LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. — The crack of the bat hitting the ball rings out across the stadium, and the crowd goes wild as they watch the ball soar out of the field. For many people, the baseball playoffs are one of the most exciting times of the year. With the fourth game of the World Series happening tonight, here’s what to know while watching.

Regular season: During the regular season, all 30 Major League Baseball teams compete to be the first place in their respective divisions. At the end of the season, the teams that finish first advance directly to the playoffs. 

All of the rounds of the playoffs happen in both the American League and National League.

Wild Card: The Wild Card series consists of games played between teams with the second-best records in their divisions. For example, in the National League West division, the Dodgers had the best record, so they went straight to the playoffs, and the Padres had the second-best record, so they played in one of the National League Wild Card series. 

Division Series: The championship series occurs in both the National League and American League. It comes directly after the Wild Card series. The victors of the Wild Card series move on to the NLDS series. They play the teams that won first place in their divisions in the regular season, the ones mentioned earlier that advance directly to the playoffs. The team that emerges victorious from this series will move on to play the other victors in the National League Championship Series. 

Championship Series: The championship series, like the Division Series, happens in both the National and American Leagues. At this point, there are four teams left competing to make an appearance in the World Series. Two teams from the American League play each other, and two teams from the National League play each other. These teams are the ones that won the Division Series. This round is a series of seven games, and the first team to win four will move on to the World Series. 

There are a total of 12 teams in the race for World Series champions. Six of them are from the American League, and the other teams are from the National League. Here are all of the teams that were involved and where they competed.

American League:

In the American League, the Detroit Lions, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals and Orioles all competed in the two Wild Card series that occurred. The Tigers and Royals both emerged victorious. 

The two teams with the best records in the Division Series, the Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees, competed against the two Wild Card winners. Of these teams, the Yankees and Guardians eliminated the two Wild Card teams and moved on to play each other in the American League Championship Series. 

In the final round of the playoffs before the World Series, the Yankees played the Guardians. The Yankees won the series and are now set to play in the World Series. 

National League: 

In the National League, the four Wild Card teams were the New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers, Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres. The Mets and the Padres won these games and were able to move on to the Division Series. 

In the next round, the Mets faced the Philadelphia Phillies and the Padres faced the Los Angeles Dodgers. Both the Phillies and the Dodgers had the best records in the National League. The Dodgers and Mets won the series of five games and were able to advance to the Championship series to play against each other. 

In the NLCS, the Dodgers played the Mets and came out on top; they are now facing the Yankees in the seven World Series games.

 The Dodgers and the Yankees are two of the most popular teams in baseball, and despite their geographical separation, they have quite a history against each other. This season they will face each other in the World Series for the 12th time, which is five more than any other matchup in the history of the World Series. 

These two teams haven’t played each other in the World Series since 1981, and there is a lot of excitement around the games. Both of the teams are extremely talented and have fought their way through the postseason with unwavering spirit. 

Many of the fans believe that these teams are evenly matched since they both have huge stars. The Dodgers have Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts, while the Yankees have players like Juan Soto, Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole. 

“The Dodgers vs. Yankees matchup is a big (deal) because when the Yankees signed Juan Soto and the Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani, everyone was saying that the Dodgers and the Yankees should play each other in the World Series,” Zach Decriscio, a sophomore at Los Alamitos High School, said.

The followers of both teams are extremely devoted and enthusiastic. They have large opinions on what the outcome of the games will be which leads to controversy. 

“I think the Dodgers are going to win because they have great skill players such as Tommy Edman and Freddie Freeman. Also, they have great starting pitchers (like) Yamamoto and Buehler.” Chloe Baral, a sophomore and Dodger fan from Los Alamitos High School, said. 

So far, the Dodgers lead the series 3-0, but the Yankees still have an opportunity to win tonight to stay in the game.

The first two games of the series, both won by the Dodgers, were played in Dodger Stadium in L.A. On Sunday, the teams traveled to the Bronx to play games on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights. The Dodgers won the game Monday night, so if they win tonight, they will be named the World Series champions. They will return to L.A. if they lose tonight or tomorrow night and play the rest of the series there. Tune in to the World Series on Fox to see who will emerge victorious.