Summer is rapidly becoming fall, and that means the 2025 Major League Baseball playoffs are right around the corner.
The final days of the regular season will be tension-packed, and for some teams the 162-game campaign may come down to whether they can snag enough wins in September’s final days. In the American League in particular, the stress levels are sky high, with close races in all three divisions.
Over in the National League, several teams already know they’re going to the postseason. The Philadelphia Phillies have claimed the NL East, while the Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers can be sure that there are playoff games to come. Still, the door isn’t closed for a handful of clubs, meaning that every game will count.
Here’s what to know about the start date for the 2025 MLB playoffs, as well as how the bracket works:
When do MLB playoffs start?
The four-round MLB playoffs are scheduled to start with the American League and National League Wild Card Series, which will all be best-of-three battles that begin on Tuesday, Sept. 30.
From there, the four Divisional Series pairings are all scheduled to start on Saturday, Oct. 4.
The final game of the regular season, at least based on start time, will see the Chicago Cubs host their NL Central rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals. That game is scheduled to get underway at 3:20 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 28.
MLB has left open one day between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs in case there needs to be a one-game tiebreaker to settle the postseason qualifiers or to cover for any potential rainouts during the season’s final weekend.
How does MLB playoff bracket work?
The MLB playoffs do not re-seed, with the bracket set in stone once the playoffs start.
Here’s how the bracket works in both the American League and the National League:
Wild Card Series
- Third-best division winner (3) vs. third-best wild card (6)
- Best wild card (4) vs. second-best wild card (5)
Division Series
- Best division winner (1) vs. winner of 4-5 Wild Card Series
- Second-best division winner (2) vs. winner of 3-6 Wild Card Series
Championship series
- Two Division Series winners (higher seed gets four home games)
World Series
- ALCS winner vs. NLCS winner (team with best regular-season winning percentage gets four home games)
MLB playoff format, explained
The 2025 MLB playoff format is a familiar one for baseball fans. Twelve teams in total will qualify for the postseason with six teams each coming from the American League and National League.
Each league is divided into three divisions: Central, East and West. The top three playoff seeds in both leagues will go to the teams that finish atop those divisions at the end of the 162-game regular season. The three division winners all advance to the playoffs, joined by the three remaining teams with the best record (regardless of division).
The two division winners with the best records will get a bye directly to the Division Series, while the third division winner and the other three clubs have to play through a Wild Card Series. The two Wild Card Series winners will take on the top two division winners in the Division Series round, with the winners of those pairings advancing to the Championship Series.
The two teams to come out on top at that stage will meet in the 2025 World Series.