Editing Playoffs (section)

==Baseball==

===South Korea===
{{Main|Korean Series}}

The teams finishing in fourth and fifth place in the regular season face each other in the wildcard game. The winner of the wildcard game faces the team that finished in third place in the first round of the play-offs. The winner of the first round faces the team that finished in second place during the regular season, and the winner of that round faces the team that finished in first place for the championship in the Korean Series. This type of format is known as the [[Ladder tournament|stepladder]] playoff.

===Japan===
{{Main|Nippon Professional Baseball playoffs}}
Before 1950, the original [[Japanese Baseball League]] had been a single-table league of franchises. After it was reorganized into the [[Nippon Professional Baseball]] (NPB) system, a series of playoffs ensued between the champions of the [[Central League]] and [[Pacific League]].

Before the playoff system was developed in both professional leagues, the Pacific League had applied a playoff system on two occasions. The first was between 1973 and 1982, when a split-season was applied with a 5-game playoff between the winning teams from both halves of season (unless a team won both of the halves so that they did not need to play such a game). The second time was between 2004 and 2006, when the top three teams played a two-staged stepladder knockout (3 games in the first stage and 5 games in the second stage) to decide the League Champion (and the team playing in the [[Japan Series]]). After this system was applied, the [[Seibu Lions]] (now Saitama Seibu Lions), [[Chiba Lotte Marines]] and [[Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters]], which claimed the Pacific League Championship under this system, were all able to clinch the following Japan Series in that season. The success of such a playoff system convinced the Central League to consider a similar approach. In 2007, a new playoff system, named the "[[Climax Series]]", was introduced to both professional leagues in NPB to decide the teams that would compete for the Japan Series. The Climax Series basically applied the rule of the playoff system in the Pacific League, with one important change: each League championship is awarded to the team finishing the regular season at the top of their respective league, regardless of their fate in the playoffs. This means that the two League Champions are not guaranteed to make the Japan Series. The [[Chunichi Dragons]] took advantage of this in the first Climax Series season, finishing second in the regular season but sweeping the [[Hanshin Tigers]] and the League Champion [[Yomiuri Giants]] in the Central League to win a place in the Japan Series; they subsequently defeated the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters to claim their first Japan Series in 52 years.

In 2008, the format of Climax Series will have a slight change, in which the second stage will be played over a maximum of six games, with the League Champion starting with an automatic one game advantage.

===United States and Canada===

====Major League Baseball====
{{Main|Major League Baseball postseason}}
[[Major League Baseball]] (MLB) itself does not use the term "playoffs" for championship tournaments. Instead, it uses the term "postseason" as the title of the elimination tournament held after the conclusion of the [[Major League Baseball schedule|regular season]]. From {{MLBy|2012}} to {{MLBy|2019}} and  {{mlby|2021|disp=seas}}, it consisted of a first round single-elimination [[Wild Card Game]] between the two [[Wild card (sports)|wild-card teams]] in each league. From {{MLBy|2022}}, the postseason begins with a two best-of-three Wild Card Series first round, followed by a best-of-five second round series called the [[Division Series]], and two rounds of best-of-seven series for the [[League Championship Series]] and [[World Series]]. One exception is {{MLBy|2020}}, when the first-round series, the Wild Card Series, a best-of-three round, was created, along with the other rounds. The first three seeds went to division champions, the next three seeds to division runners-up, and the last two to the next-best records. The pairings for the Wild Card Series are as follows: top seed vs. eighth, second vs. seventh, third vs. sixth, and fourth vs. fifth. The division series has the 1–8 winner play the 4–5 winner, while the 2–7 winner plays the 3–6 winner.

MLB uses a "2–3–2" format for the final two rounds of its postseason tournament. The singular term "playoff" is reserved for the rare situation in which two (or more) teams find themselves tied at the end of the regular season and are forced to have a tiebreaking playoff game (or games) to determine which team will advance to the postseason. Thus, a "playoff" is actually ''part of the regular season'' and can be called a "[[pennant playoff]]". However, the plural term "playoffs" is conventionally used by fans and media to refer to baseball's postseason tournament, not including the World Series.

MLB is the oldest of the major American professional sports, dating back to the 1870s. As such, it is steeped in tradition. The final series to determine its champion has been called the "World Series" (originally "World's Championship Series" and then "World's Series") as far back as the National League's contests with the [[American Association (19th century)|American Association]] during the 1880s.

====Minor League Baseball====
Most of the domestic [[Minor League Baseball]] (MiLB) leagues which are affiliated with Major League Baseball conduct playoffs after their regular season to determine champions.

Before the 2021 reorganization of MiLB, most leagues at the [[Triple-A (baseball)|Triple-A]], [[Double-A (baseball)|Double-A]], and [[Class A-Advanced]] classification levels included four qualifying teams which competed in two best-of-five rounds: semi-finals and finals. Most [[Class A (baseball)|Class A]], [[Class A Short Season]], and [[Rookie League]] playoffs consisted of two best-of-three rounds. The champions of the two Triple-A leagues, the [[International League]] and [[Pacific Coast League]], met in the [[Triple-A National Championship Game]], a single game to determine an overall champion of the classification.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.milb.com/milb/events/playoffs/y2018/index.jsp|title=2018 Playoffs|website=Minor League Baseball|access-date=February 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180830045643/http://www.milb.com/milb/events/playoffs/y2018/index.jsp|archive-date=August 30, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the 2021 season, the first after the reorganization, no MiLB league had more than two teams involved in playoffs, with some leagues not holding a postseason at all.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/tampa-bay-rays-affiliates-dominate-2021-minor-league-baseball-playoff-picture/ |title=Rays Affiliates Dominate 2021 Minor League Playoff Picture |first=J.J. |last=Cooper |website=Baseball America |date=September 20, 2021 |access-date=October 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920155921/https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/tampa-bay-rays-affiliates-dominate-2021-minor-league-baseball-playoff-picture/ |archive-date=September 20, 2021 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* The Rookie leagues, better known as the Complex Leagues (from those leagues being hosted at major-league spring training facilities), did not hold playoffs; the regular-season winners were crowned champions.
* In all Low-A, High-A, and Double-A leagues (three at each level), the top two teams at the end of the regular season advanced to a best-of-five championship series.
* In both Triple-A leagues, the top team at the end of the 120-game regular season was crowned champion. After the regular season, all 30 teams at this level played a 10-game "Final Stretch".

===Taiwan===
{{Main|Taiwan Series}}
Taiwan's playoff is different to many such competitions, due to the league's split-season format. The winners of the first half-season and the winners of the second half-season are eligible to play in the playoffs, but if the best overall team have not won either half season then they qualify into a wild card series against the weaker half-season winner, with the winner of this advancing into the [[Taiwan Series]] to face the other half-season winner. If the first and second half winners are different, but one of them is also the best overall team, then both teams progress directly to the Taiwan Series. Finally, if one team wins both halves of the season then a playoff will take place between the second and third best teams for the right to play them in the Final Series; in this case the team winning both halves of the season will begin the Taiwan Series with an automatic one game advantage.