I figured it out and I blame https://mlb.com. It's a poorly written part of this article talking about teams with a losing record the year prior, not the same year.
Legit not a clue. I think it was some bad computer amalgam of some kind of story about teams finishing under .500 one year making the playoffs the NEXT year, but even then that section doesn't make any sense at all.
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https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-losing-teams-in-2024-that-could-make-2025-postseaon#:~:text=A%20losing%20team%20has%20made,postseason%20every%20year%20since%202005.