First Time Ever All Four Postseason Wild Card Rounds Were Sweeps

Credit: CBS Sports

In the Wild Card Round of the 2023 MLB Postseason, all four series (two in the AL, two in the NL) were sweeps, with the winning side taking the best-of-three series with two wins and zero losses.

American League:

The Texas Rangers (5 seed) beat the Tampa Bay Rays (4 seed) 2-0.

The Minnesota Twins (3 seed) beat the Toronto Blue Jays (6 seed) 2-0.

National League:

The Philadelphia Phillies (4 seed) beat the Miami Marlins (5 seed) 2-0.

The Arizona Diamondbacks (6 seed) beat the Milwaukee Brewers (3 seed) 2-0.

According to @OptaSTATS social media page:

Of the 245 occurrences, this is the first time in the MLB, NBA, and NHL where all four of the series in a single round ended in sweeps. A sweep is defined as any series of games where one team goes undefeated winning all the games against the other team. For example, in the Wild Card round in the MLB postseason, the current format is that there are three game series, so in order to sweep a team would have to win Games 1 and 2.

In general, a sweep becomes less likely with the more games that are added to the series. So, while this feat is impressive with it happening for the first time, since the volume of games in the series is small, the likelihood that one team wins the first two games is more likely than in a five or seven games series.

Further Research Into MLB Postseason Sweeps

First it is important to note that the following graphic and all data in this section are credited to MLB Sweeps. The following information details how the postseason format has changed throughout its existence:

Including this year's Wild Card round that just concluded on Wednesday, with eight Wild Card Series rounds being played under the new format in 2022 and 2023, 7 out of 8 have been swept, producing a staggering 87.5% sweep percentage.

The Divisional round (best-of-five) has had a team sweep 33.62% of the time. 39 of the 116 series were won in three games to advance to the Championship Series.

Speaking of the Championship Series, of the 106 series played, 21.7% of them have been swept. Because of the formatting changes since the 1960s, a sweep in the Championship Series has either been winning 3-0 in a best-of-five series, or more recently winning 4-0 in a best-of-seven series.

For the World Series, of the 61 series played, only 18.03% of them have been sweeps. With World Series only having sweeps occurring just under one-fifth of the time, it is a common occurrence to see the losing side win at least one game before eventually losing four games, thus losing the World Series. Also, the teams represent the best of the American and National League going head-to-head, so even though teams have gained the momentum and gone on the sweep, the star quality on display in the World Series signals to a longer series and less amount of sweeps.

Credit: The Patriot Ledger

Conclusion

Therefore, it is supported that postseason sweeps do become less likely as the playoffs progress and the series get longer. On the contrary, the Wild Card round best-of-three series has a small sample size, so we could see that 87.5% mark go up or down in the next few years. But, it is important to note that once a team wins Game 1 in a three game series, they lose momentum and are not playing with their postseason dreams on the line like the losing side of Game 1 is.

Overall, it was intriguing to see that this year's postseason Wild Card round was the first time ever in professional baseball, basketball, and hockey that all four series played were sweeps. While there is data that supports the probability of this is higher now in the MLB, it is always interesting to analyze further into a feat that has been achieved for the first time.