MLB announces postseason schedule

Major League Baseball announced the postseason schedule on Tuesday. It starts with the National League Wild Card Game presented by Budweiser on Oct. 1 and could end on the last day of the month if the 109th World Series goes seven games.

Game 1 of the World Series is scheduled to be played on Wednesday, Oct. 23, in the ballpark of the American League champions.

The regular season concludes on Sunday, Sept. 29, and any necessary regular-season tiebreaker games would be broadcast exclusively by TBS. The NL Wild Card Game, aired on TBS, will be followed by the American League Wild Card Game presented by Budweiser on TBS on Wednesday, Oct. 2. It will mark the second year for the single Wild Card Game format, both of which were won by road teams last year: St. Louis over Atlanta and Baltimore over Texas.

Each NL Division Series will begin on Thursday, Oct. 3, and the first full slate of Division Series games, featuring the two AL Division Series openers and a pair of NLDS Game 2s, will take place on Friday, Oct. 4. The Division Series will run from Oct. 3-10, with two potential Game 5s on both Wednesday, Oct. 9, and Thursday, Oct. 10. TBS will air 18 of the potential 20 Division Series games, while MLB Network will exclusively telecast one game on Oct. 4, and another on Monday, Oct. 7.

The Division Series returns to a 2-2-1 format this fall, with the first two games, and the fifth if necessary, hosted by the team with the better regular-season record or tiebreaker advantage.

The NL Championship Series will be broadcast exclusively on TBS and will begin on Friday, Oct. 11. Saturday, Oct. 12 will feature Game 1 of the AL Championship Series, which will be broadcast exclusively on FOX, and Game 2 of the NLCS on TBS. A potential Game 7 of the NLCS is scheduled for Saturday, Oct., 19, while a potential Game 7 of the ALCS is set for Sunday, Oct. 20.

Game 1 of the World Series is scheduled to be played at the home of the AL champs, by virtue of that league's victory in the All-Star Game. Game 3 of the Fall Classic will shift to the city of the NL champs on Saturday, Oct. 26. A Game 7, if necessary, would be played on Thursday, Oct. 31, in the AL city. The scheduled off-days during the World Series are Friday, Oct. 25, and Tuesday, Oct. 29.

FOX Sports will present exclusive live telecast coverage of the World Series for the 16th time. The NL will seek to make it four straight, following championships won by the Giants in 2010, the Cardinals in '11 and the Giants again last year.

ESPN Radio will provide live national coverage of all postseason games, including the Wild Card action.

This will mark the 110th anniversary of the Fall Classic, which started in 1903 and was played each fall except for 1904 and 1994.