Loading in progress.. 
7 Oct 2022
The field for the Fall Classic is now set as 12 teams compete in the MLB Postseason to be crowned World Series Champions. The postseason kicks off with Wild Card weekend (October 7th – 9th), followed by the divisional round (October 11th – October 17th), then the Championship Series (October 18th – 26th), and ending with the World Series (October 28th – November 5th). This will be the largest field of teams in an MLB Postseason after the format was changed earlier this year. With the expanded format, some new teams are making their first postseason debut in quite some time, while a few perennial powerhouse clubs are continuing their return to October baseball.
The four best clubs (two each from the National League and American League) will receive first round byes in the playoffs, so we won’t see them until the divisional round. The two teams out of the American League are the Houston Astros (1 seed) and the New York Yankees (2 seed). Out of the National League will be the team with the best record in baseball, Los Angeles Dodgers (1 seed), and the defending World Series Champions Atlanta Braves (2 seed). These four teams are favorites to win it all and have been making consistent appearances in the postseason over the past few years.
The remaining eight teams will all be competing in the Wild Card round in a best of three series. On the American League side, we will see the Toronto Blue Jays (4 seed) taking on the Seattle Mariners (5 seed), who haven’t made a postseason appearance since 2001. The other American league matchup will be between the AL Central Champion Cleveland Guardians (3 seed) and the Tampa Bay Rays (6 seed). For the National League, the New York Mets (4 seed) will take on the San Diego Padres (5 seed), after the Mets lost their division title race to the Braves on the final week of the season. The final Wild Card matchup is between the NL Central Champion St. Louis Cardinals (3 seed) and the Philadelphia Phillies (6 seed).
Game times have not been determined for the postseason as of 10/5, but Wild Card weekend will have four matchups each day if necessary. Another change to this year’s postseason is that each Wild Card series game will take place at only one home ballpark, so there will only be games in Cleveland, Toronto, St. Louis, and New York City this round. This was done to limit travel and provide an advantage to the higher seeded teams. The later rounds in the playoffs will go back to normal with home/away games for each team, with the divisional round being a best-of-5 games series and the Championship/World Series rounds being a best-of-7 game series.