Major League Baseball will launch its first ever Wild Card Series round of postseason games Friday, with ESPN, ABC and ESPN2 airing all games from four, best-of-three game series.
The new format, which added new Wild Card teams in both the American and National Leagues, debuts October 7 with first games of four three-game series: Cleveland Guardians-Tampa Bay Rays on ESPN; St. Louis Cardinals-Philadelphia Phillies on ABC; Toronto Blue Jays-Seattle Mariners on ESPN; and New York Mets-San Diego Padres on ESPN, according to network officials.
Saturday's games include Tampa Bay-Cleveland (ESPN2), Seattle-Toronto (ESPN), San Diego-Mets (ESPN) and Philadelphia-St. Louis (ESPN2).
If necessary, Sunday’s games start with Seattle-Toronto (ABC), Tampa Bay-Cleveland (ESPN), San Diego-Mets (ESPN) and Philadelphia-St. Louis (ESPN2).
The winners of the two American League Wild Card Series will play the two highest-seed division champions, the New York Yankees and Houston Astros, while the National League Wild Card series winners will face the top-seeded division champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves. ■
