St. Louis Cardinals In The Playoffs: MLB Postseason Schedule

ST. LOUIS, MO — Major League Baseball playoffs begin Tuesday under a new, one-time format put in place due to the coronavirus crisis, which postponed the season's start for more than three months. The St. Louis Cardinals will take the field in San Diego for Game 1 of the first round of playoffs Wednesday at 4 p.m. CDT against the Padres.

Like the altered regular season, the postseason format will be much different from ordinary years. It includes eight teams in both the American League and National League instead of the usual five, and the top four seeds in each league will host the entire best-of-three first-round series.

The first postseason game is scheduled for 1 p.m. CDT on Tuesday between the Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins.

After the first round ends, the divisional round will be best of five, and the league championship series will be best of seven. Both will be played on neutral sites, as will the World Series that’s set for Oct. 20 to 28 in Arlington, Texas.

There will be no off days between games in the first round, divisional round or league championship series.

Teams had a shortened season in 2020, playing just 60 games only against teams in their own region. The Cardinals played fewer than 60 games due to positive coronavirus tests.

Here’s the first round schedule:

• NL Wild Card Series Game 1, Cardinals at Padres, Wednesday at 4 p.m. CDT (ESPN2)
• NL Wild Card Series Game 2, Cardinals at Padres, Thursday, time TBD (ESPN Networks)
• NL Wild Card Series Game 3, Cardinals at Padres, Friday, time TBD (ESPN Networks)