The Cubs clinched a spot in the postseason on Sept. 17 and will be making their first playoff appearance in a full-length season since 2018. With a win Saturday, they clinched home-field advantage in their wild-card series with the Padres.

Your complete 2025 MLB Playoffs guide with full schedule, TV info, playoff format, bracket details, and postseason rules in one place

Here's everything to know for the 2025 MLB postseason, including the schedule, format and players to watch: We all associate playoff baseball with October, but it technically starts before the calendar flips months in 2025. The first games of the Wild Card Round will be on Tuesday, Sept. 30.

The 2025 MLB playoff field is set and all that's left is all the glory. The Wild Card Series begin Tuesday afternoon with four best-of-three matchups. From there, those four winners will move onto the League Division Series, where the top two teams in each league will join the mix after a first-round bye.

The Cleveland Guardians and Cincinnati Reds completed the playoff picture in grand style. They'll be among 12 teams seeking to win the World Series.

A young Guardians player "blacked out" in 2024 because the MLB playoffs are a different beast. But the 2025 team has had an intriguing ramp-up period.

The 2025 MLB playoffs begin on Sep. 30, just two days after the regular season ends on Sep. 28. The World Series will begin on Oct. 24, and could run to Nov. 1 if the series takes seven games.

Craig Larson Jr. is a freelance contributor with The Sporting News. Craig has been covering professional and collegiate sports for media outlets since 1990. He’s attended 17 Super Bowls 11, Final Fours and five World Series, along with multiple Kentucky Derbies, championship fights and All-Star Games.