When Does The Playoffs Start In Baseball?
Get the answer to the question “When does the playoffs start in baseball?” Find out when the MLB playoffs start here.
The MLB Regular Season
The Major League Baseball playoffs is an elimination tournament held after the conclusion of the MLB regular season. As of 2012, the playoffs begin in October.
The Length of the Season
The MLB regular season is 162 games long, which is played over a 180-day period. The season typically starts on the first Sunday in April and ends on the first Sunday in October. The playoffs usually start on the Tuesday after the final game of the season and end in late October or early November.
The Start and End Dates
The Major League Baseball regular season starts on the first Thursday in April and ends on the first Sunday in October. The post-season playoffs start in October and end in November with the World Series.
The MLB Postseason
The Wild Card Game
In baseball, the playoffs begin in October. The first round is known as the Wild Card Game, in which the two teams with the best record who did not win their division face off. The winner of that game goes on to play the team with the best record in the divisional series.
The Divisional Series
The Divisional Series is the first round of the Major League Baseball postseason. It consists of four best-of-five series, featuring the two division winners from each league playing each other. The winners of those four series then advance on to the League Championship Series.
The Divisional Series began in 1981, when Major League Baseball implemented a four-team divisional playoff system due to a split season caused by a player’s strike. In 1994, MLB expanded from two to three divisions in each league, and added a Wild Card team to each league, resulting in the current ten-team playoff system.
The Divisional Series is scheduled to take place from October 1-5 (or October 2-6 if there is a tiebreaker game necessary).
The League Championship Series
The League Championship Series (LCS) is a best-of-seven series played in October in the Major League Baseball postseason that determines the winner of each league. The American League winner plays the National League winner in the World Series.
The World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in North America, contested since 1903 between the American League (AL) champion team and the National League (NL) champion team. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff, and the winning team is awarded the Commissioner’s Trophy. As the series is played during autumn, it is also referred to as the Fall Classic.
When do the playoffs start in baseball?
The Major League Baseball playoffs begin on October 1. The playoffs conclude with the World Series, which begins on October 27 and can last as long as until November 4.
The regular season must end
The playoffs cannot start until the regular season ends. The last day of the regular season is October 1. So, if the playoffs were to start on October 2, that would mean that the regular season would have to end on October 1.
The postseason bracket must be set
The MLB season is long—162 games over six months—and it culminates in a playoff tournament that determines the World Series champion. The playoffs generally start in early October.
This year, the playoffs will begin on October 1 and will end on October 29, when the final game of the World Series is played. There are 10 teams in the playoffs: the six division winners and four wild-card teams. The postseason bracket is shown below.
Wild Card
Game 1
AL: New York Yankees NL: Colorado Rockies
at at
Oakland Athletics Chicago Cubs
Winner goes to
Division Series
Division Series
AL: Boston Red Sox NL: Atlanta Braves
vs vs
Houston Astros Los Angeles Dodgers
Winner goes to
Championship Series
Championship Series World Series
AL winner NL winner Winner
vs vs receives
NL winner AL winner Commissioner’s Trophy
The first postseason game must be played
To determine when the playoffs start in baseball, we must first look at when the regular season ends. The Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season is currently scheduled to end on October 1. The first postseason game must be played no later than October 6. So, if the playoffs started on October 2, that would be the earliest possible date.
