How To Watch MLB Playoff Games: Schedule, Dates, TV Channels For 2020 Wild-Card Series

There will be wall-to-wall baseball this week with the start of the 2020 MLB playoffs and the new postseason format.

Eight wild-card round series are on the schedule with the first team to win two games in each series moving on to the division series. The American League playoffs start Tuesday. The National League gets underway Wednesday.

There are no scheduled off-days in each best-of-three series. How exactly can fans watch all of these games?

Every contest will be broadcast on national TV. ESPN, ESPN2, ABC and TBS will show the games. All games in each series will be at the home field of the lower-seeded team but no fans will be allowed in the ballparks.

The Minnesota Twins and Houston Astros kick off the playoffs Tuesday at 2 p.m. EDT on ABC. The series between the Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox starts an hour later on ESPN.

The No.1 seeded Tampa Bay Rays host the Toronto Blue Jays at 5 p.m. EDT on TBS Tuesday. ESPN has Game 1 between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians at 7 p.m. EDT.

Wednesday’s eight-game schedule starts at noon EDT with the Atlanta Braves hosting the Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 on ESPN. The Chicago Cubs and Miami Marlins will start their wild-card series two hours later on ABC.

Game 1 between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres is set for 5 p.m. EDT Wednesday on ESPN2. The Los Angeles Dodgers, who own the best record in MLB, don’t start their postseason against the Milwaukee Brewers until 10 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Thursday’s schedule will depend on what happens in the first two days of the postseason. It’s possible that every AL series will conclude Wednesday.

Every series is scheduled to end by Friday. The ALDS starts Monday, Oct. 5, with the NLDS beginning the next day.