Phillies playoffs: Schedule, tickets, bracket, potential opponents, and everything we know about Red October

The Phillies won their first National League East title since 2011 on Monday and clinched a bye in the wild-card round on Wednesday. They will have the No. 2 seed in the NL playoffs, which means they will have home-field advantage in the National League Division Series, which begins Oct. 5 at Citizens Bank Park, but not in a potential NLCS matchup with the Dodgers.

Here’s everything you need to know about the postseason, how to watch games, and who the Phillies might be playing next ...

For now, we still don’t know. What we do know is that that Phillies will face the winner of the wild-card series between the sixth-seeded New York Mets and the third-seeded Milwaukee Brewers. We also know that series will start on Oct. 5 at Citizens Bank Park and that it will air on Fox. What time it starts and which team occupies the visiting dugout remains to be seen.

The Dodgers clinched National League West and the top seed in MLB, and will play either the Padres, who earned the first NL wild-card slot or the Braves, who clinched the second wild-card spot in the last game of the season. Meanwhile, the Brewers have clinched the Central and will host the Mets in the wild-card round, with the winner facing the Phillies in the NLDS.

In the American League, the Orioles, Royals, and the Tigers, who made up massive ground in the final months of the regular season to break a 10-year postseason drought, clinched the wild-card spots. The Yankees have the top seed in the AL, but are seeded below the Dodgers and the Phillies, so the Phillies would have home-field advantage against the AL in any World Series matchup.

» READ MORE: How the Phillies’ path to a World Series is shaping up in a wide open National League playoff field

The first game of the playoffs will be on Oct. 1, with games in all four wild-card series. Here’s the full schedule for the wild-card round (all times ET):

*Game 3 if necessary

Once the wild-card round concludes, the Phillies will play their first playoff game on Oct. 5 in the division series. If the Phillies continue to advance, the National League Championship Series would start on Oct. 13 — and the World Series on Oct. 25.

Here’s a breakdown of where each series will air on TV:

*If the ALCS and NLCS both conclude on or before Oct. 19, the World Series can be moved up to Oct. 22, and a potential Game 7 would be on Oct. 28.

If you don’t want to watch the Phillies in the NLDS on Fox, the Phillies radio broadcast featuring Scott Franzke and Larry Andersen will continue to call games on 94.1 WIP through the end of the playoff run.

Season-ticket holders already had the chance to secure their playoff seats. For the rest of us, you can enter the Phillies playoff ticket lottery for a chance to purchase single-game tickets.

Register on the Phillies website with your email, and the team will contact you if you are selected.

» READ MORE: Phillies fans can register online for the chance to buy playoff tickets

In 2022, Phillies fans charged credit cards, plundered their savings, and cut back on discretionary spending to see the Phillies in the NLCS. One fan paid $309 for a single standing room ticket.

Generally, the earlier in the playoffs you go, the cheaper the tickets are. The pricing for partial season ticket-holders ranged from $60-$140 in the NLDS to $200-380 in the World Series for 2024, but the team also disclosed that single-game tickets will be subject to dynamic pricing, so you might have to pay even more than that. Plus, there’s the secondary market, where prices could be even higher.

The pitch clock is here to stay in the playoffs, folks, as it was in 2023. It gives pitchers 15 seconds between pitches with no runners on base and 20 seconds with runners.

The designated runner rule, which, in extra innings, takes the last hitter in the previous inning and sticks him at second base to start, is gone for the playoffs. If a game goes to extra innings, the teams will start extras with no baserunners.

» READ MORE: Stock check of the Phillies’ top five relievers: How each is shaping up for a World Series run

The Dodgers are the current betting favorite to win the World Series, at around +300 at most sportsbooks. The Phillies and Yankees are the next two teams, at around +450 at most sportsbooks.

The Phillies are in the top spot in MLB.com, The Athletic, and Fox Sports’ power rankings and were the first team in baseball to reach 90 wins.