It’s officially October, which marks the beginning of the best playoffs in all of sports. The MLB Wild Card Round is finally set, which took until the final day of the season to finish up. On the final day of the regular season, the Houston Astros clinched the American League West, and the Philadelphia Phillies locked up the final National League Wild Card spot with wins over the Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays, respectively.
There will be four best-of-three series this week, beginning on Tuesday and concluding on Thursday. The Phillies will head to Atlanta to take on the Braves beginning at 2:00 p.m. EST. The White Sox—who secured their postseason spot for the first time since 2021—will face the Astros in Houston with first pitch at 5:00 p.m. EST. The Yankees will host the Boston Red Sox in a repeat of last year’s Wild Card matchup with first pitch at 8:00 p.m. EST. The final game of each day will be in San Diego between the Padres and the Cubs, another rematch that switches its venue this year.
Phillies at Braves
The Braves beat their division rivals 9-4 in the season series this year. Now, they will get a chance at revenge against the Phillies in a postseason series, after getting knocked out in 2022 and 2023 in the NLDS by these familiar foes. The Braves will throw out perennial Cy Young Award candidate Chris Sale in game one, while the Phillies—who fought down to the wire in the regular season—will be forced to throw out Jesus Luzardo as their opener, who only threw four pitches in his return on Sunday following an injury. On a more positive note for the Phillies, the last time Luzardo started a game on Sept. 7, he threw a complete-game shutout against these very same Braves.
Following game one, the Phillies gain the pitching advantage, having Christopher Sanchez for game two and Zach Wheeler, if needed, for game three. The Braves will be sending out more unproven talent in Tyler Mahle and Grant Holmes for games two and three, respectively. Looking at these matchups, game one will be pivotal for the Braves in order to advance to the Divisional Series. Notably,the Phillies will be without Luis Arraez this series, one of their main deadline acquisitions who was expected to be a major part of their 2026 postseason run. Instead, the four-time batting champ will be watching from the dugout after getting injured trying to avoid a tag last week. The Phillies, still led by Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber, will have to produce enough offense without him. The winner of this matchup between NL East Rivals will go on to face the 2025 World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Phillies could be down to their final chance to win with their core of aging players while the Braves also feel the pressure as their expected dynasty after their 2021 title has yet to arrive.
White Sox at Astros
On the American League side, the White Sox will be aiming to win their 2021 rematch with the Astros in Houston. This time, they get their shot at a much different Houston squad, which went 81-81, clinching the division with a victory over the Athletics on the final day of the season. The Astros became the first ever team to make the playoffs without a winning regular season record. For Chicago, going from the worst record of all time in 2024 to making the playoffs in 2026 marks the first time a team went from three straight 100 loss seasons to October. These two teams are making history in their postseason appearances, putting much more focus on the series.
The season series in 2026 went to the Astros 5-2, who will also enjoy home-field advantage in the series. The White Sox are headlined by a young but strong offensive duo in Munetaka Murakami and Miguel Vargas, who hit 35 and 33 home runs this season respectively. On the Astros side, the leading AL MVP candidate, Yordan Alvarez, headlines the offense along with one the most prolific postseason hitters or fall time in Jose Altuve. They are joined by 2022 World Series MVP Jermey Pena at shortstop. The battle of these two offenses turns into one between proven talent backed by winning experience and unproven talent finally on the come-up. Both teams are expected to throw bullpen games on Tuesday as all eyes are on these respective lineups and what they can accomplish. The winner of the series will go to Cleveland to face the Guardians, the AL Central champions.
Red Sox at Yankees
The 4th-seeded Yankees will take on the 5th-seeded Red Sox in the Bronx for the second straight year. The Bombers took the series last year in three games, becoming the first-ever team to lose game one and still advance past the wild card. Both these teams are highlighted by their elite pitching and will ride with young breakout stars in game one, with Cam Schlitler—the hero of last year’s series for the Yanks—facing off against Peyton Tolle, the rookie sensation for the Sox. In game two, the Yankees will turn to Max Fried and the Red Sox to Sonny Gray, two more proven and consistent talents in baseball over the last few years.
Offensively, the Yankees will not have Aaron Judge back in the lineup, but will have Giancarlo Stanton to come off the bench, who has not played since April. The supporting cast, including Ben Rice, Luis Garcia Jr., and Paul Goldschmidt, will have to step up without their captain on the field. On the Red Sox side, Wilson Contreras looks to be ready to play despite his hand injury, which is a massive presence in the middle of their lineup. The greatest rivalry in all of sports will be returning to the playoffs yet again, with the winner heading to Tampa to face their other rivals in the divisional series.
Cubs at Padres
The other rematch of last postseason will switch locations, going from a Cubs victory in Chicago last year to home field advantage for the Padres in San Diego. The Cubs took the series 5-1 this year after winning the playoff series last year, and still will have to travel to Petco to face the Brewers in the next series. The Cubs are highlighted by an elite offense led by Pete Crow-Armstrong, the NL MVP frontrunner, and Alex Bregman, who didn’t allow a brutal fracture in his face to stop him from hitting two home runs in the season finale. The Padres will run out a familiar lineup with Fernando Tatis and Manny Machado as the headliners. Their major strength is found in their bullpen, with Mason Miller in the closing role, but the other high-leverage arms are just as lethal: Adrian Morejon, Yuki Matsui, and Jasson Adam have all had elite seasons.
Michael King will start for the Padres in game one, and the Cubs will go with Mathew Boyd, with both managers declining to set a rotation for the rest of the series. The Cubs’ elite offense will hope to carry them through the series. Their lack of a set closer and big names in the rest of the bullpen will prove a challenge for manager Craig Counsell to navigate. For San Diego, an early lead is exactly what they need, as they expect their bullpen to shut everything down once the starter comes out. As usual, game one will be pivotal in deciding the outcome of the series and who moves on.
