MLB’s postseason is here: A guide to the 12-team playoffs

Major League Baseball’s postseason has a little more heft this season. The playoffs are here, with the first games played on Friday. The postseason begins with a field of 12 teams — up from last year’s 10 — and includes a best-of-three format for the opening wild-card round.

The expanded postseason has produced some spicy early postseason matchups. San Diego’s newly acquired slugger Juan Soto against the 101-win New York Mets? Ageless star Albert Pujols and the Cardinals against Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and the Phillies? Buckle up, they’re happening this weekend.

MLB’s new wild-card format is similar to the one currently used in college baseball for the NCAA Super Regional round: The three games will be scheduled on three consecutive days from Friday to Sunday at the higher seed’s field. The first team that gets two wins advances.

After that, the playoffs will be business as usual. The division series will be best-of-five, while the league championship series and World Series will be best-of-seven. The best-of-three wild card format is a change from the sudden death one-game format that’s been in place since 2012.

Six teams each from the American League and National League qualified for the postseason, including the three division winners in each league. The three wild-card teams in each league are the teams with the best record that didn’t win their division.

The top two teams with the best records in each league get a bye and don’t have to play in the wild-card round. Those four teams get a few days of rest. That’s the Astros and Yankees in the American League and the Dodgers and Braves in the National League. The wild-card round will feature four series over the upcoming weekend: Rays-Guardians, Blue Jays-Mariners, Padres-Mets and Cardinals-Phillies.