- The Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season will conclude on Sunday, October 1.
- Seven teams have clinched playoff berths as of Friday afternoon: Atlanta, Los Angeles Dodgers, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Minnesota and Philadelphia.
- The Atlanta Braves have the best record in baseball at 103-56 and will have home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The MLB playoffs are right around the corner as the 2023 regular season will end on Sunday, October 1. In the American League, the Texas Rangers hold a 2 game lead over the Houston Astros in the AL West as of Friday afternoon. Assuming that Houston can’t catch Texas for the divisional title they’ll be 1 game behind Toronto in the AL wild card race and 1 game ahead of the Seattle Mariners. In the National League, the only remaining order of business is the second wildcard berth and settling that could provide for an entertaining weekend. The Arizona Diamondbacks, Miami Marlins, Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds are all in the mix.
One team has already pink-slipped their manager after a disappointing season. The San Francisco Giants fired Gabe Kapler earlier today despite having three games remaining in the regular season. Before the season, owner Greg Johnson had committed to keeping Kapler and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi until the end of their contract in 2024. It’s unclear why the team felt it had to act immediately. San Francisco were 13 games over .500 at the All Star Break but went 24-40 the rest of the way. Kapler didn’t have much support among the players including starting pitcher Logan Webb:
“I’m tired of losing. It’s not enjoyable. It’s not fun. We have to make some big changes in here to create that winning culture that we want to show up every single year and try to win the whole thing.”
The Atlanta Braves are favored to win the World Series (+310) right ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers (+475) and the Baltimore Orioles (+600). Here’s the full rundown of World Series futures odds as of Friday afternoon from BetOnline.ag:
Atlanta Braves +310 Los Angeles Dodgers +475 Baltimore Orioles +600 Texas Rangers +650 Tampa Bay Rays +1000 Houston Astros +1200 Philadelphia Phillies +1200 Toronto Blue Jays +1800 Milwaukee Brewers +2000 Minnesota Twins +2000 Seattle Mariners +2500 Arizona Diamondbacks +3300 Miami Marlins +3300 Chicago Cubs +7500 Cincinnati Reds +12500
The schedule for the MLB playoffs is as follows:
Wild-card series
Best of three, all games at better seed’s stadium
Game 1: Tuesday, Oct. 3
Game 2: Wednesday, Oct. 4
Game 3: Thursday, Oct. 5*
Division series
Best of five
ALDS
Game 1: Saturday, Oct. 7
Game 2: Sunday, Oct. 8
Game 3: Tuesday Oct. 10
Game 4: Wednesday, Oct. 11*
Game 5: Friday, Oct. 13*
NLDS
Game 1: Saturday, Oct. 7
Game 2: Monday, Oct. 9
Game 3: Wednesday, Oct. 11
Game 4: Thursday, Oct. 12*
Game 5: Saturday, Oct. 14*
League championship series
Best of seven
ALCS
Game 1: Sunday, Oct. 15
Game 2: Monday, Oct. 16
Game 3: Wednesday, Oct. 18
Game 4: Thursday, Oct. 19
Game 5: Friday, Oct. 20*
Game 6: Sunday, Oct. 22*
Game 7: Monday, Oct. 23*
NLCS
Game 1: Monday, Oct. 16
Game 2: Tuesday, Oct. 17
Game 3: Thursday, Oct. 19
Game 4: Friday, Oct. 20
Game 5: Saturday, Oct. 21*
Game 6: Monday, Oct. 23*
Game 7: Tuesday, Oct. 24*
World Series
Best of seven
Game 1: Friday, Oct. 27
Game 2: Saturday, Oct. 28
Game 3: Monday, Oct. 30
Game 4: Tuesday, Oct. 31
Game 5: Wednesday, Nov. 1*
Game 6: Friday, Nov. 3*
Game 7: Saturday, Nov. 4*
- If necessary
