With the 2022 MLB regular season winding down, we are approaching the postseason. We as baseball fans were grateful to witness several historic milestones and records be broken, and are all in for a treat with this year’s playoffs.

From Miguel Cabreara 3,000th career hit, to Albert Pujos hitting his 700th career home run, which has only been only previously done by Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), and Babe Ruth (714). Another homerun record that was broken was Yankees Aaron Judge setting the A.L home run record with 62 in one season, 61 home runs was the record previously held for 61 years by Yankees legend Roger Maris. Not to mention, the fascinating NL East race between the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets that came down to the wire.

With the postseason starting Friday October 7th, we will be introduced to the new best- of-3 Wild Card Series. During the lockout, the MLB and the MLBPA(Major League Baseball Players Association) agreed on a new and approved 12-team postseason! This gives every team a fighter’s chance to win it all. The 3 division leaders in each league automatically make it to the playoffs with the 1st and 2nd seed getting a first round bye, and the 3rd division winner hosting a wild card series.

In the A.L, the 1 seed Houston Astros and the 2 seed New York Yankees will have the first round bye. Then, we have the 6 seed Tampa Bay Rays taking on the 3 seed Cleveland Guardians, with the winner advancing to take on the New York Yankees.

In the other matchup we have the 5 seed Seattle Mariners taking on the 4 seed Toronto Blue Jays, with the winner taking on the Houston Astros. The Mariners broke the longest playoff drought in the MLB, they previously haven’t made it since 2001 (21 years).

Now on the other side of the bracket in the N.L, the 1 seed Los Angeles Dodgers and the 2 seed Atlanta Braves will receive the first round bye. The Dodgers have the best record in the MLB with 111 wins, which is a franchise record and they will have home field advantage throughout the whole postseason.

The wildcard matchups are the 6 seed Philadelphia Phillies taking on the 3 seed St. Louis Cardinals, with the winner traveling to Atlanta to take on the Braves. With the Phillies making the playoffs, they break the second longest playoff drought of a decade.

The second N.L wildcard matchup is the 5 seed San Diego Padres taking on the 4 seed New York Mets, with the winner taking on the powerhouse 1 seed Dodgers.

After the wildcard series are all completed, the rest of the postseason will have its normal format with the League Series being a best-of-five, and the League Championship and World Series being the traditional best-of-seven.

With this year’s group of teams, the World Series winner could be anyone. Will the N.L keep the streak going, winning the last 3 World Series and 8 of the last 12? Not to mention, two of the four losses came against the 2018 Boston Red Sox and the 2017 Houston Astros, two teams who were later punished for illegally stealing signs.

But, this year is truly open for anyone to win. Either way there is no wrong answer, we’re in for a great treat with this year’s MLB postseason. There’s nothing more exciting than October Baseball!!