The Milwaukee Brewers prepare for an October 3 postseason debut following their second consecutive first-round bye.
Despite losing to the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-4, an Atlanta Braves loss secured a first-round bye for the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2026 MLB Playoffs.
This marks the second year in a row that the Brewers are able to skip the Wild Card round, and that's a huge sigh of relief for back-to-back Manager of the Year Pat Murphy and the rest of this roster.
The Wild Card round has been their worst nightmare, no matter how well they've done in the regular season.
Last year, it took all five games, but the Brewers were able to take down the Chicago Cubs in the National League Division Series en route to being swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS.
Here in 2026, quite a few of the same teams are in the mix, and at this point the Brewers are destined for a rematch against the Cubs or could be seeing the Phillies for a second time in the last few weeks.
Brewers open the playoffs at home on Saturday, Oct. 3
Even if Milwaukee would fall to the No. 2 seed, that doesn't change the fact that they're able to have home field advantage in the NLDS.
Locking up the No. 1 seed in the NL gives them home-field advantage through the NLCS, and then securing the best record in all of baseball is what it'll take to have home-field advantage in the World Series, should they get to that point.
While those are obtainable goals to achieve, this team must take things one step at a time.
The MLB released the playoff schedule a while back, and now it's time for Brewers' fans to start to take things seriously.
Saturday, Oct. 3, will mark the start of Milwaukee's run for a World Series this season. They're able to skip the best-of-three Wild Card round and instead can use those extra days to get their pitching staff ready to go, along with giving these hitters a few well-deserved days of rest.
Similar to last year, Milwaukee is able to play the first two NLDS games at home, and then they have a chance to punch their ticket to the NLDS while on the road.
The complete NLDS schedule is as follows:
- Game 1: Saturday, Oct. 3 @ Home
- Game 2: Sunday, Oct. 4 @ Home
- Game 3: Tuesday, Oct. 6 @ TBD
- Game 4: Wednesday, Oct. 7 @ TBD (if necessary)
- Game 5: Friday, Oct. 9 @ Home (if necessary)
The NL Wild Card series takes place from Tuesday, Sept. 29, to Thursday, Oct. 1 (if necessary). It could end as soon as Wednesday, Sept. 30, which would give the Wild Card winner two full days of rest before playing the Brewers instead of one, should it go to a winner-take-all game three.
