Major League Baseball does not play tiebreaker games anymore. Since the 2022 season, every tie at the end of the regular season is settled on paper, using a fixed order of tiebreakers that starts with head to head record. Game 163 is gone, and so is the one game playoff that used to decide divisions and wild cards.
The Tiebreaker Order
| Step | Tiebreaker |
|---|---|
| 1 | Head to head record between the tied clubs |
| 2 | Higher winning percentage in intradivision games |
| 3 | Higher winning percentage in intraleague games |
| 4 | Higher winning percentage over the last half of intraleague games, adding one game at a time until the tie breaks |
Head to head settles the overwhelming majority of ties. If two teams split their season series evenly, the next step is how each did inside its own division, then how each did against the league as a whole.
Why MLB Got Rid of Game 163
The 2022 collective bargaining agreement expanded the playoff field to 12 teams and added a best of three wild card round. With six clubs per league in the bracket and a fixed start date for the postseason, there was no longer room in the calendar for tiebreaker games. Deciding ties mathematically also protects teams from having to burn a starting pitcher the day before a playoff series begins.
Ties Involving Three or More Teams
When three or more clubs are tied, the same criteria apply, but the tied group is compared using its combined record against the other clubs in the tie. Once one team is separated out, the remaining teams are re-compared from the top of the list. A three way tie for a single wild card spot can therefore be resolved entirely on head to head results among the three.
What a Tie Actually Decides
Tiebreakers determine three things: which club wins a division, which clubs get the wild card spots, and the seeding order that sets home field for the wild card round. A team that loses a division on a tiebreaker is not eliminated. It moves into the wild card pool and is seeded there, which is why the difference between first and second in a division can still mean the difference between a first-round bye and a road series.
How It Applies Right Now
Several 2026 races are close enough for this to matter. The AL Central is separated by half a game, and the top National League wild card spot has been shared by two clubs for most of September. If any of those finish level, no one plays an extra game. The head to head record, already banked over the course of the season, decides it.
Related: MLB playoff picture, MLB magic numbers, MLB standings.
The Bottom Line
No tiebreaker games. Head to head record comes first, then intradivision record, then intraleague record, then the last half of intraleague games. Everything is decided on paper before the postseason begins.