The MLB season is in a full sprint to the end of the season on Oct. 5; teams and players are trying to get in the best position they can before postseason play. Whether it’s Aaron Judge trying to set a new home run record in the American League or Albert Pujols getting past 700 career home runs, it’s all about the same thing, a playoff push. But what about the new playoff format for this season and the matchups for the first round of the playoffs.

For this season, the MLB adopted a new collective bargaining agreement and in that agreement, the team owners and players agreed to expand the postseason. The new format now includes six teams from the American League and the National League, that includes the three division winners in AL and NL and three wild card teams. The two best division winners will be ranked as the number 1 and number 2 seeds and will get a bye into the Division Series, the division winner with the worst record will become the number 3 seed and will play the 6 seed, which is the wild card team with the worst record. Whoever wins that series will go on to play the number 2 seed. And the two best wild card teams will become the number 4 and number 5 seeds, whoever wins that series will end up playing the number one seed. 

The current playoff picture looks like this. The number one seed Houston Astros and the number two seed New York Yankees have the best records in the American League and have clinched a bye into the Division Series. The number three seed Cleveland Guardians will play the number six seed Tampa Bay Rays and the number four Toronto Blue Jays will play the number five seed Seattle Mariners in the American League Wild Card Series. 

In the National League, the number one seed Los Angeles Dodgers and the number two seed Atlanta Braves have clinched byes because they have the two best records in the NL. The number three seed St. Louis Cardinals will play the number six seed Philadelphia Phillies and the number four seed New York Mets will play the number five seed San Diego Padres in the National League Wild Card Series.