After a hectic final weekend to wrap up the 2025 MLB regular season, the postseason matchups are officially set!
Round info
All Game 1s for each Wild Card matchup (two in each league) are scheduled for September 30th. Game 2 will be on October 1st, and *Game 3 will be on October 2nd (*if necessary). All the higher seeds in the Wild Card round will have home-field advantage through all three games.
The Divisional Round will start on October 4th and run up through October 10th (for the AL) and October 11th (for the NL) - if Game 5s are necessary.
The AL Championship Series will begin on October 12th, and the NL Championship Series will begin on October 13th - both are best-of-seven series.
Game 1 of the World Series is scheduled for October 24th.
Below you will find each of the matchups for the Wild Card rounds.
Matchups
In the American League, the (6) Detroit Tigers are taking on the (3) Cleveland Guardians in an AL Central showdown.
The winner between these two teams will go on to face the (2) Seattle Mariners in a best-of-five series in the AL Divisional Round.
As for the other AL Wild Card game, it'll be a must-watch series between the historic rivals, the (5) Boston Red Sox and (4) New York Yankees.
The winner of that series will face the (1) Toronto Blue Jays in the AL Divisional Round. Toronto will have home-field advantage up through the American League Championship Series.
Now, over in the National League.
The (5) San Diego Padres are heading to Wrigley Field to take on the (4) Chicago Cubs for Game 1.
The winner of this series will go on to face the (1) Milwaukee Brewers, who have home-field advantage throughout the entire postseason as the best team in baseball.
As for the other NL Wild Card, the (6) Cincinnati Reds are heading out west to face the (3) Los Angeles Dodgers.
The winner of this series will head to Philadelphia to face the (3) Phillies.
Comparisons
Last season, both of the lower seeds (Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals) in the AL Wild Card won their matchups. However, they ultimately lost in the divisional round, which saw the top two seeds (Cleveland Guardians, New York Yankees) advance to the American League Championship Series.
In the National League, the (6) New York Mets upset the (3) Milwaukee Brewers, and the (4) San Diego Padres beat the (5) Atlanta Braves. Unlike in the AL, the (6) Mets went on to the NLCS after upsetting the (2) Philadelphia Phillies.
Ultimately, the World Series was between the top seed from both leagues in the Yankees and the Dodgers.
Since the introduction of the new Wild Card format with two series in each league in 2022, the lower seeds have an 8-4 record.
A No. 1 seed has gone on to win the World Series in three of the last five years (2024, 2022, 2020). The others were a No. 5 seed (Texas Rangers - 2023) and a No. 3 seed (Atlanta Braves - 2021).
The last time a No. 4 seed won was the Washington Nationals in 2019, No. 2 seed in 2017 (Houston Astros).
Since the playoff expansion in 2020, no seed below No. 6 has appeared in the World Series, much less one in it.