[1] In the American League, the Houston Astros were the first team to clinch a postseason spot, their seventh appearance in the last eight seasons.

The Tampa Bay Rays returned for the fourth year in a row, and the Seattle Mariners ended two decades of futility by clinching their first postseason berth since 2001, ending what was the longest active postseason drought in Major League Baseball and all of the four major North American sports leagues.

[3] In the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers became the first team to clinch a postseason spot in MLB overall, marking their tenth straight appearance; this became the longest active postseason appearance streak in the four major North American professional sports leagues after the Pittsburgh Penguins failed to qualify for the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.

[6] The defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves clinched their fifth straight postseason berth on September 20.

The Guardians swept the Rays to advance to the ALDS for the first time since 2018, capped off by a walk-off home run by Oscar González in the fifteenth inning of Game 2.

The Mets made history by being the first 100+ win team to be eliminated from the playoffs before reaching the division series since its implementation in 1995.

This marked the first appearance in the ALDS for the Mariners since 2001, which they won over the Cleveland Indians in five games before falling to the New York Yankees in the ALCS.

In the top of the eighteenth inning, Houston's Jeremy Peña hit a solo home run to give the Astros a 1–0 lead.

The previous meeting in the NLDS in 2020 was won by the Dodgers in a sweep en route to a World Series title.

In a significant upset given their regular season win differential, the 89-win Padres defeated the 111-win Dodgers in four games to advance to the NLCS for the first time since 1998.

[50] The Dodgers would return as the top seed in the NL the following season but were once again upset in the NLDS by the Arizona Diamondbacks in a sweep.

Both teams would meet again in the NLDS in 2024, where the Dodgers would return the favor and defeat the Padres in five games en route to a World Series championship.

The Phillies upset the defending World Series champion Braves in four games to return to the NLCS for the first time since 2010.

However, when the series moved to Philadelphia, Bryce Harper and Rhys Hoskins would lead the Phillies to a blowout win in Game 3 with two multiple-run home runs.

The Phillies closed out the series in Game 4 with yet another blowout win, thanks to home runs from Harper and Brandon Marsh.

The Yankees attempted to avoid a sweep in Game 4 as they led going into the seventh inning, however, it was short-lived as Houston’s Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman both hit RBI singles to put the Astros in the lead for good, securing the pennant.

The Astros returned to the ALCS the next year, but fell to their in-state foe and eventual World Series champion Texas Rangers in seven games.

The last time the Phillies appeared in the NLCS was in 2010, where they were upset by the eventual World Series champion San Francisco Giants.

The Phillies tied the game in the bottom of the fourth, while San Diego’s Juan Soto hit a two-run home run to regain the lead in the top of the fifth.

In the bottom of the inning, Philadelphia’s Rhys Hoskins tied the game with a two-run home run of his own, followed by an RBI double by Bryce Harper, as well as a single by Nick Castellanos which put the Phillies in the lead for good.

With the win, the Phillies became the first sixth-seeded team in MLB history to reach the World Series, due to the new playoff format that started with this postseason.

They previously met in the NLCS in the 1980 postseason, which was won by the Phillies in five games en route to their first World Series title.

The Astros redeemed themselves after their scandal-plagued World Series title in 2017, as they defeated the Phillies in six games to win their second championship in franchise history.

In Game 1, Kyle Tucker of the Astros hit a three-run home run to put Houston up 5–0 going into the top of the fourth inning.

The Phillies cut the Astros' lead to two with a three-run fourth inning, and J. T. Realmuto chased Justin Verlander from the mound as he drove in two runs to tie the game with an RBI double.

The game remained tied after the ninth, and in the top of the tenth, Realmuto hit a solo home run off Luis García to put the Phillies in the lead for good.

In Game 6, the Phillies struck first in the top of the sixth, when Kyle Schwarber hit a solo home run.

The Phillies tried to return to the Fall Classic the following year as well but were upset by the Arizona Diamondbacks in seven games in the NLCS, who made a Cinderella run of their own to the World Series.

especially with the fluctuating placements of teams in the standings during the final games of the regular season, ESPN employed remote production for the NY Mets–San Diego and Toronto–Seattle series.

[74] MLB Network replaced CNN en Español in airing Spanish-language broadcasts of TBS' games.