The top half of the AL bracket fell all-Central as the Royals would take on the winner of the Twins-Guardians Wildcard Series while the Blue Jays would face one of the two World Series-less teams held in baseball, as the Mariners and the Rays would face off.
In the National League, the Diamondbacks were waiting for the winners of the ‘money’ series between the Mets and the Dodgers, while the Braves would take on the Padres or the Cardinals.
The list of clubs without a World Series is down to one after the Mariners went from a Wild Card to the World Series. They did it the hard way, taking out the best two regular season teams, firstly the Royals in 6, before a game 7 win over the Diamondbacks. The Royals become the winningest team in history to not win the World Series in what is ultimately a disappointing end to the first season post-Stewart.