MLB postseason field, schedule, wild-card matchups set

After six months and 2,430 regular-season games, the 12-team MLB postseason field is set.

Things were entirely settled with the end of Sunday's slate of games, during which multiple postseason spots and seeding implications remained at stake.

In the National League, the Milwaukee Brewers (97-65) and Philadelphia Phillies (96-66) finished with the two best records in baseball, earning the top two seeds and byes to the National League Division Series.

The Los Angeles Dodgers (93-69) won the NL West and are the No. 3 seed. They'll begin the NL wild-card series against the sixth-seeded Cincinnati Reds (83-79), who earned the final NL spot thanks to a tiebreaker over the New York Mets.

The Chicago Cubs (92-70) are the No. 4 seed and will host the No. 5 seed San Diego Padres (90-72) in the other NL wild-card series.

On the American League side, the Toronto Blue Jays (94-68) clinched their first AL East title since 2015 and the No. 1 seed with Sunday's win over Tampa Bay. The Seattle Mariners (90-72) are the No. 2 seed after winning their first AL West title since 2001. Both teams have byes to the American League Division Series round.

The Cleveland Guardians (88-74) won the AL Central title Sunday after trailing by as many as 15.5 games. That division title earns them the No. 3 seed, even though they finished the season six games worse than the No. 4 seed New York Yankees (94-68).

Cleveland will host the sixth-seeded Detroit Tigers (87-75), who it surpassed in the AL Central, in the wild-card round, while the Yankees will also play a division foe in the wild-card series, hosting the No. 5 seed Boston Red Sox (89-73).

The wild-card series are best-of-three, the division series are best-of-five and then the championship series and World Series are each best-of-seven.

Wild-card series (all game times ET)

No. 6 Detroit at No. 3 Cleveland

Game 1: Tuesday, Sept. 30, 1:08 p.m. (ESPN)

Game 2: Wednesday, Oct. 1, 1:08 p.m. (ESPN)

Game 3 (if necessary): Thursday, Oct. 2, 1:08 p.m. (ESPN)

No. 5 Boston at No. 4 New York

Game 1: Tuesday, Sept. 30, 6:08 p.m. (ESPN)

Game 2: Wednesday, Oct. 1, 6:08 p.m. (ESPN)

Game 3 (if necessary): Thursday, Oct. 2, 6:08 p.m. (ESPN)

No. 6 Cincinnati at No. 3 Los Angeles

Game 1: Tuesday, Sept. 30, 9:08 p.m. (ESPN)

Game 2: Wednesday, Oct. 1, 9:08 p.m. (ESPN)

Game 3 (if necessary): Thursday, Oct. 2, 9:08 p.m. (ESPN)

No. 5 San Diego at No. 4 Chicago

Game 1: Tuesday, Sept. 30, 3:08 p.m. (ABC)

Game 2: Wednesday, Oct. 1, 3:08 p.m. (ABC)

Game 3 (if necessary): Thursday, Oct. 2, 3:08 p.m. (ABC)

Division series (Games 1-2 and 5 at higher seed, 3-4 at lower seed)

No. 1 Toronto vs. New York/Boston winner

Game 1: Saturday, Oct. 4

Game 2: Sunday, Oct. 5

Game 3: Tuesday, Oct. 7

Game 4 (if necessary): Wednesday, Oct. 8

Game 5 (if necessary): Friday, Oct. 10

No. 2 Seattle vs. Cleveland/Detroit winner

Game 1: Saturday, Oct. 4

Game 2: Sunday, Oct. 5

Game 3: Tuesday, Oct. 7

Game 4 (if necessary): Wednesday, Oct. 8

Game 5 (if necessary): Friday, Oct. 10

No. 1 Milwaukee vs. Chicago/San Diego winner

Game 1: Saturday, Oct. 4

Game 2: Monday, Oct. 6

Game 3: Wednesday, Oct. 8

Game 4 (if necessary): Thursday, Oct. 9

Game 5 (if necessary): Saturday, Oct. 11

No. 2 Philadelphia vs. Los Angeles/Cincinnati winner

Game 1: Saturday, Oct. 4

Game 2: Monday, Oct. 6

Game 3: Wednesday, Oct. 8

Game 4 (if necessary): Thursday, Oct. 9

Game 5 (if necessary): Saturday, Oct. 11

ALCS (Higher seed hosts Games 1-2, 6-7, lower seed hosts Games 3-5)

Game 1: Sunday, Oct. 12

Game 2: Monday, Oct. 13

Game 3: Wednesday, Oct. 15

Game 4: Thursday, Oct. 16

Game 5 (if necessary): Friday, Oct. 17

Game 6 (if necessary): Sunday, Oct. 19

Game 7 (if necessary): Monday, Oct. 20

NLCS (Higher seed hosts Games 1-2, 6-7, lower seed hosts Games 3-5)

Game 1: Monday, Oct. 13

Game 2: Tuesday, Oct. 14

Game 3: Thursday, Oct. 16

Game 4: Friday, Oct. 17

Game 5 (if necessary): Saturday, Oct. 18

Game 6 (if necessary): Monday, Oct. 20

Game 7 (if necessary): Tuesday, Oct. 21

World Series (Higher seed hosts Games 1-2, 6-7, lower seed hosts Games 3-5)

Game 1: Friday, Oct. 24

Game 2: Saturday, Oct. 25

Game 3: Monday, Oct. 27

Game 4: Tuesday, Oct. 28

Game 5 (if necessary): Wednesday, Oct. 29

Game 6 (if necessary): Friday, Oct. 31

Game 7 (if necessary): Saturday, Nov. 1

--Field Level Media