This article is about Major League Baseball's Wild Card Game contested from 2012 to 2019 and in 2021, and Wild Card Series contested in 2020 and since 2022. For all MLB teams that qualified for the postseason as wild cards, see List of American League Wild Card winners and List of National League Wild Card winners.
"Wild Card Game" and "Wild Card Playoff" redirect here. For other uses, see Wild card (disambiguation).
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The Wild Card Series (formerly known as Wild Card Game from 2012 to 2019 and in 2021) are games that serve as the opening round of the Major League Baseball (MLB) postseason. A single wild card game was instituted in 2012. This became a best-of-three playoff wild card series in 2020 as a one-off, and became permanent (albeit with fewer teams playing than in the 2020 series) for the 2022 season.[1][2][3]
There are two wild card series each, in the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The lowest-seeded division winner and three wild card teams in each league play in a best-of-three series after the end of the regular season. The winners of each league's wild card rounds advance to face the two-best division winners in that league's Division Series. This expansion of the postseason abolished any regular-season-extending tie-breaker games.
^Jayson Stark (March 2, 2012). "The new MLB postseason". ESPN.com.
^"Everything you need to know about '22 season". MLB.com. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
^Castrovince, Anthony (October 4, 2022). "Complete history of baseball's postseason formats". mlb.com. Major League Baseball. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
The WildCardSeries (formerly known as WildCard Game from 2012 to 2019 and in 2021) are games that serve as the opening round of the Major League Baseball...
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In Major League Baseball (MLB), the wildcard teams are the three teams in each of the two leagues (American and National) that qualify for the postseason...
The 2023 American League WildCardSeries were the two best-of-three playoff series in Major League Baseball (MLB) that determined the participating teams...
The 2023 National League WildCardSeries were the two best-of-three playoff series in Major League Baseball (MLB) to determine the participating teams...
The 2022 National League WildCardSeries were two best-of-three playoff series in Major League Baseball (MLB) to determine the participating teams of...
season. The winners of the WildCardSeries faced the two best division winners (seeds) in each league in the Division Series, and the victors advanced...
alternate history of post-World War II United States, the series follows humans who contracted the WildCard virus, an alien virus that rewrites DNA and mutates...
The 2020 American League WildCardSeries were four best-of-three series in Major League Baseball (MLB) to determine participating teams in the 2020 American...
best-of-three WildCardseries. The postseason started on Friday, October 7, two days after the end of the regular season. The WildCardseries winners advanced...
The 2022 American League WildCardSeries were two best-of-three playoff series in Major League Baseball (MLB) that determined the participating teams...
best-of-three WildCardSeries contested by the lowest-seeded division winner and the three wildcard teams, two best-of-five Division Series (LDS) featuring...
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The wildcard was established for Major League Baseball's playoffs in 1994 with the intention of helping the best teams that did not win their division...
American League WildCard Game was a play-in game during the Major League Baseball (MLB) 2021 postseason, contested between the two wildcard teams in the...
possible daytime games in the 2020 season's one-time only expanded eight-serieswildcard round, that the networks of ESPN will air. Not only did this mean that...
as the fifth seed wildcard entrant in the American League just two years removed from a 102-loss season. In the WildCardSeries, they swept the fourth-seeded...
best-of-five series, featuring each of the two division winners with the best records and the winners of the wild-card play-offs. The Division Series was implemented...
best-of-five series, featuring each of the two division winners with the best records and the winners of the wild-card play-off. The Division Series was implemented...
postseason, Glasnow started the clinching game in both the WildCard round (Blue Jays) and Division Series (Yankees). In Game 5 of the ALDS, he started the game...
but the first round being played at neutral sites. A new three-game WildCardseries was added as the opening round of this postseason due to the shortened...
lose in the 2023 World Series to the Texas Rangers. The Arizona Diamondbacks qualified for the postseason as the sixth seed wildcard entrant with a 84–78...
The wildcard was established for Major League Baseball's playoffs in 1994 with the intention of helping the best teams that did not win their division...
previously appeared in the 2012 NL WildCard Game, defeating the Atlanta Braves, and the 2020 NL WildCardSeries, where they fell to the San Diego Padres...
Indicates a team that made the playoffs as a wildcard team (rather than by winning a division). CV The 2020 World Series and all of its previous playoff games...
Championship Series (ALCS). These matchups were: (1) Baltimore Orioles (AL East champions) vs. (5) Texas Rangers (WildCardSeries winner): Rangers win series 3–0...
and the post season including: the WildCardSeries, the Division Series, the Championship Series and the World Series for all of Latin America and the...
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