MLB Betting Picks

The 2026 regular season ends on September 27 and the postseason starts two days later, on September 29.

The four Wild Card Series will play out over a best-of-three format from September 29 to October 1, with the higher seed hosting all three games. The Division Series start October 3 and will be best-of-five format, with the top two seeds in each league holding home Games 1, 2 and 5.

The Championship Series run October 11-20, while World Series Game 1 is scheduled for Friday, October 23 at the home of the better regular-season record. Game 7, if needed, will be held on Saturday, October 31.

Los Angeles won the 2025 World Series in seven games over the Blue Jays, taking Game 7 by 5-4 in 11 innings at Rogers Centre after Miguel Rojas tied it with two outs left. It was the first repeat title since the 2000 Yankees.

The 2026 story nobody had is Tampa Bay. The Rays spent all of 2025 playing home games at a spring training park while Tropicana Field's roof was rebuilt after Hurricane Milton. They are now the best team in the American League by record.

The Automated Ball-Strike challenge system arrived this season, and the volume is higher than the pre-season talk suggested. Through the start of September there were 8,841 challenges with a 54 per cent overturn rate. Catchers and pitchers challenge better than hitters do: 58 per cent for the fielding side against 49 per cent for batters.

The mechanics matter if you bet strikeout or walk props. Two challenges per team per game, kept when you win one, lost when the call stands. Only the batter, pitcher or catcher can call for one, by tapping the helmet or cap inside about two seconds. The zone is 17 inches wide, topped at 53.5 per cent of the hitter's measured height and floored at 27 per cent, and it is judged as the ball crosses the middle of the plate rather than the front.

Two smaller changes landed with it. Base coaches now have to stay inside the coach's box, warning first and ejection after, and a runner who initiates contact with an infielder to buy an obstruction call is called out.

Another big date on the calendar is December 1, 2026, when the collective bargaining agreement expires. MLBPA interim executive director Bruce Meyer told players in spring to expect a lockout. Owners want a salary cap but the union will not discuss one. Baseball has not lost games to a stoppage since 1994-95.