How to watch Major League Baseball play-offs on the BBC

Major League Baseball's post-season begins on Tuesday and you can watch two play-off games live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.

With only a month until the World Series winner is decided, the road to championship glory starts here with the Wildcard Series.

The BBC will be showing the first game of the two American League match-ups, with the big-hitting Houston Astros hosting the in-form Detroit Tigers (19:30 BST) before the Baltimore Orioles welcome the Kansas City Royals (21:00).

After playing 162 regular season games each, 12 of MLB's 30 teams have qualified for the post-season, with six each from the American League (AL) and National League (NL).

Teams from each league are on different sides of the play-offs and they will battle it out over three rounds to represent their league in the World Series (scheduled to start on Friday, 25 October).

The play-offs begin with the Wildcard Series, a three-game series involving the third to sixth seeds in each league.

The top two seeds have earned a bye to the best-of-five Division Series, with the winners of those series advancing to the best-of-seven AL and NL Championship Series.

The winners there are crowned the AL and NL champions, and will meet in the best-of-seven World Series.

"This is the part of the year that really got me excited," 2008 World Series winner Chase Utley told BBC Sport. "There's a long season trying to get to this point, but once this point hits, your focus, your attention to detail, your adrenaline just raises up.

"The fans are more engaged and so are your team-mates and the coaching staff. I don't miss much [about playing], but this is the part of the year that I do miss."

The New York Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians have secured the top two seeds in the AL, as have the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL.

The Texas Rangers won last year's World Series after earning a wildcard spot in the post-season, so that gives hope to each team playing in the first round.

NL wildcard series:

AL wildcard series (live on the BBC):

Houston have pedigree having reached the World Series four times in the past seven years, winning in 2017 and 2022, and they have three of MLB's most consistent hitters in Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Yainer Diaz.

However, Detroit won 33 of their last 46 regular season games to snatch a wildcard spot, with Tarik Skubal securing the pitching Triple Crown.

Only Aaron Judge (Yankees) and Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers) hit more home runs this season than Baltimore's Anthony Santander (44), while team-mate Gunnar Henderson added 37.

This season, Kansas City became only the second team to go from a 100-loss season to a play-off place, with Bobby Witt Jr recording the most hits and best batting average.

Aaron Judge (58) and Shohei Ohtani (54) hit the most home runs this season and are favourites to be named each league's Most Valuable Player.

The Yankees and the Dodgers are two of MLB's biggest franchises, are the top seeds in each league and could meet in the World Series.

"A lot of people want to see the two biggest stars in the World Series," says former Philadelphia favourite Utley, now an MLB ambassador. "That would be a great match-up.

"But for the Phillies, Bryce Harper has the ability to put a team on his back and carry them through the play-offs, and [team-mate] Kyle Schwarber will be fun to watch."

Utley tips Detroit to make an impression in the post-season and also says look out for Houston, San Diego and Baltimore.

"The Tigers might not have the best roster per se, but they're playing great baseball right now," he adds. "If they can keep that momentum going, I like their chances.

"The Astros have been super successful over the past decade so they know what they're doing at this stage, and the Padres have a very talented team.

"The Orioles aren't playing their best baseball at the moment, but they have some young players with a lot of talent so don't sleep on Baltimore."

MLB host Melanie Newman, former player Xavier Scruggs and Felix White - co-host of the BBC's Tailenders podcast - will be in the MLB Bases Covered Live studio bringing you commentary and expert analysis on both of the AL wildcard games.

Coverage will start at 19:30 BST on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app. It is the fourth of five live MLB broadcasts on BBC Sport in September and October covering the end of the regular season and the start of the play-offs.

BBC's MLB coverage: