Two years ago, Major League Baseball introduced a new playoff format, after an increase of playoff teams. Instead of five teams – three division winners and two wild-card teams – making the postseason in each league, there would be six; three division winners and three wild-card teams.

Instead of a Wild Card game in each league, there would be two sets of Wild Card Series, a best-of-three series, to be played in one location over the course of three straight days.

2024 was the third year of the Wild Card Series format. The gritty Detroit Tigers won their series, and now have a date set with the Cleveland Guardians. The Kansas City Royals swept the Baltimore Orioles in Baltimore, advancing to a Division Series against the Yankees.

On the National League side of the bracket, the New York Mets won their series over the Milwaukee Brewers in three games. They now play the Philadelphia Phillies in a best-of-five series. Out West, the San Diego Padres defeated the Atlanta Braves, meaning they’ll square off with the Los Angeles Dodgers with a chance to move on to their second NL Championship Series in three years.

This year’s Wild Card round was an intriguing watch. Here are three things that happened.

Tigers end Astros’ impressive streak:

On Aug. 1, the Tigers were 52-57, a handful of games out of a playoff spot. At the trade deadline, Detroit moved a few veterans, opening up spots and playing time for younger players. They didn’t look like a club trying to make a push for the postseason.

Though, from Aug. 1 through the end of the year, Detroit was one of baseball’s best teams. Their 34-19 record was third in MLB, trailing only the Dodgers (35-18) and Padres (34-18). The Tigers’ offense ranked 16th in runs (223) while their pitching staff ranked first in ERA (2.91) over that 53-game stretch. They got hot at the right time, going on to clinch their first playoff spot in 10 years.

As a sixth-seed wild-card team, the Tigers traveled to Houston for a Wild Card Series against the Astros. Like Detroit, Houston didn’t start the year on the right foot. But, they eventually overcame an early-season, 10-game deficit in the American League West standings to win the division.

Houston entered this year’s postseason on a great run. They’ve been one of MLB’s top-performing clubs, both in the regular season and in October, for close to a decade. The Astros appeared in the AL Championship Series for seven straight years from 2017 to 2023. They were looking to make it eight in 2024.

However, after Detroit won Game 1 thanks to a three-run top of the second by their lineup, six scoreless innings by Tarik Skubal, and a gutsy ninth-inning pitching performance by Beau Brieske, the Tigers also won Game 2.

A four-run eighth-inning rally against the Astros’ top high-leverage relievers Ryan Pressly and Josh Hader was the highlight of Game 2 for Detroit. The Tigers relied heavily on their bullpen in the second game of the series, using seven different pitchers to cover the game’s nine innings.

The Astros’ run is now over thanks to the Tigers, a club led by manager A.J. Hinch, who was Houston’s manager when they started their run of seven straight ALCS appearances.

Trying actually works:

The Royals ended 2023 with a 56-106 record. It was their third 100-loss season in the last five 162-game campaigns. They hadn’t made the postseason since 2015 when they won the World Series. Something had to change. So, they tried. 

There were signs in 2023 that their young players could help them win if they were surrounded by a veteran group. The front office then had a surprisingly active offseason. In total, the Royals spent more than $100 million in free agency. They made some trades to help round out the club. Not all of those moves worked. Some of them did, like the signings of starting pitchers Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha. Even though some of them found not all of their money was well spent, they found it was still nice to see a club trying to get better.

Some MLB owners don’t spend money. They tell the public they worry about cash-flow issues. They don’t allow their front offices to operate in an unrestricted way that would allow them to, at the very least, field a competitive team. They run their franchises like they would a normal business, even though a sports franchise is far from a normal business. It’s one of the worst parts of the game right now.

Beyond their free-agent frenzy, the Royals also signed budding superstar shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. to an 11-year extension worth a little more than $288 million. It was a busy winter for the Royals, who are working on trying to bring a new stadium to the Kansas City area.

Wanting to build a new stadium likely had something to do with the financial investment to try to compete in 2024. People don’t support building stadiums for teams that stink. They showcase they support it for teams that are good, though.

While the motive behind Kansas City’s surprisingly busy offseason wasn’t solely for the purpose of trying to win just to win, they succeeded in their attempts and their move worked.

The Royals were one of the MLB’s better teams for a chunk of 2024. They were led by Witt, who put together an MVP-caliber season, veteran Salvador Perez, and a starting rotation that was one of the best in the sport. Kansas City scuffled at the end and didn’t win their division, but they still won 86 games and made the playoffs as a wild-card team.

Things worked out in the Wild Card Series. The Royals swept the Orioles, who also struggled down the stretch. Now, Kansas City gets to play the 94-win, AL East-champion New York Yankees.

While it’s going to be an uphill battle from here on out for Kansas City, it’s nice to see an organization put the work in and triumph.

More like away-from-home-field advantage:

Small sample sizes are what they are. We can’t put too much stock into them. But over the first three years of MLB’s expanded wild-card format, home teams have struggled to win.

Combining the 2022 and 2023 Wild Card rounds, away teams had more success than home teams. Road clubs compiled a 10-7 record between 2022 and 2023 during the first round, winning five of eight series.

This year, that trend continued. Road teams went 6-3, winning three of the four series.

Overall, road teams in the new Wild Card Series format are 16-10 and have won eight of 12 series. Why is this happening? I don’t know. It might just be a coincidence. Maybe the trend will continue over the next few years. Maybe it doesn’t. If it does continue, it’ll certainly be interesting to try to find out why it’s happening.

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