The baseball playoffs have arrived — here's a look at the American League contenders

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Baseball's post-season is underway. At our publish time, Texas and Tampa Bay were playing Game 1 of their American League Wild Card Series, while Toronto and Minnesota were getting set to open theirs at 4:38 p.m. ET. The National League matchups — Arizona vs. Milwaukee and Miami vs. Philadelphia — begin tonight. 

All four series in the wild-card round are best of three and will be played entirely in the ballpark of the higher-seeded team (listed second above) from today through Thursday. The winners advance to a best-of-five Division Series against one of the top two seeds from their league, who are currently enjoying a bye. In the AL, those teams are top-ranked Baltimore and reigning World Series champion Houston. In the NL, it's Atlanta and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In yesterday's newsletter, we previewed the Blue Jays-Twins series, whose winner will meet Houston. Today, let's take a quick look at all six American League playoff contenders:

Baltimore: The Orioles' long and painful rebuilding project finally paid off as they went 101-61 (an 18-win improvement from last season) to capture their first AL East title in nine years. Baltimore won baseball's toughest division with a young batting order that lacks a big star but is full of tough outs.

Houston: The reigning champs' September swoon nearly cost them a playoff spot. But they recovered in time to win the AL West and now have a chance to reach their seventh consecutive AL Championship series — a run that includes four World Series appearances and two titles. Longtime ace Justin Verlander, 40, was reacquired in August