There are 162 games in a season of Major League Baseball. Every single game leads up to one month of games, the playoffs. The playoffs consist of 6 teams from both conferences, the National League and the American League. Teams from each are seeded based on how many games they won in the regular season. The team with the most wins gets the one seed and a bye. Getting a bye means they get to skip the first round of games. A bye is also awarded to the team with the second most wins. The first round of the playoffs is a three game series, the winners of the first series go on to play in a 5 game series for round two. The winners of those series advance to the conference championship, a seven game series. The winners of the respective championship games meet in the world series to determine who the MLB champion will be.

There are 12 teams in the playoffs, but there are a few teams who separate themselves from the rest of the pack as true contenders for the championship:

1. Milwaukee Brewers: The Brewers had the best record in baseball this season with 97 wins, firmly giving them the one seed in the National League.

1. Seattle Mariners: The Mariners are the second seed in the American League and have MVP candidate Cal Raleigh. Raleigh leads the league in home runs with 60 on the year and should help the Mariners make a push for the World Series.

1. Los Angeles Dodgers: The Dodgers were champions last year and are the three seed in the National League this year. They have three time MVP Shohei Ohtani, who is famous for being one of the best batters and one of the best pitchers in the MLB. In addition to Ohtani the Dodgers also have the highest paid roster in all of baseball, with Ohtani alone making an average of $70 million a year.

1. New York Yankees: The Yankees have an unprecedented level of talent on their roster. They have four players who have won a Most Valuable Player award. Most importantly they have one of the best batters in history, Aaron Judge. Judge holds the record for most home runs in a season. With all the talent on the roster the Yankees seem poised to return to the World Series and avenge their loss from last year.