Major League Baseball’s current postseason seeding structure allows the top-ranked teams to face potentially stronger opponents than the second-seeded teams, a disparity that has led to calls for the league to adopt an NFL-style “re-seeding” format. Under the current rules, the path for the No. 1 seed is predetermined regardless of which lower-seeded teams advance from the Wild Card round.
The Mechanics of MLB Postseason Seeding
Since the 2022 expansion to a 12-team playoff field, each league features three division winners and three Wild Card teams. The top two division winners receive a first-round bye, while the No. 3 seed hosts the No. 6 seed and the No. 4 seed hosts the No. 5 seed. The winners of those series advance to play the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively. The bracket is rigid: the No. 1 seed is locked into playing the winner of the 4 vs. 5 matchup, while the No. 2 seed faces the winner of the 3 vs. 6 matchup.
MLB Could Adopt Fluid NFL Playoff Brackets
In the NFL, the playoff bracket is fluid. The top seed in each conference receives a bye and then plays the lowest-seeded team that survives the opening round. If Major League Baseball adopted this approach, the top-seeded team would theoretically face the weakest remaining opponent, rather than being forced into a matchup with a potentially high-performing Wild Card team that happened to occupy the No. 4 or No. 5 spot in the bracket.
Lower Seeds Bypass Top Clubs in Recent Postseasons
The argument for change centers on the success of lower-seeded teams in recent postseasons. In the 2022 and 2023 seasons, the Phillies and Diamondbacks both advanced to the World Series after eliminating higher seeds. Because the bracket does not re-seed, these teams often bypassed the league’s top-seeded clubs entirely, while those No. 1 seeds were forced to play other high-performing teams that advanced through the predetermined side of the bracket.
Challenges to Bracket Restructuring
Critics of a re-seeding model argue that the current structure maintains a traditional sense of fairness for the No. 3 seed, which earns its position through divisional play. Under the current system, a No. 3 seed is theoretically protected from facing a No. 1 seed until later in the tournament. However, as the 2024 and 2025 postseasons demonstrated, the theoretical advantage of higher seeding does not always translate to reality when lower-seeded teams outperform expectations. The current rigidity ensures that a No. 1 seed may end up facing a more formidable opponent than the No. 2 seed in any given year, depending on which teams survive the opening round.
Postseason Developments
The league has maintained the 12-team format since its implementation in 2022, balancing the inclusion of more teams with the historical desire to reward division winners. The current structure remains in effect for upcoming postseason play, with no official announcements regarding a change to the re-seeding methodology used by the NFL.
