Five teams from each league qualify for the playoffs:
The three division winners, who are ranked 1-3 regardless of their records
Two wild card teams, who play a single Wild Card game to determine who moves onto the Division round
Clinched division
Clinched wild-card berth
Eliminated from the playoffs
Two-way tie for the division or wildcard
A one game tie-breaker is played between the two teams, winner take all.
Two-way tie between division winners
The team with the best record in head to head play.
The team with the best overall record in intra-division games.
The team with the best record in the final 81 games of the season, ignoring inter-league play.
The team with the best record in the final 82 games of the season, extending backward until the tie is broken.
Three-way tie for the division or wildcard
The team with the best intra-division record is determined as Team C. If intra-division records are tied, refer to above tie-breakers to determine team C.
The other two teams, A and B, play one game.
The winner of this game plays team C in one game.
The winner of this second game is the winner of the tie-breaker.