The Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees will make for a marquee MLB playoff matchup in the American League bracket.
But the bracket doesn’t set up the way you’d think. Despite the Rays having the best record in the AL, and the Yankees having the second-best record in the AL, they won’t be playing in the American League Championship Series.
Rather than the ALCS, they get the ALDS — the American League Division Series, one round earlier.
It’s the kind of bracketing flaw that will have people spend the next couple weeks discussing whether MLB should change all of its rules.
But for now, this is the way it’s set up.
MLB Playoff Bracket
This is how the bracket set up before AL Wild Card Series winners were determined:
- (1) Tampa Bay Rays
- Play winner of (4) New York Yankees v (5) Boston Red Sox
- (2) Cleveland Guardians
- Play winner of (3) Houston Astros v (6) Chicago White Sox
We’ll explain the seeds further, but the first point here is why it’s set up like this to begin with.
MLB doesn’t want the No. 1 seed in a situation where they’d play the 3-seed — even if it also has a chance of playing the 6-seed.
So they end up against either the 4- or 5-seed in the ALDS, while the 2-seed could play the 3-seed but could also play the 6-seed.
Rays, Yankees Seeding
The Rays being the No. 1 seed is a simple one. They had the best record in the entire American League. It means they won the AL East Division and got the 1-seed, and the first-round playoff bye that came with it.
The Yankees’ seeding is where it gets weird.
Yes, the Yanks were only second place in the AL East Division. But they also had the second-best record in the entire American League behind the Rays.
If seeds were done just by record, the Yanks would’ve been the 2-seed. Not only would they have avoided the Rays until the ALCS — they also would’ve gotten a bye.
The seeds don’t work like that, though.
MLB gives division winners the top-three seeds in the league no matter what. So even though the Houston Astros had the worst record of the AL’s six playoff teams, they won the AL West Division, so they got the 3-seed.
There are certainly questions about the flaws in that system.
What About Re-Bracketing By Seeds?
The one way to play this out at least a little differently would be to set up the second-round matchups after the first round.
In this case, the 6-seed White Sox upset the 3-seed Astros. The Rays won’t be facing the lowest seed still alive, because the bracket was set up on the semi-assumption that the better seed Houston would win.
The league could decide to have the worst remaining seed play the 1-seed in the ALDS, but that’s not how it’s currently set up.
So the Rays play a high-powered division rival in the Division Series. It should be intense, even if it’s early.
MLB Playoff Bracket: Rays-Yankees Matchup Raises Re-Seeding Question