How each of your leagues decides its champion, and what your team has to do to get in.
🏈NFL7 PER CONFERENCE
14 teams — 7 from each conference.
Four division winners plus three wild cards in each conference.
The No. 1 seed in each conference gets a first-round bye.
Every round is a single game: Wild Card, Divisional, Conference Championship, Super Bowl.
⚾MLB6 PER LEAGUE
12 teams — 6 from each league.
Three division winners and three wild cards per league.
The two best division winners in each league skip the first round.
Wild Card Series is best-of-three, Division Series best-of-five.
League Championship Series and the World Series are best-of-seven.
🏒NHL8 PER CONFERENCE
16 teams — 8 from each conference.
Top three in each division, plus two wild cards per conference.
The bracket is built around the divisions rather than pure seeding.
Four rounds, all best-of-seven, to the Stanley Cup.
Checked against each league's published rules in September 2026. Formats change — if one of these
looks out of date, the picks may be out of date with it.