How does the MLB playoff Work?

Baseball is one of the most popular games globally, especially in America, with the teams fighting for the ultimate glory in the game, i.e., lifting the championship every year. For that, they have to go through several rigours of playing several games and to top it off. There is a playoff rule for the teams to qualify and get a chance to win the championships in the best possible manner. This is one of the major features of the American League that makes it such a competitive format in baseball.

Several rules formulate the overall format for the teams to reach the playoffs. As we know, it is a relegation tournament that is held at the end of the regular season in Major League Baseball. Ten teams qualify for the playoffs each year – five from each of the two leagues that make up MLB, the American League and the National League. The top six teams that win each of the divisions, namely, AL East, AL Central, AL West, NL East, NL Central and NL West, become eligible for the playoffs automatically.

Now the remaining four teams have to battle it out among themselves to reach the playoffs. These teams are known as wild cards and can qualify from the AL and NL depending on the compilation of the best regular-season records without winning their division. This is one of the biggest competitions in MLB that makes it worthwhile for the fans to come to the stadiums and support their teams in the best possible manner, thus helping their teams to reach the playoffs and fight for the ultimate prize in Major League Baseball every season.

Now coming to the first round of the matches to compete and qualify for the playoffs, there is a preliminary round in which the wild card teams from each league face off in single-elimination games. The two winners of the Wild Card Games advance to the Division Series – the first proper round of the playoffs. The winners of the Wild Card Games play the team in their league with the best regular-season record, while the other two remaining teams in each league play each other.

The two winners of the Division Series from each league then advance to the League Championship Series, the semi-final stage, known as the ALCS and the NLCS. The winners of the ALCS and NLCS, the American League champions and National League champions, then advance to the World Series. The World Series is also a best-of-seven game series, and the first team to win four games is declared champions for that year.

From the above lines, we get a clear picture of how the MLB playoffs work and how competitive the scenario is when it comes to the qualification of the teams for the playoffs in Major League Baseball. This feature of MLB actually makes it such a popular game among its fans all over the world.