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Major League Baseball’s postseason is a 12-team tournament that starts with the Wild Card Series and ends with the World Series. The format rewards division winners, gives the top seeds a first-round bye and still leaves room for three Wild Card teams from each league.
How many teams make the MLB playoffs?
Twelve teams qualify: six from the American League and six from the National League. In each league, the field includes the three division winners plus three Wild Card teams.
How MLB postseason seeding works
- No. 1 seed: division winner with the best record in the league.
- No. 2 seed: division winner with the second-best record.
- No. 3 seed: remaining division winner.
- No. 4 seed: Wild Card team with the best record.
- No. 5 seed: second Wild Card.
- No. 6 seed: third Wild Card.
The Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in each league receive byes through the Wild Card round and advance directly to the Division Series.
Wild Card Series
The No. 3 seed hosts the No. 6 seed, while the No. 4 seed hosts the No. 5 seed. Each matchup is a best-of-three series, and all games are played at the higher seed’s ballpark. The winners advance; the losers are eliminated.
Division Series
The Division Series is best-of-five. The No. 1 seed faces the winner of the 4-vs-5 Wild Card Series, and the No. 2 seed faces the winner of the 3-vs-6 series. MLB does not reseed the bracket after the Wild Card Series.
League Championship Series
The two surviving teams in each league meet in the American League Championship Series or National League Championship Series. Each LCS is best-of-seven. The winners become league champions and advance to the World Series.
World Series
The World Series is a best-of-seven championship between the AL champion and NL champion. For 2026, MLB says the team with the better regular-season record hosts Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 if those final games are necessary.
What happens if teams finish tied?
MLB no longer uses a separate Game 163 to break regular-season ties for playoff spots or seeding. Since the expanded postseason format was introduced, standings ties are resolved through predetermined tiebreakers, beginning with head-to-head results and moving through additional criteria if necessary.
Do extra-inning automatic runners apply in the playoffs?
No. The automatic runner on second base is a regular-season extra-inning rule. Postseason extra innings begin with the bases empty and continue under traditional postseason conditions until a winner is decided.
2026 postseason calendar snapshot
MLB announced that the 2026 postseason begins September 29 with the Wild Card Series. The Division Series begins October 3, the National League Championship Series begins October 11, the American League Championship Series begins October 12, and World Series Game 1 is scheduled for October 23. A potential World Series Game 7 would be October 31.
The simplest way to remember the bracket
Think of the postseason in four rounds: Wild Card Series, Division Series, League Championship Series, World Series. The top two division winners in each league skip the first round; everyone else has to survive the Wild Card Series first.
For the on-field basics behind those games, read how innings, outs and extra innings work and what every baseball position does. You can also browse the MLB & Baseball hub.
Official references
Format and 2026 dates were checked against MLB’s official postseason-format explainer and 2026 postseason schedule. Featured image: Tomas Eidsvold / Unsplash; Citi Field venue imagery, not a photograph of a specific 2026 playoff game.