each league play each other in the LDS, while the other divisional winner and the wild card team with the better record play each other in the other LDS.

The MLB playoffs have seen many changes since their inception, but one thing has remained constant: they are always an exciting way to crown a champion.

Re-alignment

In 1994, Major League Baseball underwent asignificant change in the way the playoffs were structured. Up until that point, there were two divisional winners in each league who would face each other in the World Series. However, with the expansion of baseball to include teams in Arizona and Tampa Bay, as well as realignment of the divisions within each league, it was decided that a new system was needed to determine who would make it to baseball’s biggest stage.

Under the new system, four teams from each league would make the playoffs. The divisional winners would automatically qualify for the postseason, and then there would be two wild card teams – i.e., the two non-divisional winners with the best records – who would also make it in. These four teams would then be seeded according to their record, with the divisional winners getting 1 and 2 seeds and the wild card teams getting 3 and 4 seeds.

This new system has resulted in some very exciting playoff races over the years, as teams battle it out not only for division titles but also for those all-important wild card spots. It has also led to some unlikely World Series champions, such as the 2002 Anaheim Angels and the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals.

The Current Structure

Currently, the MLB playoffs consist of a best-of-seven series between the two division winners from each league. In order to ensure that both division winners receive an advantage in the postseason, the team with the better regular season record is given home-field advantage in the series. The team with home-field advantage begins the series with three home games, followed by four away games (if necessary).

The current structure of the MLB playoffs has been in place since 1995, when MLB expanded from two divisions to four divisions and realigned its playoff format accordingly. Prior to 1995, MLB had two rounds of playoffs: the League Championship Series (LCS) and the World Series. The LCS was a best-of-seven series between the winner of each division; the winner of each LCS then advanced to play in the World Series. With four divisions, MLB added a new round of playoffs, known as the Divisional Series (DS), which was also a best-of-seven series. The two DS winners from each league then advanced to play in their respective LCS.