The Toronto Blue Jays have superior to the American League Championship Collection for the primary time in practically a decade, and the bandwagon is formally rolling.
However these new to the game would possibly want a primer on how precisely it really works, from the sequence of the playoffs to the principles of the sport.
Beneath, we parse by way of the fundamentals.
WHAT’S THE STRUCTURE OF THE POST-SEASON?
Main League Baseball’s post-season has 4 rounds. MLB really was once two organizations, the Nationwide League and the American League, however they’ve been collectively holding the World Collection since 1903 and had been formally merged in 1999. Each leagues observe the identical playoff format. The Blue Jays are within the American League.
The post-season begins with wild-card rounds, that are a best-of-three sequence of video games performed between the 4 lowest-ranked groups that certified for every league’s playoffs.
The Blue Jays gained the American League East division title in the course of the common season, so that they received to skip the wild-card spherical.
After the wild playing cards, the groups play within the Division Collection, the place the primary crew to win three video games advances to the Championship Collection, which is best-of-seven.
The championships are performed between groups of the identical league.
Then, the winner of every league’s championship advances to the World Collection, which can also be a best-of-seven matchup. The Blue Jays have solely gained the World Collection twice: in 1992 and 1993.
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WHY ARE THE BLUE JAYS IN THE AMERICAN LEAGUE WHEN THEY’RE A CANADIAN TEAM?
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Within the Nineteen Seventies, the American League wished to create a geographical rival crew to the Montreal Expos, which had been a part of the Nationwide League, so the Blue Jays had been born.
The Montreal Expos had been relocated to Washington, D.C., in 2004, leaving the Blue Jays as Canada’s solely crew.
WHAT ARE THE RULES OF THE GAME?
If you wish to know all the small print, you possibly can learn Main League Baseball’s 192-page rule e-book. However listed here are the fundamentals.
Every recreation consists of 9 innings. Every crew has a flip at bat throughout an inning, beginning with the visiting crew. The defensive crew consists of the pitcher, catcher, infielders and outfielders.
The offensive crew consists of a lineup of 9 batters.
The pitcher throws the ball to the catcher, and if the ball passes by way of the “strike zone,” the hitter can attempt to swing for it.
The strike zone is the world from the batter’s knees to their shoulders, over house base.
If the ball passes by way of the strike zone 3 times and the batter fails to hit it, both as a result of they didn’t swing or as a result of they miss the ball, they’re out. If the pitcher throws the ball and misses the strike zone 4 instances, and the batter doesn’t swing, the batter will get to “stroll” to first base.
That’s one in every of 9 methods a batter can change into a “runner” and advance to first base. The primary method, nonetheless, is for the batter to hit the ball into the sector.
As soon as the batter hits a good ball, he turns into a runner and makes his strategy to first base. If a fielder catches the ball earlier than it hits the bottom, the runner is out. If the ball touches the bottom earlier than it’s caught, the one that catches it could actually attempt to get a runner out by touching the runner with the ball earlier than they advance to the subsequent base. In some circumstances they solely want to the touch the bottom the runner is headed to.
Every time a runner reaches house base after touching all three different bases, they obtain some extent, known as a “run.”
As soon as three gamers on the offensive crew are out, that crew’s flip at bat is over.
HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE ON EACH TEAM?
In the course of the post-season, every crew has a roster of 26 gamers.
There are 9 gamers from every crew within the batting lineup, and 9 on the sector. That’s eight gamers who’re each fielders and hitters, one participant who’s a devoted pitcher, and one participant who’s the pitcher’s substitute when their crew is at bat.
Different gamers on the roster may be substituted into the batting order. Likewise, pitchers who’re within the bullpen may be substituted in for the beginning pitcher.
Deciding when to substitute gamers is a part of the technique of the sport.
THE PLAYERS SEEM TO SPIT A LOT. WHY?
Traditionally, gamers used to chew tobacco in the course of the recreation they usually’d spit out the surplus saliva from chewing. That’s modified over the many years, and now they chew sunflower seeds.
Some gamers will even chew gum whereas they’re within the dugout, not taking part in, or pull pranks on one another. It’s all a part of the enjoyable of the sport.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Oct. 12, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
