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If the Detroit Tigers make the playoffs (which Fangraphs gives them a 98.2% chance of doing), their October journey could start in September and end in November.
MLB released its postseason schedule on Tuesday, Aug. 12, and there are a few quirks that make it different from last season’s postseason schedule.
For one, all four Wild Card series are set to begin on Sept. 30, which lands on a Tuesday. That’s two days after the Tigers are set to play their final game of the regular season, a road game against the pennant-chasing Boston Red Sox.
The MLB playoffs traditionally begin in October, with last year’s Wild Card Series beginning on Oct. 1, 2024. By moving it up a day, it’s possible that MLB is trying to avoid having all four of its championship series matchups begin on an NFL Sunday.
In fact, the schedule has no more than two playoff games on any Sunday, including no World Series games on a Sunday, barring a rainout:
The 2024 World Series also avoided a Sunday game.
The Tigers could theoretically play October baseball in September, even if they win their division. Since MLB instituted a third wild-card participant in 2022, only two of the three division winners per league are awarded automatic entrances into the division series, placing the team with the worst record among all division winners into a best-of-three wild card series.
At 69-51 entering Tuesday’s games, the Tigers currently have the second-best record in the American League, meaning they would earn a first-round bye and an automatic placement into the ALDS if the season ended today. But the AL West-leading Houston Astros (67-52) are just 1½ games behind the Tigers in the overall standings, even though their division lead (one game) is much smaller than Detroit’s (6½ games).
If the Tigers finish with a record below that of the AL West and AL East division winners, they would end up in a wild card series even if they win their first division title since 2014.
Another quirk of the playoff schedule is a stretch into November. A potential World Series Game 7 is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 1, with Game 6 scheduled for Halloween the night before.
With the expansion of the wild card round from a one-game playoff into a best-of-three series, it has become difficult for MLB to fit a full postseason into October after a 162-game regular season. The 2022 World Series ended on Nov. 5, 2022, and the 2023 World Series ended on Nov. 1, 2023 — though the 2024 World Series ended with a Game 5 Dodgers’ title-clinching win on Oct. 30.
Which means if the 2025 Tigers make it all the way, it’s possible their season could start in March and end in November.
You can reach Christian Romo at cromo@freepress.com