The Major League Baseball playoffs began on October 3, 2023 with twelve teams vying for the title of World Series Champion. The format of the postseason changed three years ago to have the Wild Card Series be a best-of-three series instead of one game. The winners of those will go on to play higher seeded teams in four best-of-five Division Series. In the two best-of-seven Championship Series, the playing field is narrowed down to two teams who will compete in the World Series, which is also best-of-seven.
The teams in the playoffs were the Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros, Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Phillies, Miami Marlins and Arizona Diamondbacks. After the Wild Card Series, the Rays, Blue Jays, Brewers and Marlins were eliminated. All four series were completed in two games, a feat that had never been accomplished in the three years that the Wild Card Series has been included in the postseason.
Playoffs continued with the Division Series on October 7 through October 12. The two teams with the best records in the National League, the Braves and Dodgers, were knocked out of the playoffs along with the Twins and Orioles. The Orioles fell to the Rangers and the Astros eliminated the Twins. In the National League, the Phillies defeated the 104-win Braves in a four game series while the Diamondbacks proved to be one of the biggest surprises of the postseason by sweeping the Dodgers.
The playoffs resumed with the Championship Series, in which the Astros and Rangers faced off in an inter-state rivalry and the Diamondbacks and Phillies battled for the title of National League Champion. Both series went to seven games, with the Rangers defeating the Astros and the Diamondbacks upsetting the Phillies.
The World Series started on October 27, when the Rangers took Game 1 of the series. The next day, the Diamondbacks evened the series at one game apiece. The World Series will finish anywhere from November 1 to November 4 with the Diamondbacks and Rangers facing off in a best-of-seven series to determine the baseball world champion.