Baseball Playoff Schedule, TV Times, Pitchers for Tuesday's Openers

Despite several hiccups from COVID-19 positive tests, baseball made it through its 60-game regular season and now, for the first time, a 16-team playoff will begin on Tuesday.

Well, we made it. We weren't always sure Major League Baseball was going to be able to play a complete regular season without using a bubble, but they did it, and now the playoffs can begin.

It's going to be a playoff we've never see before, with the usual 10-team playoff now expanded to 16 teams, with many new wrinkles.

The biggest change is that the first round is a best-of-three series to be playing entirely at the home field of the higher seed. It starts Tuesday with four American League matchups, and the National League joins the party with four games on Wednesday.

There will be no off days, so the AL series could be over by Wednesday, or Thursday at the latest if a third game is needed. The NL schedule runs Wednesday through Friday.

The Tampa Bay Rays (40-20) are the top seed in the American League, and the Los Angeles Dodgers (43-17) are No. 1 in the NL.

Here's the complete first-round schedule, with pairings, game times and TV information:

Tuesday's American League Games

• Houston Astros (Zach Greinke) at Minnesota Twins (Kenta Maeda), 2 p.m. ET (TV: ABC)
• Chicago White Sox (Lucas Giolito) at Oakland A's (Jesus Luzardo), 3 p.m. ET (TV: ESPN)
• Toronto Blue Jays (Matt Shoemaker) at Tampa Bay Rays (Blake Snell), 5 p.m. ET (TV: TBS)
• New York Yankees (Gerrit Cole) at Cleveland Indians (Shane Bieber), 7 p.m. ET (TV: ESPN)

Wednesday's American League Games

• Houston Astros at Minnesota Twins, 1 p.m. ET (TV: ESPN2)
• Chicago White Sox at Oakland A's, 3 p.m. ET (TV: ESPN)
• Toronto Blue Jays at Tampa Bay Rays, 4 p.m. ET (TV: TBS)
• New York Yankees at Cleveland Indians, 7 p.m. ET (TV: ESPN)

Wednesday's National League Games

• Cincinnati Reds vs. Atlanta Braves, Noon ET (TV: ESPN)
• Miami Marlins at Chicago Cubs, 2 p.m. ET (TV: ABC)
• St. Louis Cardinals at San Diego Padres, 5 p.m. ET (TV: ESPN2)
• Milwaukee Brewers at Los Angeles Dodgers, 10 p.m. ET (TV: ESPN)

Thursday's American League Games

• Houston Astros at Minnesota Twins, if necessary (TV, times: TBA)
• Chicago White Sox at Oakland A's, if necessary (TV, times: TBA)
• Toronto Blue Jays at Tampa Bay Rays, if necessary (TV, times: TBA)
• New York Yankees at Cleveland Indians, if necessary (TV, times: TBA)

Thursday's National League Games

• Cincinnati Reds vs. Atlanta Braves, Game 2 (TV, times: TBA)
• Miami Marlins at Chicago Cubs, Game 2 (TV, times: TBA)
• St. Louis Cardinals at San Diego Padres, Game 2 (TV, times: TBA)
• Milwaukee Brewers at Los Angeles Dodgers, Game 2 (TV, times: TBA)

Friday's National League Games

• Cincinnati Reds vs. Atlanta Braves, if necessary (TV, times: TBA)
• Miami Marlins at Chicago Cubs, if necessary (TV, times: TBA)
• St. Louis Cardinals at San Diego Padres, if necessary (TV, times: TBA)
• Milwaukee Brewers at Los Angeles Dodgers, if necessary (TV, times: TBA)