How long are playoff series in mlb

Game 3, World Series: Dodgers 3, Red Sox 2 -- 18 innings In the longest postseason game, in terms of time, in MLB history seven hours, 20 minutes , the Dodgers beat the Red Sox on a Muncy walk-off home run in the 18th inning to cut their Series deficit to The two clubs combined to use 18 pitchers and 46 players overall in the contest, both postseason records. With the victory, Los Angeles became the first team to ever win a World Series game after trailing in the 11th inning or later.

In the top of the 13th, an Eduardo Nunez infield single, coupled with a Dodgers error enabled Brock Holt to score the go-ahead run. But Los Angeles responded in the bottom half of the frame, when Yasiel Puig produced an infield single of his own, and an Ian Kinsler throwing error allowed Muncy to score from second.

From there, it was a duel of the bullpens, with each side matching the other with zeros on the scoreboard until Muncy's heroics in the 18th inning. Game 2, National League Division Series: Giants 2, Nationals 1 -- 18 innings The Nationals have had more than their fair share of agonizing playoff losses in the past decade. This was one of them. The Nats held a lead entering the ninth inning in Washington, and Jordan Zimmermann was dominating.

The righty had thrown eight shutout innings, and he took the mound for the top of the ninth. He got two quick outs -- giving him 20 straight batters retired -- but then walked Joe Panik.

The Giants almost took the lead there, but Posey was thrown out at the plate to keep the game tied. From there, neither team scored for the next eight innings. Finally, in the top of the 18th, Brandon Belt homered off Tanner Roark to break the tie, and the Giants held on. The game took six hours, 23 minutes -- the longest postseason game on record by time as well as innings.

The Giants would eliminate the Nationals in four games and go on to win the World Series. They topped that one here, with a win that sent them to the NLCS. Their record has since been equaled, but not broken. One crazy fact: Tim Hudson, who started the inning playoff game for the Giants in , also started this one for the Braves.

The Braves jumped out to a lead, thanks to a grand slam by Adam LaRoche, and led entering the bottom of the eighth inning. But the Astros got four back in the eighth when Lance Berkman crushed a grand slam of his own. Then, down to their last out in the ninth, they tied the game on Brad Ausmus' home run off Kyle Farnsworth. The score stayed until the bottom of the 18th, when unlikely hero Chris Burke ended the game, and the series, with one big swing.

Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. Game 6, NLCS: Mets 7, Astros 6 -- 16 innings This game stood as the record for the longest in the postseason for close to two decades. The League Division Series consists of a best-of-five battle, with the top seed facing the wild card winner and the other two division winners facing each other. The winner of those two series for each league will advance to the best-of-seven League Championship Series.

The team with home field gets to play in its stadium for the first two games of the series, then returns for a potential sixth game and seventh game. The Red Sox earned home field after winning the season series , so this matchup is about as even as it can get.

The NL also features two famed organizations, as the St. The Dodgers had the second-best record in baseball this season at , but lost the NL West to the San Francisco Giants by one game and were forced into the wild card. Louis rode a game winning streak in September to run away with the second wild card spot, finishing the season at Three teams in each league secured automatic berths to the League Division Series.

The No. The AL will play again Friday before one day off, then two more games, another day off and then the potential game Game 5 on Wednesday, Oct. Regardless of how quickly the first round series conclude, the League Championship Series dates are already set.

The World Series begins on Tuesday, Oct. The final three games are played if necessary, but once one team wins four games, the series is over. Game 7 of the World Series would be played on Wednesday, Nov.

But one huge boost the Cards will get in is a potentially healthy Jack Flaherty and Miles Mikolas. The return of both starters gives St. Louis an ace to start in front of Adam Wainwright and a quality arm behind the year-old veteran.

With a stabilized rotation complemented by an above-average lineup and a strong bullpen, the Cardinals should be in the thick of the MLB playoffs race all year. The Chicago White Sox roster already looks great entering the offseason. The only real question is, can Tony La Russa make the right in-game decisions during the postseason.

Whereas the AL East is a battle between four playoff-caliber rosters. Houston faces its own questions this offseason, namely how it fills the void left when Carlos Correa departs, but the remaining talent and presence of Dusty Baker in a thin AL West division push the Astros into the postseason.

The Blue Jays will return a majority of their lineup and rotation next season, with at least one of Robbie Ray or Marcus Semien likely re-signing. A young roster with more experience can win the AL East.