Major League Baseball 2021 Playoffs: Pairing, Schedule, Results and Summaries
It's been an amazing record-breaking regular season in Major League Baseball, and now it's time for the postseason, with matchups of arch-rivals highlighting what should be another terrific October. It starts with Yankees-Red Sox once again, but how will it end? Here are the pairings and daily schedule.
A tremendous 2021 baseball regular season is now complete, and the 10-team field is set for the playoffs, starting with two wild-card games against long-time rivals with a lot of postseason history.
The one-game winner-take-all wild-card games are on Tuesday (American League) and Wednesday, with the division series starting on Thursday and Friday.
Here is the complete postseason schedule, with gametime, TV and betting information, plus a look at the starting pitchers and some nuggets to know.
• RED SOX 6, YANKEES 2: Xander Bogaerts and Kyle Schwarber hit home runs off of New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole as the Boston Red Sox crushed their arch-rivals to win the AL wild-card game. Nathan Eovaldi was terrific for Boston, taking a shutout into the sixth inning. He pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing just one run on four hits, and striking out eight Yankees.
• Game 4 (if necessary): Astros at White Sox, Monday, Oct. 11 (TV: MLB Network/FOX Sports1)
• Game 5 (if necessary): White Sox at Astros, Wednesday, Oct. 13 (TV: MLB Network/FOX Sports1)
• Game 4 (if necessary): Rays at Red Sox, Monday, Oct. 11 (MLB Network/FOX Sports1)
• Game 5: (if necessary): Red Sox at Rays, Wednesday, Oct. 13 (FOX Sports1)
• WHAT: One-game wild card playoff game, with the winner advancing to take on the San Francisco Giants in the Division Series.
• WHEN: Wednesday at 8:10 p.m. ET
• PROJECTED STARTERS: St. Louis goes with veteran right-hander Adam Wainwright, who was 17-7 this season with a 3.05 earned run average. He faced the Dodgers once this season, winning 5-4 on Sept. 8. Los Angeles will start Max Scherzer, who is 15-4 this season with a 2.46 ERA. He beat the Cardinals 6-1 on Sept. 6 with the Dodgers and also shut them out 1-0 on April 21 when he was pitching with the Washington Nationals.
• BETTING ODDS: The Dodgers are a huge favorite (minus-225) in the game, with the over/under set at 7.5 according to the SISportsbook.com website. CLICK HERE
• REGULAR SEASON: The Dodgers won the season series 4-3, and won two of three in the series at Dodger Stadium from May 31-June 2. St. Louis finished with a 90-72 record, highlighted by a 17-game winning streak in September to storm back into the playoff picture. Los Angeles had a team record 106 wins, but still came up one game short to the San Francisco Giants in the NL West.
• THE SKINNY: These two teams have a lot of postseason history as well, meeting for the fifth time. St. Louis has won three times, taking the 2014 NLDS, the 2013 NLCS and the 2004 NLDS on their way to the World Series. The Dodgers' only series win came in the 2009 NLDS.
• NUGGET: The Dodgers' 106 wins are the most ever for a team forced to play in a wild-card game. They went 12-2 in the final two weeks of he season and still couldn't catch the red-hot Giants.
• NUGGET2: The Cardinals have won 11 straight road games to end the season. The Dodgers have won 15 straight home games to end a season. There's NEVER been a matchup with two streaks so long in MLB postseason history.
• Game 4 (if necessary): Brewers at Braves, Tuesday, Oct. 12 (TV: TBS)
• Game 5 (if necessary): Braves at Brewers, Thursday, Oct. 14 (TV: TBS)
• Game 4 (if necessary): Giants at Dodgers/Cardinals, Tuesday, Oct. 12 (TV: TBS)
• Game 5 (if necessary): Dodgers/Cardinals at Giants, Thursday, Oct. 14 (TV: TBS)
