How a Baseball Season Works: 162 Games to October

The longest season in American sports — divisions, the daily grind, wild cards, and why October baseball feels like a different game.

Torch Editorial · 5 min read · Updated July 2026

Baseball’s regular season is a marathon dressed as a sport: 162 games per team, played nearly every day from late March to late September. No other major league comes close — an NFL team plays 17. That volume changes what matters: a bad week means little, a bad month is a problem, and the standings only start telling the truth around June.

The structure

Thirty teams split into two leagues — the American League and the National League — of three divisions each: East, Central, and West. You’ll see these six tables on [Diamond’s standings](/v/diamond). Teams play their own division rivals most often, which is why September division games carry so much weight.

Reading the standings

• W–L and Pct — baseball ranks by winning percentage, not points. There are no draws.
• GB (games back) — the gap to the division leader, counted in games. A team 3.0 back must gain three net wins on the leader.
• Run differential — runs scored minus runs allowed. Over 162 games it’s an honest tell: a winning record with a negative differential rarely lasts.

How October happens

Each league sends six teams to the postseason: three division winners and three wild cards — the best records among non-winners. Then the sport transforms: best-of-three wild-card series, best-of-five division series, best-of-seven league championships, and the World Series. The everyday rhythm that defined six months disappears, aces pitch on short rest, and a single bad inning can end a 100-win season. That contrast — the marathon and then the knife-fight — is the whole appeal.