MLB Postseason Schedule 2026: Every Date From Sept. 29 to Oct. 31

October baseball starts in September this year. The MLB postseason schedule 2026 opens on Tuesday, Sept. 29 with Game 1 of all four Wild Card Series and does not stop until a potential World Series Game 7 on Halloween night, Saturday, Oct. 31.

The regular season ends Sunday, Sept. 27, with all 15 games starting inside a 20 minute window between 3:00 and 3:20 p.m. ET and nine of them divisional matchups. Monday, Sept. 28 is the lone gap. Twelve teams get in, four skip the first round entirely, and the other eight play a three game sprint two days after their 162nd game. The seeding that decides who sits and who sprints is still unsettled.

MLB Postseason Schedule 2026: Round By Round Dates

All dates come from the league's published grid. Game times and matchups have not been announced, and MLB says the dates remain subject to change. An asterisk marks a game played only if necessary.

Wild Card Series (best of three, NBC, Peacock and NBC Sports Network)

All four series: Tuesday, Sept. 29, Wednesday, Sept. 30 and Thursday, Oct. 1*

Division Series (best of five)

ALDS on TBS, truTV and HBO Max: Oct. 3, Oct. 5, Oct. 7, Oct. 8*, Oct. 10*

NLDS on FOX, FS1 and FOX One: Oct. 3, Oct. 4, Oct. 6, Oct. 7*, Oct. 9*

League Championship Series (best of seven)

NLCS on FOX, FS1 and FOX One: Oct. 11, Oct. 12, Oct. 14, Oct. 15, Oct. 16*, Oct. 18*, Oct. 19*

ALCS on TBS, truTV and HBO Max: Oct. 12, Oct. 13, Oct. 15, Oct. 16, Oct. 17*, Oct. 19*, Oct. 20*

World Series (best of seven, FOX and FOX One)

Friday, Oct. 23, Saturday, Oct. 24, Monday, Oct. 26, Tuesday, Oct. 27, then Oct. 28*, Oct. 30* and Oct. 31*

How The Bracket Fills In

Division winners are seeded one through three by record, wild cards four through six. The top two seeds skip the Wild Card Series. In that round the No. 3 seed hosts the No. 6 and the No. 4 hosts the No. 5, with the higher seed hosting all three games. Nobody is reseeded: the 4 versus 5 winner draws the No. 1 seed, the 3 versus 6 winner draws the No. 2.

The Division Series runs 2-2-1 with the bye team hosting Games 1, 2 and 5. Both Championship Series and the World Series run 2-3-2, and World Series home field goes to whichever pennant winner finished with the better 2026 record, not the higher seed. The full breakdown of the 2026 playoff format and bracket seeding covers every branch, and the tiebreaker rules handle ties, since Game 163 is gone.

Who Is Already In, As Of Sept. 15

Four teams carry a clinched berth as of Sept. 15: the Rays (90-59), Brewers (93-57), Dodgers (91-59) and Yankees (87-63). Everything else is live.

The final American League wild card belongs to the Guardians (76-75) as of Sept. 15, with the Blue Jays a game back, the Rangers a game and a half back and the Orioles three back. In the National League the Padres (82-68) hold the last spot with the Diamondbacks two and a half games behind. Standings move nightly, so check the live playoff picture and wild card standings before acting on any of it.

One quirk is worth flagging. As of Sept. 15 the Yankees hold a better record than two American League division leaders, the White Sox (77-73) and the Astros (75-75). Under the seeding rules a wild card team can finish ahead of a division winner and still sit below it, which would put New York in the Wild Card round while a weaker team rests. Yankees lineup health is the swing factor in that corner of the bracket, and our Aaron Judge coverage has the background.

What The 2026 MLB Postseason Schedule Means For Bettors

Read the calendar before you read the odds. Three details in this grid move prices.

First, the Wild Card Series runs on three consecutive days with no off day, which caps what an ace can do: one start, and at most a short rest Game 3. Best of three prices reward rotation depth and a trustworthy bullpen far more than a single dominant arm, which is why top heavy staffs are usually overpriced in this round.

Second, the bye is worth more than the seed line suggests. Two teams per league skip a coin flip round entirely, so pennant futures move hard over the final weekend as byes get locked. The cheapest version of that ticket is bought before the bye is decided.

Third, the off day pattern is not symmetric. The ALDS has a day between Games 1 and 2 while the NLDS plays them back to back on Oct. 3 and Oct. 4, which changes how each manager lines up a rotation.

The World Series start is fixed at Friday, Oct. 23 regardless of when the Championship Series end. A four game NLCS would finish Oct. 15 and leave that pennant winner as many as seven idle days; a four game ALCS finishing Oct. 16 leaves six. Rest against rust is live this year. The StatSniper AI sports picks hub runs model prices on every series as matchups lock.

What To Watch Next

Two things decide this bracket over the next 12 days: the race for byes, where the gap between the No. 2 and No. 3 seed is five idle days versus a three game coin flip, and the final wild card in each league. Matchups and start times get set only after the standings are final, so expect pairings and broadcast windows in the days after Sept. 27. The league keeps the full 2026 postseason schedule on MLB.com.

FAQ

When do the 2026 MLB playoffs start?

The 2026 MLB playoffs start Tuesday, Sept. 29 with Game 1 of all four Wild Card Series. Game 2 is Sept. 30 and a deciding Game 3 would fall on Oct. 1. Every Wild Card game airs on NBC, Peacock and NBC Sports Network, the first postseason baseball NBC has carried since the 2000 AL Championship Series.

When is the 2026 World Series?

World Series Game 1 is Friday, Oct. 23, and a Game 7 would be played Saturday, Oct. 31. The start date does not depend on when the Championship Series finish. Travel days fall on Oct. 25 and Oct. 29, the second only if the series goes past five games. Every game airs on FOX and FOX One.

How many teams make the 2026 MLB playoffs?

Twelve teams, six per league: three division winners and three wild cards on each side. The top two seeds in each league get a first round bye into the Division Series, leaving eight teams to play the Wild Card round.

When does the 2026 MLB regular season end?

Sunday, Sept. 27. All 15 games that day start between 3:00 and 3:20 p.m. ET, and nine of them are divisional matchups.

Chad AI tracks every series price as the bracket fills in, from Wild Card openers to World Series futures. See what the model likes at Chad.

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