# MLB Playoff Bracket Pool — Rules, Scoring & Hosting > How MLB playoff bracket pools work: pick all 11 postseason series, score 1, 2, 4 and 8 points by round, and earn them again for calling the exact series length. Source: https://piksheet.com/pools/mlb_bracket Last updated: 2026-10-06 **MLB Playoff Bracket:** Pick every series of the MLB postseason. Later rounds count more. Fill out the 12-team MLB postseason bracket before first pitch: every series winner, and optionally how many games each series goes. Sport: [MLB](https://piksheet.com/mlb) ## How it works 1. The 12-team postseason has four rounds: the best-of-3 Wild Card Series (seeds 1 and 2 in each league get byes), the best-of-5 Division Series, and the best-of-7 League Championship Series and World Series. 2. Pick the winner of all 11 series before the Wild Card round's first pitch. Your bracket must be consistent — a team can only win a series you've picked it to reach. 3. A correct winner earns the round's points: 1 (Wild Card), 2 (Division Series), 4 (LCS), and 8 (World Series), whoever it beats. 4. Series-length bonus (on by default): also call how many games each series lasts. The right winner in the exact length earns the round's points again. A perfect bracket scores 56, or 28 with the bonus off. 5. Every bracket includes a tiebreaker — total runs in the final World Series game — and the closest prediction wins a tie. 6. Brackets stay hidden until first pitch. PikSheet records each series result, and the standings update from there. ## Postseason example (length bonus on) 1. Wild Card: 3 of 4 winners right, 1 in the exact number of games → 3 + 1 = 4 points 2. Division Series: 3 of 4 right, 2 exact → 6 + 4 = 10 points 3. League Championship Series: 1 of 2 right, length missed → 4 points 4. World Series: right winner in exactly 6 games → 8 + 8 = 16 points 5. Total: 34 of a possible 56. ## How to win - The late rounds carry the bracket: the two LCS winners and the champion are worth 16 of the 28 winner points. Spend most of your thinking on the pennants and the title. - Short series are volatile. A best-of-3 Wild Card Series can turn on a single start, so don't treat the higher seed as a lock. - With the bonus on, the length call is worth as much as the winner — the right champion in the exact number of games is 16 points. Make that call deliberately, not as an afterthought. - An early miss only costs the later picks that needed that team. A correct winner scores whoever it beats, so a bracket with one Wild Card miss is still very much alive. ## What the commissioner controls Every setting, including the series-length bonus, is editable until the Wild Card round's first pitch, when picks, new entries, and settings all lock for the postseason; turning the bonus off clears any lengths already called. - Series-length bonus: on (default) or off - Tiebreaker: total runs in the final World Series game (always on) - Entry fee (optional — you collect, we don't touch it) - Max entries per member ## Frequently asked questions ### What is an MLB playoff bracket pool? A pool where each member predicts the whole MLB postseason before it starts: the winner of all 11 series, from the Wild Card round to the World Series. Correct picks score more in later rounds — 1, 2, 4, and 8 points on PikSheet — and the highest total wins. ### How does the series length bonus work? When it's on (the default), you also call how many games each series lasts. Pick the right winner in the exact length and you earn the round's points again, so a correct World Series winner in the exact number of games is worth 16 instead of 8. A wrong winner scores nothing, whatever the length. A perfect bracket is 56 with the bonus and 28 without. ### Can I start a pool before the playoff field is set? Yes. Pools can be created and joined before the 12 teams are known; picks open once the field is final. New pools, new entries, pick changes, and settings changes all close at the Wild Card round's first pitch. ### What if my series winner beats a different opponent than I picked? You still get the points. A correct winner scores the round's points whoever it beats, so an early miss only costs the later picks that depended on that team. ## Related - [Compare every pool format](https://piksheet.com/pools/compare) - [Pricing](https://piksheet.com/pricing) --- Most pages on https://piksheet.com have a markdown version: add .md to the URL (the home page is https://piksheet.com/index.md) or request the page with `Accept: text/markdown`. https://piksheet.com/llms.txt lists every page and links each markdown version.