Introduction
The MLB postseason is rapidly approaching, and there are a few teams that are making their presence felt in the standings. Here we are going to be talking about how teams get their seedings, how the playoffs are constructed, and the teams that are currently expected to be in the postseason a few weeks ahead of it.
How Do Teams Make the Cut
Before we get into the teams that are expected to make the playoffs, let’s talk about how it works. The number one seed in each league will be awarded to the team with the best overall record. The number two seed goes to the next beset record. Each of those top two teams in each league gets a bye to start the postseason. The rest of the seedings go to the division winners, and then the team with the best record that didn’t win a division gets the later seeds. The playoffs start with a best of three series in the Wild Card round. The winners advance to play the teams who got a bye and battle in a best of five in the Divisional Round. The winners there get to advance into the League Championship Series, and if they win that, they can march into the World Series.
American League
Let’s start things off in the American League. There are two teams right now that are beginning to separate themselves from the rest of the race. The Baltimore Orioles are sitting atop the conference with a first-round bye. With the Seattle Mariners dragging right behind at the number two seed. They also get themselves a bye if the standings were to remain the same when the postseason begins. This leaves us with two different Wild Card series matchups in the AL. The first of which comes between the number three-seeded Minnesota Twins and the number six-seeded Texas Rangers. The other matchup is between the number four-seeded Tampa Bay Rays and the number five-seeded Houston Astros.
National League
Flipping over to the National League, it’s set up exactly the same way. The top seed over in the NL is the Atlanta Braves for the time being, they would be getting a first-round bye. The Los Angeles Dodgers have recently worked their way into the number two seed out there to get themselves a first-round bye also.
The remaining matchups for the time being see the Milwaukee Brewers taking on the San Francisco Giants, and then the Philadelphia Phillies taking on the Chicago Cubs. However, there’s a catch in the first of those listed matchups. The San Francisco Giants have the exact same record as the Arizona Diamondbacks as of writing this. Those two teams are technically tied for this seed to play the Brewers if the season were to have started today. Although, that tie is going to be broken as we near closer to the end of the regular season.
Conclusion
There’s still a good amount of baseball left to be played though, and only a few divisions have really been settled yet. The National League East and the National League West have each seemingly been wrapped up at least. The NL East has the Atlanta Braves a good 15 games above the next closest team in the division. Over in the NL West, the Los Angeles Dodgers are 13.5 games over their next closest divisional rival. The only other division with a semi-decent gap is the AL Central, with the Minnesota Twins holding a five-game lead over the Cleveland Guardians.
It’ll be interesting to see how the divisions shake up in the next few weeks, but these teams don’t have much time left to put together a big run. If you are looking to bet on any big game, use our welcome bonus. All your latest MLB news can be found here. As always, all your betting odds and live scores are here with us. Please bet responsibly, if you need help please look here.
