how many games are in the mlb playoff
Playoff format The first use of the best-of-three playoff was in Major League Baseball; the National League authorised such a playoff to be held if two teams ended the season in a tie for first place; the American League used a single game in this situation. Since 1969 both leagues have used only a one-game playoff for all playoff positions which are tied if only one team can advance to the playoffs. Since 1995, a tie-breaker based on season performance can be used only to seed teams.
Major League Baseball wild card In Major League Baseball (MLB), the wild-card teams are the two teams in each of the two leagues (American and National) that have qualified for the postseason despite failing to win their division. Both teams in each league possess the two best winning percentages in their respective league after the three division winners. The wild card was first instituted in MLB in 1994, with one wild-card team per league advancing to the Division Series in the postseason to face a division winner. In 2012, the system was modified to add a second wild-card team per league and pit each league's wild-card teams against each other in a play-in game—the MLB wild-card game—the winner of which would then advance to the Division Series and play the team with the best record. This system ensures that the team with the second-best record in each league, after the three division winners and the team with the first-best record in the league that is a non-division winner, will also get a postseason berth, even if it isn't a division champion.