While a lot can happen between now and when the playoffs begin on Oct. 7, that’s what the outlook looks like going into Friday.
Reminder: As part of the new collective bargaining agreement with the Players Association, Major League Baseball expanded the number of teams in the postseason from 10 to 12 before the 2022 campaign. Both the AL and LN now have three Wild Card spots (up from two). , while the top two seeds in each league advance directly to the Division Series. The other four teams will be drawn in a best-of-three Wild Card Series, with all challenges played at the home of the top seed and the winners advancing to the Division Series.
IF THE SEASON ENDED TODAY:
AL Wild Card Series (begins Oct. 7)
Best of three games (all in the house of the top seed)
Sailors (6) at Guardians’ house (3)
Rays (5) at Blue Jays (4)
Astros (1) and Yankees (2) rest and advance directly to the Division Series
NL Wild Card Series (begins Oct. 7)
Best of three games (all in the house of the top seed)
Phillies (6) at Cardinals (3)
Padres (5) at Braves (4)
Dodgers (1) and Mets (2) rest and advance directly to the Division Series
LA Division Series (begins Oct. 11)
Best of five games
Rays/Blue Jays starting at Astros’ home
Mariners/Guardians starting at Yankees home
NL Division Series (begins Oct. 11)
Best of five games
Padres/Braves starting at Dodgers home
Phillies/Cardinals starting at Mets’ home
Who already secured their pass: Dodgers, Astros, Mets, Braves, Yankees, Guardians and Cardinals.
Who’s next: The Blue Jays’ (87-68) magic number to advance to the postseason is 1.
Red Sox 5, Orioles 3
Cubs 2, Phillies 0
Guardians 2, Rays 1
Marlins 4, Brewers 2
Dodgers 5, Padres 2
Mariners 10, Padres 9
Most fought races and tiebreaker criteria
East of the LN: The Mets have a one-game lead over the Braves. The Mets currently lead the particular series 9-7 and would clinch the lead at tie time* by winning one of three games against Atlanta this weekend.
AL Wild Card: The Blue Jays lead the Rays by 1.5 games for the first Wild Card, the Mariners have a 0.5 lead over the Rays and Tampa Bay leads the Orioles by 5 games for the third spot.
Battle for the crops: TB has an advantage when it comes to a tie over TOR (10-9) and SEA (5-2); Seattle has advantage over TOR (5-2) and BAL (4-2)
NL Wild Card: Padres lead Phillies by 2.5 games for second Wild Card, Phillies lead Brewers by 0.5 games for third.
Battle for the crops: FIL has an advantage at the time of a tie over SD (4-3) and MIL (4-2); SD has advantage over MIL (4-3)
*Note: Under this new playoff system, no extra games will be played to break ties. All ties, including those for division titles and postseason berths, will be decided by a series of tiebreakers, the first of which will be the particular series record between the clubs in question.
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Postseason overview: Bracket, tiebreakers and more