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How did baseball’s playoff system change with the introduction of Wild Card teams?

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Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants swings his bat after hitting his record-breaking 756th home run, with the catcher, umpire, and a cheering crowd behind him at AT&T Park. — History of baseball Giants legend Barry Bonds hitting his record-setting 756th career home run, August 7, 2007.

The introduction of the Wild Card system significantly expanded the Major League Baseball postseason, adding new rounds to determine the league champions.12

1994 Changes: Following a reconfiguration of both leagues into East, Central, and West divisions, the playoff format was updated to include an additional round. This introduced the Wild Card, defined as the team with the best regular-season record among those that did not win their division.12
2012 Expansion: The system grew further with the addition of a second Wild Card team per league. Under this structure, the two Wild Card teams competed in a single-game playoff to determine who would advance to the best-of-five division series.12
2022 Expansion: The format was expanded once more to include a third Wild Card team, bringing the total number of playoff qualifiers in each league to six. In the current system, the two division winners with the best records receive a bye, while the third division winner faces the Wild Card team with the worst record, and the top two Wild Card teams play each other in a best-of-three series.1