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- MLB Playoffs 2025: How to Watch, Stream the Wild Card Games Today
- What is the schedule for the Wild Card series?
- How to watch the Wild Card round without cable
- Streaming service for Wild Card round only
October baseball arrives a day early this year. After a 162-game season that began back in March, the playoff field of 12 teams is set. Eight of these 12 playoff teams are in action starting today for the Wild Card round. Each series is the best of three games, with the higher seed hosting all three games.
In the American League, the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians face off in one series, while the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees play in the other. In the National League, the San Diego Padres are matched against the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds take on the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The top two division winners in each league earned first-round byes: the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners in the AL, and the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies in the NL.
Wild Card games will be shown on ESPN and ABC. After Thursday, however, coverage shifts to Fox and FS1 for the AL Division Series and AL Championship Series, and TBS for the NL Division Series and NL Championship Series. The 2025 World Series will be shown on Fox.
Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees face their familiar foes, the Boston Red Sox, in the AL Wild Card round starting Tuesday.
Ishika Samant/Getty ImagesWhat is the schedule for the Wild Card series?
There are no off days for the Wild Card teams. The Wild Card round starts on Tuesday, with Game 2 of each series scheduled for Wednesday. Any Wild Card series that goes the full three games will be settled on Thursday. The Guardians, Cubs, Yankees and Dodgers are the higher seeds and will host each series.
Here are the times and channels for each series (all times ET):
Tuesday, Sept. 30
- Game 1: Tigers vs. Guardians: 1:08 p.m. on ESPN
- Game 1: Padres vs. Cubs: 3:08 p.m. on ABC
- Game 1: Red Sox vs. Yankees: 6:08 p.m. on ESPN
- Game 1: Reds vs. Dodgers: 9:08 p.m. on ESPN
Wednesday, Oct. 1
- Game 2: Tigers vs. Guardians: 1:08 p.m. on ESPN
- Game 2: Padres vs. Cubs: Game 2: 3:08 p.m. on ABC
- Game 2: Red Sox vs. Yankees: 6:08 p.m. on ESPN
- Game 2: Reds vs. Dodgers: 9:08 p.m. on ESPN
Thursday, Oct. 2 (if necessary)
- Game 3: Tigers vs. Guardians: 1:08 p.m. on ESPN
- Game 3: Padres vs. Cubs: 3:08 p.m. on ABC
- Game 3: Red Sox vs. Yankees: 6:08 p.m. on ESPN
- Game 3: Reds vs. Dodgers: 9:08 p.m. on ESPN
You can see the full postseason schedule here.
How to watch the Wild Card round without cable
If you don't have a cable or satellite TV subscription, you can watch all four Wild Card series with a live TV service. ESPN and ABC are available on each of the five major streaming services, but not every service carries every local network in every area, so be sure to check each service using the links below to make sure it carries ABC where you live.
Looking ahead, four of the five major live TV streaming services also offer Fox, FS1 and TBS. Fubo is a poor fit for postseason baseball because it lacks TBS for the NLDS and NLCS.
Sling TV's Orange-and-Blue plan includes ESPN and ABC (in only in a handful of markets) as well as TBS for the rest of the NL playoffs and Fox and FS1 for the rest of the AL playoffs and World Series.
YouTube TV costs $83 a month and includes ESPN and ABC for this week's Wild Card games as well as Fox, FS1 and TBS for the subsequent rounds in each league and the World Series. Plug in your ZIP code on YouTube TV's welcome page to see which local networks are available in your area.
Hulu Plus Live TV costs $83 a month and includes ESPN and ABC for the Wild Card round and Fox, FS1 and TBS for the remainder of the MLB postseason. On its live news page, you can enter your ZIP code under the "Can I watch local news in my area?" question at the bottom of the page to see which local channels you get. Read our Hulu Plus Live TV review.
Streaming service for Wild Card round only
You can watch the Wild Card games with ESPN's new direct-to-consumer streaming service, but you'll need to move to something else after Thursday for the rest of the MLB postseason.
ESPN DTC launched last month and comes in two flavors. The ESPN Unlimited plan costs $30 a month (or $300 a year) and lets you stream all of ESPN's linear networks: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, ESPN Deportes, SEC Network and ACC Network. You also get access to programming on ESPN on ABC, ESPN Plus, ESPN3, SECN+ and ACCNX.
For baseball fans, all of the Wild Card games will be shown on ESPN DTC, including the games broadcast on ABC.
All of the live TV streaming services above allow you to cancel anytime and require a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our live TV streaming services guide.
