The San Diego Padres will face the Atlanta Braves in Game 2 of the National League Wild Card Series on October 2, 2024 (10/24/2024) at Petco Park in San Diego, California.

Joe Musgrove starts for the Padres and Max Fried starts for the Braves in Game 2 of the best of three series. The Padres won Game 1 4-0.

How to watch: Fans can watch all MLB playoff games for FREE via a DirecTV Stream trial or with fuboTV.

What: National League Wild Card Series

Who: San Diego Padres vs. Atlanta Braves

When: October 2, 2024

Time: 8:30 PM ET (5:30 PM PT)

Where: Petco Park (San Diego, California)

TV: ESPN

Live stream: DirectTV stream, fuboTV

The Major League Baseball playoffs are approaching, and a matchup between Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge in the World Series looms as a tantalizing possibility in October.

But first the National League must get the soggy mess of a playoff race out of the way.

While the interests of baseball fans vary widely, there is little doubt that MLB and television executives are drooling over the potential matchup between two of the best sluggers of this generation. Ohtani recently became the first player to score 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season, while Judge hit 58 home runs.

Additionally, Ohtani (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Judge (New York Yankees) play in the country’s two largest media markets for two of the sport’s most storied franchises.

Of course, there will be 10 other teams trying to block these teams from the Fall Classic. Last season, the Texas Rangers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 4 games to 1 for their first title in franchise history.

Here’s a look at what’s to come:

Who’s in the MLB Playoffs? Who’s still fighting?

The Diamondbacks will be big fans of the New York Mets or Atlanta Braves for a few hours on Monday afternoon.

They’re just not sure which one.

The National League playoff race comes down to a doubleheader between the Mets and Braves on Monday. The two games were moved to the day after the scheduled end of the regular season due to Hurricane Helene, which wiped out two games of the crucial Mets-Braves series last week.

The Mets (88-72) and Braves (88-72) both make the playoffs if they split the doubleheader. But if there is a sweep, the Diamondbacks (89-73) will sneak into the series as the No. 6 seed, while the team that gets swept is eliminated.

Once the first game is over, the D-backs will know who they are supporting. They will undergo a light workout on Monday at Chase Field in case their season continues.

The Dodgers, Phillies, Brewers and Padres have already clinched four of the six playoff spots in the NL. Both the Brewers and Padres will host a Wild Card Series starting Tuesday, while the Dodgers and Phillies earned some rest by claiming the top seeds.

The American League bracket has been set. The No. 6 Tigers travel to take on the No. 3 Astros, while the No. 5 Royals are on the road against the No. 4 Orioles in the two Wild Card Series starting Tuesday. The Yankees and Guardians are the top seeds.

How does baseball’s wild card round work?

The best-of-three wildcard format is in its third season. The format was changed in 2022 from the single-match sudden death format that had been in place since 2012, with the exception of the 2020 season affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Six teams from the American League and National League will qualify for the postseason, including the three division winners in each league. The three wildcard teams in each league are the teams with the best record who have not won their division.

The top two division winners with the best records in each competition receive a bye and do not have to play in the wildcard round. Those four teams will get a few days of rest. Those teams are the Yankees and Guardians in the American League and the Phillies and Dodgers in the National League.

The wild card round will feature four series: the No. 6 seed will play the No. 3 seed in both the AL and NL. The number 5 seed plays against the number 4 seed.

A big advantage for the higher players in these wildcard series is that they get to host all three games.

Rule changes

Many of baseball’s recent rule changes are still in effect during the postseason, including the fielding clock, a ban on extreme infield shifts and a limit on the number of times a pitcher can break away from the rubber. The field clock was a huge change for the sport and was widely celebrated, cutting playing times by about half an hour.

There is one rule that doesn’t make the postseason cut: the so-called “ghost runner” in overtime.

During the MLB regular season, if a game goes into extra innings, a runner is placed on second base to start the 10th inning when each team bats. That won’t happen in the postseason. Overtime will be played just like the previous nine.

Betting Favorites

According to BetMGM Sportsbook, the Dodgers are the current betting favorites to win the World Series at +325, followed by the Yankees (+450) and Phillies (+450).

How to watch

The wild card rounds will be broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. The later rounds will be split between FS1, TruTV, TBS and Fox.

Post-season schedule

Wildcard series: October 1-3

Division Series: October 5-12

League Championship Series: October 13-22

World Series: October 25 – November. 2