The New Era of the MLB Playoffs

If you’re like us, you love to watch MLB playoffs. Whether your team is the favorite or an underdog, it’s exciting to see who will advance to the next round in this new era for the MLB postseason format.

The new system, introduced in 2022, focuses on seeding and adding an extra round before the division series. Seeds are based on regular season record, and the two highest finishers in each league receive a bye in the first round of the playoffs (division series). The top seeds play the winner of the wild card matchup. The other four seeds are paired, with the lower-seeded team hosting Game 1 and playing on consecutive days. The higher-seeded team hosts Game 2 and, if necessary, Game 5.

Once the second round starts, the winners of each series are pitted against one another in the League Championship Series, which adopts a best-of-seven format. Traditionally, the team with the better record throughout the entire playoffs has home-field advantage.

Historically, the best teams in the American and National League have met in the World Series to determine a champion. This is a seven-game series, and each team plays home games at its own stadium for the first five games, and then alternates sites for Game 6 and Game 7. The first team to win four of these seven games is declared the world champion. This is a tradition that dates back to the founding of the American and National Leagues in 1876 and 1901, respectively.