Major League Baseball has used a twelve-team postseason since 2022, six clubs per league. Four of each league’s six teams play in the wild card round, and the round is a best-of-three series rather than the single game many fans still remember.
Seeding
| Seeds | Who they are |
|---|---|
| 1–3 | The three division winners, ordered by winning percentage |
| 4–6 | The three non-division winners with the best records, ordered by winning percentage |
The lowest-seeded division winner is automatically the No. 3 seed, even if one or more wild card teams finished with a better record. Ties are broken by MLB’s tiebreaking procedures, so the old one-off “Game 163” tiebreaker games no longer exist.
The round itself
The top two division winners in each league get a bye straight to the Division Series. The other four teams play:
| Series | Home team |
|---|---|
| No. 3 seed vs No. 6 seed | No. 3 seed hosts every game |
| No. 4 seed vs No. 5 seed | No. 4 seed hosts every game |
Both series are best-of-three, all games are at the higher seed’s ballpark, and they are played in a three-day window. A sweep ends the series after two days.
What comes next
MLB does not reseed. The winner of the No. 4 vs No. 5 series always faces the No. 1 seed in the Division Series, and the winner of the No. 3 vs No. 6 series always faces the No. 2 seed. That makes the bracket predictable from the moment the regular season ends — something the NFL’s reseeded bracket deliberately avoids.
How this compares with the old format
| Wild Card Game (2012–2019, 2021) | Wild Card Series (2022–present) | |
|---|---|---|
| Teams per league | 2 | 4 |
| Length | One game | Best-of-three |
| Who qualified | The two wild card teams | Three wild cards plus the lowest division winner |
| Next opponent | The league’s No. 1 seed | No. 1 or No. 2 seed, no reseeding |
A one-off eight-team-per-league Wild Card Series was also played in 2020 after the shortened 60-game season. The results of every edition are on MLB wild card series history and MLB wild card game history.
Sources: MLB.com, “How MLB playoffs work” FAQ; Wikipedia, “Wild Card Series”.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
How many games is an MLB wild card series?
Best-of-three. The higher seed hosts all of the games, which are played in a three-day window with no travel day.
Does MLB still have a one-game wild card playoff?
No. The single-elimination Wild Card Game ran from 2012 to 2019 and returned for 2021, and was replaced by the best-of-three Wild Card Series in 2022.
Who do the wild card winners play next?
There is no reseeding. The winner of the 4 vs 5 series faces the No. 1 seed, and the winner of the 3 vs 6 series faces the No. 2 seed.