Overview
- The Wild Card round runs September 30 to October 2 with best‑of‑three series: Tigers at Guardians (Progressive Field), Red Sox at Yankees (Yankee Stadium), Padres at Cubs (Wrigley Field) and Reds at Dodgers (Dodger Stadium).
- Los Angeles starts its title defense at home against Cincinnati, with Shohei Ohtani headlining the Dodgers, and the winner advancing to face the Phillies in the Division Series.
- Top seeds are set: Blue Jays (AL No. 1) and Mariners (AL No. 2) plus Brewers (NL No. 1) and Phillies (NL No. 2) skip the opening round under the 12‑team bracket.
- Broadcast plans include Fox carrying American League games and ESPN/Disney+ the National League, with Imagen TV airing NL games on Mexican broadcast TV on weekends; the World Series is scheduled to start October 24.
- Cleveland reached October after a notable midseason rally to win the AL Central, while Cincinnati clinched the final NL berth on the last day as the Mets missed the postseason.