About a week ago, the regular season of the MLB ended. Some teams’ spirits were crushed, while others were lifted. The playoffs are officially set. 12 teams make the playoffs each year, 6 from the National League (NL); 6 from the American League (AL). Each team gets their own seed or placement based on their record. The three division winners from each league take the 1, 2, and 3 seeds. Out of the division winners, the team with the best record would get the 1st seed, 2nd second, and 3rd third. Once the division winners are decided the three remaining teams with the best records would fill the wild cards, seeds 4, 5, and 6.

There are many different predictions for the MLB wild card round floating around currently; no one can really agree what is going to happen. ESPN had 25 people give their opinions and some may shock you. For the American League wildcard round, Tigers vs Guardians, 14 out of the 25 favorites the Tigers to win. Then, for the Red Sox vs Yankees, 18 out of the 25 people favored the Yankees to win. For the Nation League wildcard round, Dodgers vs Reds, 24 out of the 25 favored the Dodgers to win. In the Padres vs Cubs game, 15 people thought the Padres would win and 10 thought the Cubs would take the victory.

The divisional round of the MLB playoffs is where the real contenders move on. The first game of the American League Division Series, Tigers or Guardians vs Mariners, 24 out of the 25 people favor the Mariners. For the second game, Blue Jays vs Yankees or Red Sox, 15 favor the Blue Jays, 5 favor the Yankees, and 5 favor the Red Sox. For the National League Division Series, Phillies vs Dodgers or Reds, 16 had the Phillies winning, 9 had the Dodgers winning, and none favored the Reds. For the Brewers vs Cubs or Padres, 13 had the Brewers winning, 11 favored the Padres and only 1 person believed in the Cubs. The winner of the League Conference Series goes onto the World Series where they compete against the best team in the other league in a best of 4 series. For the American League Conference Series, the opinions were quite mixed. 14 people had the Mariners winning and 7 had the Yankees, which were the majorities. In the National League Conference Series, opinions were also quite mixed. 12 people thought the Phillies would win, and 7 had the Dodgers, these were the majorities. The World Series is where the two best teams play each other for one spot, best team in the MLB. 12 out of the 25 people, just under half had the Phillies taking it all, 5 for the Mariners and 4 for the Dodgers.

Cites- https://sports.yahoo.com/article/mlb-playoffs-2025-bracket-full-171730780.html

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/46422226/mlb-playoffs-2025-predictions-every-round-wild-card-world-series