When are the 2021 MLB playoffs?

The 2021 MLB post-season has returned to a 10-team format and the bracket is starting to take shape ahead of the Wild Card games on October 5 and 6.

AS EnglishUpdate: Oct 1st, 2021 07:10 EDT

Bob LeveyAFP

In 2020 the MLB playoffs were expanded to include 16 teams following a reduced 60-game regular season as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. However, the 2021 MLB postseason returns to a 10-team format made up of five clubs each from the National League and American League who will compete to claim the World Series.

MLB post-season bracket

Welcome to October. #CLINCHED pic.twitter.com/s1motKI5bZ

— MLB (@MLB) October 1, 2021

The American League and National League Wild Card Games will take place on 5 and 6 October, respectively.

The winner of the AL Wild Card Gam – with the Yankees, Red Sox, Mariners and Blue Jays all still in the hunt for the two wild card places – will go through to the American League Division Series to play last season’s World Series runners-up the Tampa Bay Rays in a best-of-five series. The White Sox and the Astros look set to occupy the other two berths in the AL Division Series.

In the National League, the San Francisco Giants or the Los Angeles Dodgers will take on the Cardinals in the Wild Card game while the Brewers and the Braves are already assured of playing each other in the NL Division Series.

The winners of the AL and NL Division Series go through to the League Championship Series and the two teams that come out on top in the LCS series, which are best-of-seven, go on to contest the World Series.

2021 MLB post-season schedule

Most wins in a season, Giants history:1904: 1062021: 1051905: 105

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) October 1, 2021

Wild Card Games: American League (5 October), National League (6 October)

Division Series: American League (7 October), National League (8 October)