MLB playoff field is set! Why 2022 postseason could be best ever

The regular season is officially in the books (OK, maybe there is still a game or two trickling slowly to its finish as you read this) and the 2022 MLB playoffs are set to start Friday — and this year's postseason could be epic.

In addition to a new format that features 12 teams and a three-game wild-card round that is guaranteed to bring drama to October from the very start, there are so many storylines to follow throughout that it has a chance to be an all-time great month of baseball.

Below, we highlight the 12 themes that will dominate the entire sport as the new 12-team format begins.

See playoff schedule & bracket | MLB playoffs preview

1. This is the best playoff format… ever

I think baseball finally nailed it. Yes, there are those who will always favor the old setups of two pennants or four division winners, but the 12-team arrangement is an improvement over 10 teams (which had been the norm for the past decade). The do-or-die wild-card game, which had been around since 2012, never felt right and, frankly, never really turned into the must-see drama that the sports world stopped everything to watch anyway.

As we saw with the temporary 16-team bracket in 2020, these quick, three-game series are fun. They're still plenty pressure-packed, but they feel more like baseball than a winner-take-all matchup.

Crucially, this format still rewards the best teams with a first-round bye and the opportunity to rest a pitching staff and line up a rotation. My only nit with where baseball landed this year is that a seven-game division series would be better than five — maybe next year, when the start of the season won't be delayed by a lockout.

2. There's a 111-win superteam and nobody is sure what to make of its World Series