2026 MLB Postseason
The ALDS and NLDS begin October 3. Four matchups, four stories. The defending champions face the teams that ended their seasons in 2025. An old rivalry picks up where it left off. And a small-market franchise with a walk-off in its history gets the opponent nobody wanted.
Updated October 3, 2026 — Games Begin Today*If necessary. Best-of-5: first team to 3 wins advances to the LCS.
The Rays won 96 games and the AL's top seed. The Yankees crushed Boston 9-0 and 9-2 in two of the most dominant games of the Wild Card round. These two have October history — Tampa Bay knocked New York out in 2020. The Yankees carry a lineup that produces staggering run totals when it's on. Aaron Judge returned from the IL in September and hit a three-run HR to clinch New York's record 61st postseason berth. Tampa Bay has Drew Rasmussen, who carried a no-hit bid into the seventh in the AL East clincher.
Field & Ink has scorecards for both franchises in the catalog — the 2009 World Series Game 6 for Yankees fans, and the Miracle at the Trop 2011 for Rays fans.
The White Sox swept the Astros 7-3 in the Wild Card clincher and now face the Guardians in what the standings call an AL Central grudge match. Chicago's South Side last won the World Series in 2005 in a four-game sweep — that scorecard is in the catalog. The Guardians are quietly lethal in short series. The last time Cleveland was this deep in October, Tony Fernandez hit an 11th-inning home run in the 1997 ALCS — that scorecard is in the catalog, too.
A White Sox–Guardians series that goes five games in October 2026 would already be the single most important piece of October baseball in the AL Central. Both fan bases have been here before — and both know how quickly October can end.
The Braves went 76-86 in 2025 and missed the playoffs entirely. In 2026, they won the NL East with 92 wins and Mike Yastrzemski's three-run homer to clinch their 24th division title — tying the Dodgers for the most in MLB history. Now they play the Dodgers, who are chasing a third straight championship with Tarik Skubal added at the trade deadline. This is the marquee series of the Division round.
The Dodgers won the NL West for the 13th time in 14 years. Skubal, the two-time AL Cy Young winner, will pitch at least once in this series. Atlanta beat the Phillies 2-1 in the Wild Card to earn the right to face the defending champs — and every Braves fan knows what happened the last time their team was here in October. The 2021 World Series Game 6, the night the Braves ended a 26-year drought, is in the catalog.
The Brewers were the first team in baseball to clinch (92-56), held the best record in the NL, and dominated the season with Jacob Misiorowski's 200-strikeout year and a 22-0 shutout victory over Seattle. They've never won the World Series. The closest they came was the 2011 NLDS, where Nyjer Morgan hit a walk-off in Game 5 — that game is in the catalog. Everything about 2026 says this Brewers team is built differently.
The Padres swept the Cubs 4-1 and 4-1 in the Wild Card to earn a shot at the NL's top seed. San Diego's 1998 NLCS pennant is in the catalog. This Padres team is built for October in a way their predecessors were not — and Milwaukee's American Family Field, with its retractable roof, is a tough environment for any opponent. The Padres have been here before. So have the Brewers. The difference is Milwaukee has never made it past the NLCS.
Every Wild Card survivor has a game they'll remember forever — already in the catalog or coming this week. A hand-lettered scorecard is $29, instant digital download, every at-bat recorded exactly as it happened. There's a postseason sale running through October 6: 20% off everything in the shop.
Shop All Scorecards on EtsyFour teams went home in the Wild Card Series. Their fan bases have a different reason to remember October — the scorecards below are for the nights that mattered before this year.
The Astros went 6-3 and 3-7 in the Wild Card. Chicago swept them in two games, with a combined score of 13-6. Houston's 2022 World Series Game 6 clincher is in the catalog.
Astros scorecards →New York shut Boston out twice — 9-0 and 9-2. The Red Sox are coming off one of the great comeback wild-card runs of the modern era but couldn't match the Yankees' October machinery. The 2004 World Series Game 4 is in the catalog.
Red Sox scorecards →The Padres were dominant. The Cubs went 0-2, losing 8-0 and 4-1. Chicago's 2016 World Series Game 7 — the night the drought ended — is in the catalog.
Cubs scorecards →The Phillies took the Braves to three games — the only Wild Card series that wasn't a sweep — before losing 2-6 in Game 3. Philadelphia's 2008 World Series Game 5 is in the catalog.
Phillies scorecards →