Since 2022 the MLB postseason has used a 12-team bracket: six teams from each league. This guide sets out how teams get in, how each round is played, and how many games a series can last, with the series-win maths for anyone who wants to judge a price or a projection.
Who makes the playoffs
- **Seeds 1 to 3** in each league are the three division winners, ranked by regular-season record.
- **Seeds 4 to 6** are the three wild cards: the best records among the non-division winners.
- **Seeds 1 and 2** receive a first-round bye and wait for the Wild Card Series to finish.
- Ties for a spot are decided by tiebreaker criteria, starting with the head-to-head record between the clubs, not by an extra game.
Round by round: how many games
- **Wild Card Series:** best of 3. Seed 3 plays seed 6 and seed 4 plays seed 5, with every game at the higher seed's park. A series lasts 2 or 3 games.
- **Division Series (ALDS and NLDS):** best of 5. Seed 1 plays the winner of the 4/5 series and seed 2 plays the winner of the 3/6 series. Games 1, 2 and 5 are at the higher seed (a 2-2-1 pattern). A series lasts 3 to 5 games.
- **League Championship Series (ALCS and NLCS):** best of 7, in a 2-3-2 pattern, so the higher seed hosts games 1, 2, 6 and 7. A series lasts 4 to 7 games.
- **World Series:** best of 7, also 2-3-2. Home-field advantage goes to the team with the better regular-season record, whichever league it plays in. A series lasts 4 to 7 games.
So the answer to the most common search questions is: the ALDS and NLDS are best-of-five series, and the ALCS and NLCS are best-of-seven. Live dates, results and the bracket are on our division series, championship series and World Series pages.
The bracket does not reseed
The matchups are fixed by the seeds before the playoffs start. If seed 6 beats seed 3 and seed 5 beats seed 4, seed 1 still plays the 4/5 winner, so a lower-seeded team can face a team it would not have met in a reseeded bracket. This is also why a bye is valuable: it means rest for the rotation and bullpen, plus no risk of a best-of-three coin flip.
The most games a team can play
A team that plays every round and goes the distance each time plays at most 3 + 5 + 7 + 7 = 22 postseason games. A bye team plays at most 5 + 7 + 7 = 19. The shortest possible route for a bye team to a title is 3 + 4 + 4 = 11 games, and for a wild-card team it is 2 + 3 + 4 + 4 = 13.
How a short series changes the odds
A single game is close to a coin flip even for the better team, and a longer series gives that edge more chances to show. The table below gives the chance the better team wins each series if it has the same fixed win probability every game. It ignores home field and starting pitchers, so treat it as a guide rather than a projection.
- **50% per game:** 50.0% in any series length.
- **55% per game:** 57.5% in best-of-3, 59.3% in best-of-5, 60.8% in best-of-7.
- **60% per game:** 64.8%, 68.3% and 71.0%.
- **65% per game:** 71.8%, 76.5% and 80.0%.
- **70% per game:** 78.4%, 83.7% and 87.4%.
Even a team that wins 60% of its games in a single matchup, which is a very strong edge, wins a best-of-five only about two times in three. That is why upsets are normal in October, and why the Wild Card Series is the most random round. Our win probability guide explains how to read a single-game number, and our postseason projections turn game-by-game win chances into series odds.
Home-field advantage in a short series
The higher seed hosts more of the games, but the benefit of playing at home is small in baseball compared with other sports. See how big home-field advantage really is for the numbers. Because the pattern is 2-2-1 in a best-of-five and 2-3-2 in a best-of-seven, the higher seed hosts three of five or four of seven games, and the deciding game is always at the higher seed.
Pitching matters more in October
With off days between games, teams can lean on their best starters and top relievers more often. That changes how innings are split, as covered in starters vs bullpens and bullpen fatigue and availability. It also makes starting-pitcher projections a bigger part of each game's price; browse them on the pitcher projections page.
Quick answers
- **Is the ALDS best of 5 or 7?** Best of 5. The NLDS is also best of 5.
- **How many games is the NLCS?** Best of 7, so 4 to 7 games. The ALCS is the same.
- **How many games is the Wild Card Series?** Best of 3, so 2 or 3 games.
- **How many games is the World Series?** Best of 7, so 4 to 7 games.