Arizona Tribune - MLB reveals playoff dates with World Series to open Oct. 27

The National League and American League champions will meet for the MLB crown starting at the ballpark of the team with the better regular-season record and a possible seventh game would be at the same venue on November 4.

This year's MLB regular season concludes on October 1 with six teams from each league qualifying for the playoffs, which start October 3-5 with two best-of-three wildcard matchups in each league.

The two division champions in each league with the best records will face the wildcard winners in the best-of-five division series matchups, which will run from October 7-14.

Those winners advance to the best-of-seven league championship series showdowns, which will be played from October 15-23 as needed in the American League and October 16-24 as needed in the National League.

The World Series will open October 27-28 at the league champion with the better record, followed by games October 30-November 1 as needed in the other team's stadium. If required the last games would be November 3-4 at the original site.

The Baltimore Orioles own the best record in the American League at 70-42 with Tampa Bay three games back in the East division. Texas leads the AL West division at 67-46, three games ahead of the reigning champion Houston Astros.

In the National League, Atlanta has the East division lead and MLB's best record at 70-40 while the Los Angeles Dodgers are next, atop the West division at 65-46 by four games over San Francisco.

M.King--AT