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A16 sports
Wednesday 28 september 2022

MLB playoff primer: Things to know as postseason nears

By DAVID BRANDT 13th inning for the Rockies
AP Sports Writer in 2007.
Major League Baseball's Those days are gone.
postseason has a little more If there's a tie for one of the
heft this season. playoff spots, mathemati-
The playoffs are rapidly ap- cal tiebreakers will be used
proaching, with the final instead of an extra game.
regular season games set The first will be the head-to-
for Oct. 5. The postseason head record between the
begins two days later with two teams involved.
a field of 12 teams — up If that can't handle the
from last year's 10 — and stalemate, the team with
includes a best-of-three for- the best intra-divisional re-
mat for the opening wild- cord will win the tiebreaker.
card round. If that doesn't work, the pro-
An expanded postseason cess continues with more
could lead to some spicy and more convoluted so-
early postseason match- lutions until a resolution is
ups. San Diego's newly reached.
acquired slugger Juan It's unlikely tiebreakers will
Soto against the defend- be needed in the Ameri-
ing World Series champion can League, but keep
Braves? Ageless star Albert an eye on the National
Pujols and the Cardinals League. The Braves and
against Bryce Harper, Kyle Mets are locked in a tight
Schwarber and the Phillies? race for the NL East, while
Both are possibilities de- the Brewers and Phillies are
pending on results in the in a battle for the final NL
season's final week. wild-card spot.
MLB's new wild-card format WHO ARE THE FAVORITES?
is similar to the one cur- Great question.
rently used in college base- The Los Angeles Dodgers
ball for the NCAA Super have been dominant all
Regional round: The three season with a lineup that
games will be scheduled includes Mookie Betts, Trea
on three consecutive days Turner, Will Smith and Fred-
from Oct. 7-9 at the higher die Freeman. They could
seed's field. The first team New York Yankees' Aaron Judge looks out before a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox top 110 wins this season
that gets two wins advanc- Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, in New York. during the final week.
es. Associated Press Over in the American
After that, the playoffs will League, the Houston Astros
be business as usual. The ing the three division win- 6 seed will play at the No. 3 season, but to do that, they have already topped 100
division series will be best- ners in each league. The seed in both the AL and NL. had to move opening day wins as well. They've got a
of-five, while the league three wild-card teams in The No. 5 seed will play at from March 31 to April 7. loaded lineup that includes
championship series and each league will be the the No. 4 seed. Some of the games origi- Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman
World Series will be best-of- teams with the best record WHY ARE THE PLAYOFFS nally scheduled for the first and Yordan Alvarez, along
seven. that didn't win their division. STARTING LATE? week of the season were with potential AL Cy Young
Here's a little more infor- The top two teams with October's postseason fes- moved to the end, mean- winner Justin Verlander.
mation about baseball's the best records in each tivities will bleed into No- ing a season that was origi- New York's teams should
bulked-up postseason: league will get a bye and vember before a champi- nally scheduled to end on figure into the mix as well.
WHAT'S NEW IN BASEBALL'S don't have to play in the on is crowned. Oct. 2 instead ends on Oct. The Yankees were cruising
WILD-CARD ROUND? wild-card round. Those four That's mostly because of 5. for much of the season —
The best-of-three wild card teams get a few days of the sport's labor strife that Hence, a late start to the led by star Aaron Judge's
format is a change from rest. resulted in a work stop- playoffs. 60-homer campaign — but
the sudden death one- Right now, that would be page over the winter. It WHAT HAPPENED TO BASE- have just a 30-31 record
game format that's been in the Astros and Yankees in delayed the beginning of BALL TIEBREAKER GAMES? since the All-Star break.
place since 2012. the American League and spring training and pushed Game No. 163 is one that The Mets have one of the
Six teams each from the the Dodgers and Mets in the regular season back lives in baseball lore. Bucky league's deepest pitching
American League and Na- the National League. about a week. Baseball Dent's homer for the Yan- staffs, with two aces on top
tional League will qualify The wild-card round will players and owners sal- kees in 1978. Matt Holliday's in Jacob deGrom and Max
for the postseason, includ- feature four series: The No. vaged the usual 162-game game-winning run in the Scherzer.q