When Do the MLB Playoffs Start? Dates, Format & How to Watch

Madison Williams | Aug 29, 2024

The 2023 World Series trophy is seen during the Texas Rangers' tour, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024, at Gene Messer Toyota. / Annie Rice/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

The 2024 MLB regular season is quickly coming to an end with the playoffs on the horizon.

The 12 best teams in baseball will compete for a chance to be crowned the 2024 World Series champion at the end of the postseason—who will it be this year?

As you get ready to watch around a month of postseason baseball starting in October, here's everything you need to know about key dates, how the format works and how to watch the games.

Key Dates for the 2024 MLB Playoffs

The MLB playoffs officially begin on Tuesday, Oct. 1 with the Game 1s of all the Wild Card Series. From there, the postseason could last a month if the World Series goes to a Game 7, which would be played on Nov. 2.

Here's a full breakdown of the key dates for the 2024 MLB playoffs.

Wild Card Series

• Game 1s: Tuesday, Oct. 1
• Game 2s: Wednesday Oct. 2
• Game 3s (If necessary): Thursday Oct. 3

Division Series

• Game 1s: Saturday, Oct. 5
• NL Game 2s: Sunday, Oct. 6
• AL Game 2s: Monday, Oct. 7
• NL Game 3s: Tuesday, Oct. 8
• AL Game 3s and NL Game 4s (If necessary): Wednesday, Oct. 9
• AL Game 4s (If necessary): Thursday, Oct. 10
• NL Game 5s (If necessary): Friday, Oct. 11
• AL Game 5s (If necessary): Saturday, Oct. 12

Championship Series

• NLCS Game 1: Sunday, Oct. 13
• ALCS Game 1 and NLCS Game 2: Monday, Oct. 14
• ALCS Game 2: Tuesday, Oct. 15
• NLCS Game 3: Wednesday, Oct. 16
• ALCS Game 3 and NLCS Game 4: Thursday, Oct. 17
• ALCS Game 4 and NLCS Game 5 (If necessary): Friday, Oct. 18
• ALCS Game 5 (If necessary): Saturday, Oct. 19
• NLCS Game 6 (If necessary): Sunday, Oct. 20
• ALCS Game 6 (If necessary) and NLCS Game 7 (If necessary): Monday, Oct. 21
• ALCS Game 7 (If necessary): Tuesday, Oct. 22

World Series

• Game 1: Friday, Oct. 25
• Game 2: Saturday, Oct. 26
• Game 3: Monday, Oct. 28
• Game 4: Tuesday, Oct. 29
• Game 5 (If necessary): Wednesday, Oct. 30
• Game 6 (If necessary): Friday, Nov. 1
• Game 7 (If necessary): Saturday, Nov. 2

It's important to note that if the Championship Series end earlier than expected, the World Series Game 1 will be moved up to Tuesday, Oct. 22, meaning a possible Game 7 would be played on Wednesday, Oct. 30.

MLB Playoffs Format

The top six seeded MLB teams from both the National League and the American League will compete for the World Series title, making 12 playoff teams total.

The top two seeds from each league will earn a bye from the Wild Card Series. The top seeded team is determined by whichever team has the best league record. The second spot is based on who has the second best league record.

From there, the third seed then has the third-best league record. The final three spots are determined by the top three records in the wild card positions.

There are no more tiebreakers determined by "Game 163," as it's often referred to, ever since the playoff format expanded from 10 to 12 teams in 2022. If there's a tie in the final standing, then the winner will be determined by math from the regular season. A full explanation can be read here.

Here's a breakdown of how each round of the playoffs will work.

Wild Card Series

Since the top two teams in each league receive bye rounds in the Wild Card Series, there will only be a total of four wild card matchups. The No. 6 seeded teams from both leagues will face the No. 3 teams, while the No. 5 teams will play the No. 4 teams. These series are now played as a best-of-three series, whereas the teams used to play a single elimination game.

The teams with the higher seeds, meaning the No. 3 and No. 4 teams, will host the Wild Card Series for the full duration.

Division Series

The teams will not be reseeded based on the results of the Wild Card Series. The top ranked seeds will face the lowest ranked seeds, and so forth. There will be a total of four matchups, two for each league.

The Division Series is a best-of-five series. The higher seeded teams will host the first two games, followed by their opponents hosting the next two games (if needed) and then the higher team will host a Game 5 if necessary.

Championship Series

Only two teams will remain from each league in the Championship Series, which is a best-of-seven series. The top seeded team will host for the first two games, followed by the lower seed hosting the next three. The top team will then host again for the final two games, if necessary.

World Series

The World Series format is identical to the Championship Series.

How to Watch the MLB Playoffs

The Wild Card Series will be shown on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 throughout the course of the three days. The games will also be available on ESPN apps.

From there, the National League's Division Series and Championship Series will be broadcast solely on Fox and FS1, while the American League will be shown on TBS, truTV and the streaming service Max. These games will be available to fans who subscribe to MLB.TV and who subscribe to the networks via a TV provider.

The World Series will be broadcast solely on Fox.

A full broadcast schedule hasn't been released by MLB yet, but here's the details currently out there for fans wanting to tune into the MLB playoffs.

Date	Game	Channel
Tuesday Oct. 1	AL Wild Card Game 1s	ESPN Platforms
	NL Wild Card Game 1s	ESPN Platforms
Wednesday, Oct. 2	AL Wild Card Game 2s	ESPN Platforms
	NL Wild Card Game 2s	ESPN Platforms
Thursday, Oct. 3	AL Wild Card Game 3s	ESPN Platforms
	NL Wild Card Game 3s	ESPN Platforms
Saturday, Oct. 5	ALDS A, Game 1	TBS, truTV, Max
	ALDS B, Game 1	TBS, Max
	NLDS A, Game 1	Fox, FS1
	NLDS B, Game 1	Fox, FS1
Sunday, Oct. 6	NLDS A, Game 2	Fox, FS1
	NLDS B, Game 2	Fox, FS1
Monday, Oct. 7	ALDS A, Game 2	TBS, truTV, Max
	ALDS B, Game 2	TBS, truTV, Max
Tuesday, Oct. 8	NLDS A, Game 3	Fox, FS1
	NLDS B, Game 3	Fox, FS1
Wednesday, Oct. 9	ALDS A, Game 3	TBS, truTV, Max
	ALDS B, Game 3	TBS, truTV, Max
	NLDS A, Game 4 (if needed)	Fox, FS1
	NLDS B, Game 4 (if needed)	Fox, FS1
Thursday, Oct. 10	ALDS A, Game 4 (if needed)	TBS, truTV, Max
	ALDS B, Game 4 (if needed)	TBS, truTV, Max
Friday, Oct. 11	NLDS A, Game 5 (if needed)	Fox, FS1
	NLDS B, Game 5 (if needed)	Fox, FS1
Saturday, Oct. 12	ALDS A, Game 5 (if needed)	TBS, Max
	ALDS, B, Game 5 (if needed)	TBS, Max
Sunday, Oct. 13	NLCS Game 1	Fox, FS1
Monday, Oct. 14	ALCS Game 1	TBS, truTV, Max
	NLCS Game 2	Fox, FS1
Tuesday, Oct. 15	ALCS Game 2	TBS, truTV, Max
Wednesday, Oct. 16	NLCS Game 3	Fox, FS1
Thursday, Oct. 17	ALCS Game 3	TBS, truTV, Max
	NLCS Game 4	Fox, FS1
Friday, Oct. 18	ALCS Game 4	TBS, truTV, Max
	NLCS Game 5 (if needed)	Fox, FS1
Saturday, Oct. 19	ALCS Game 5 (if needed)	TBS, truTV, Max
Sunday, Oct. 20	NLCS Game 6 (if needed)	Fox, FS1
Monday, Oct. 21	ALCS Game 6 (if needed)	TBS, truTV, Max
	NLCS Game 7 (if needed)	Fox, FS1
Tuesday, Oct. 22	ALCS Game 7 (if needed)	TBS, truTV, Max
Friday, Oct. 25	World Series Game 1	Fox
Saturday, Oct. 26	World Series Game 2	Fox
Monday, Oct. 28	World Series Game 3	Fox
Tuesday, Oct. 29	World Series Game 4	Fox
Wednesday, Oct. 30	World Series Game 5 (if needed)	Fox
Friday, Nov. 1	World Series Game 6 (if needed)	Fox
Saturday, No. 2	World Series Game 7 (if needed)	Fox