October symbolizes trees changing, carving pumpkins, and Halloween. October is the end of high school football seasons, but the NFL and college are in full swing. One other thing that happens in October is playoff baseball. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig changed the format and how many teams make the playoffs.
In the past, four teams from the American League and four teams in the National League made the playoffs. Each league had three division leaders and one wild card. Now, five teams make the playoffs in each league, three division leaders and two wild cards.
This year in the National League the St. Louis Cardinals won the NL Central, the Los Angeles Dodgers won the NL West, and the Atlanta Braves won the NL East. The Pittsburg Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds were the two wild cards. The Pirates and the Reds played a one game series to see who moved on to face the Cardinals. The Dodgers defeated the Braves in their series, and the Cardinals were victorious in five games against the Pirates. St. Louis is now up three games to two on the Dodgers.
In the American league the Boston Red Sox won the AL East. The Detroit Tigers won the AL Central, and the Oakland Athletics were the winners of the AL West. The Tampa Bay Rays and the Cleveland Indians were the two wild card teams. The Rays won their series against the Indians and moved on to play Boston. The Tigers were victorious over the A’s. After the Rays moved on, they were defeated by Boston. Boston and Detroit have each won two games in their best of seven series.
The winner of the St. Louis and Los Angeles series will move on to face the winner of Boston and Detroit in the World Series.