It’s official, the regular 2023 Major League baseball season has come to an end, but all it means is that the playoffs just started.
In the MLB, thirty teams are divided into two leagues: the American and National League. Within the two leagues, the teams are divided into three divisions: East, Central, and West, with five teams being divided into each.
In this year’s regular season, there were some notable and disappointing teams. This year from the American League, the Baltimore Orioles clinched the AL East with an astonishing record of 101-61, the Minnesota Twins clinched the AL Central with an 87-75 record, and the Houston Astros clinched the AL West with a 90- 72 record (had the same record as the Texas Rangers but they held the tiebreaker by virtue of a better head- to head record). From this year’s National League, the Atlanta Braves clinched the NL East with the highest record of this season of 104-48, the Milwaukee Brewers clinched the NL Central with a 92-70 record, and the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the NL West with a 100-62 record.
Ever since the 2022 season, there has been a significant change as to how Wild Card games go. MLB introduced a third wild card team in each league which is formatted by the top two division winners in each league receiving a bye to the Division Series, while the lowest-seeded division winner and the three wild card teams play in the Wild Card Series. This round is a best-of-three series, with the higher-seeded team hosting all three games.
The format of the postseason is:
- Win the Wild Card Series (only needed for some teams)
- Win American/National League Division Series
- Win the American/National League Championship Series
- Win the World Series
If you want to know how the postseason teams are doing, check it out here!
