Major League Baseball has confirmed the 2025 postseason schedule, ending talk of an early World Series start. Instead, Game 1 of the Fall Classic will begin on Friday, October 24, with a possible Game 7 set for November 1.
MLB finalizes 2025 playoff and World Series dates without flex start
Last season, MLB tested a plan to move up the start date if both league championship series ended quickly, but that experiment is over. Even though the Mets wrapped up the National League Championship Series in five games last year, the Dodgers extended the series to six, preventing the shift.
Since the LCS expanded to a best-of-seven in 1985, both leagues have wrapped up in four or five games just five times: 1989, 2001, 2002, 2014, and 2022. Last year marked the first attempt at a flexible World Series schedule.
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Key postseason dates and format
This year’s playoffs begin with all four best-of-three Wild Card series running from September 30 to October 2 at the home park of the higher seed. Twelve teams will qualify under the current format, with the top two seeds in each league earning first-round byes.
In the Division Series, the top seed faces the winner of the 4-vs-5 Wild Card matchup, while the No. 2 seed meets the 3-vs-6 winner. The American League Division Series opens October 4-5, while the National League Division Series begins October 4 but features an extra day off between Games 1 and 2 to allow for more pitching flexibility.
The AL Championship Series is scheduled to start on October 12, followed by the NLCS on October 13. Both series will feature off days after Games 2 and 5.
The 2025 World Series will be the fifth straight to open on a Friday. Before 2022, a Friday start hadn’t happened since 1915. The last time the championship extended deep into November was in 2022, when it ended on November 5.
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