LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers will open the 2026 postseason at home at Dodger Stadium. The Atlanta Braves’ loss on Thursday clinched no lower than the No. 2 seed for the Dodgers in the National League playoffs, ensuring a bye past the wild card round. The Dodgers will begin their postseason on Saturday, October 3 in the National League Division Series in Los Angeles.
“I know [getting the bye] is a priority for us. With kind of smelling the finish line, the postseason, the focus is heightened,” manager
Dave Roberts said on Tuesday.
The Dodgers (97-61) are ensured of finishing with a better record than the NL East champion Braves (93-66), ensuring the Dodgers will at least be the No. 2 seed in the NL playoffs. The NL Central-champion Milwaukee Brewers (100-59) have a 2 1/2-game lead over the Dodgers for the No. 1 seed. The Dodgers would need to win their final four games and have the Brewers lose all three this weekend in order to overtake Milwaukee for the No. 1 seed.
The No. 1 seed in the NLDS would play the winner of the wild card series between the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds, while the No. 2 seed would play the winner of the No.3-No. 6 matchup.
This is the 14th consecutive year the Dodgers will play in the National League Division Series, joining the Atlanta Braves (1991-2005) for the longest streak of consecutive playoff berths in MLB history.
Winning 15 of their first 20 games in September helped finalize the postseason berth.
“I think it’s more about playing good baseball,” manager Dave Roberts said Wednesday. “We want to get the bye, and if it happens that we keep well and gain a couple games on the Brewers, great. For me, I really believe, and our players believe we just want to play good baseball. We’re pitching, we’re taking much better at-bats, the defense has tightened up, the baserunning, so all that stuff is lined up. I’d bet on us against anyone.”
The Dodgers welcome the five days off between the regular season and the start of the postseason. They just activated Andy Pages (broken left hand), Shohei Ohtani (left biceps inflammation), and Roki Sasaki (blister on right middle finger) off the injured list this week, and also are nursing injuries with Blake Snell (left groin discomfort), Freddie Freeman (right knee), and Edgardo Henriquez (on the injured list with low back discomfort), among others.
“I think we all know why it’s important,” Freeman said with a laugh on Tuesday. “There’s a lot of guys limping toward the end, a lot of aches and pains this year. It’s good to get those guys back on the field, get some ABs in them, and then rest up and get some more ABs during the lives [simulated games], whatever we do to get us ready for Saturday [October 3].”
Both National League Division Series will be televised by Fox Sports. The exact breakdown of which games will be on Fox and which will be on FS1 have not yet been announced. Start times will be unveiled at a later date, once the entire MLB postseason picture becomes clearer. Given that the Dodgers will be the only west coast team among the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds — Tampa Bay Rays and likely either Cleveland Guardians or Chicago White Sox in the American League, plus Milwaukee in the NL — it’s fair to assume they’ll have the latest start times for their home games in the NLDS.
