The baseball season is a long, winding grind as it is. And with the expanded playoffs, it's an even longer road for some teams hoping to win the World Series.
Major League Baseball's postseason has undergone many changes over the years. It used to be simply the top two teams in each league facing off in the World Series.
In 1969, MLB expanded the format to include league championship series, meaning two teams in each league would battle it out for the pennant to head to the Fall Classic. It added another round in 1994, putting in the Division Series in either league that accompanied the introduction of the Central divisions to go along with the East and West in each league. It also added the fourth wild card.
In recent years, the format has changed several times. MLB added a wild-card game in 2012 that pitted two wild-card teams against one another in a winner-take-all single game. That format saw a brief interruption when 16 teams make the playoffs during the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
MORE: MLB postseason schedule
The most recent change to a new format took place last year. The two division winners with the best records in each league earn byes to the Division Series, while the third division team and three wild-card teams all have to play in a best-of-three wild-card round of the postseason, adding another full round of games to the postseason schedule.
With the changes all settled, how many games are in MLB's postseason? Here's what you need to know.
How many games are in the MLB playoffs?
Wild-card round
The wild-card round features four teams in each league: the three wild cards and the division winner seeded the lowest. Those teams will face off in a best-of-three series hosted by the higher seed, with the winners then headed to the ALDS or NLDS. At most, a series could take up to three games to be decided.
Division Series
For the second straight round, there are four teams in each league competing in series. Those are comprised of the top two division winners that earned the byes to this round, and the other two are the winners of the wild-card rounds.
Here, the teams match up in best-of-five series. The first two games and a potential fifth game would be hosted by the higher seed, while the third and potential fourth games are hosted at the lower seed. At most, the series can take up to five games to end.
League Championship Series
Only two teams in each league will reach the League Championship Series. The winner of those series will then head on to the World Series. This series is a best-of-seven. The first and second, as well as potential sixth and seventh games are hosted by the higher seed in the league, and the third, fourth and potential fifth games are hosted by the lower seed.
If the series goes the full length, it can reach seven games.
World Series
The winner of each league meets in the World Series in a best-of-seven series. Unlike in past years when home-field advantage was determined by the winning league in the All-Star Game, the World Series is determined by the team with the best record or by the league's system of tiebreakers.
The World Series is scheduled begin on Friday, Oct. 27, and if it goes a full seven games, then it would end on Saturday, Nov. 4.
The order of the games is the same as the LCS: Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 are at the higher seed and Games 3, 4 and 5 are at the lower seed. If the series goes full, it can get to seven games.
The longest road a team can go in the playoffs in order to win the World Series would be to 22 games, if they emerge from the wild-card round and win every series in the maximum amount of games needed to be played.
