MLB Playoff Bracket 2013: Breaking Down Wild Card and Divisional Round

Bring on the playoffs.

With a memorable baseball season in the books, eight teams still have dreams of World Series glory to chase, and the parity in this year's postseason is impressive. Just seven wins separates these eight teams, and just five wins separates the particularly tight American League. 

Let's take a closer look at how the wild card and divisional rounds will play out.

Wild Card Round

Any one-game playoff is incredibly difficult to predict, because, well, it's baseball, and crazy things can completely affect the outcome of a single game. 

In the National League, each team has certain advantages. The Pittsburgh Pirates are at home, for instance, and went 11-8 against the Cincinnati Reds (including a three-game sweep to end the season). The momentum lies with the Pirates.

But momentum in baseball is the next day's starting pitcher, and for the Reds, that falls on Johnny Cueto, who has pitched just twice since going on the disabled list in June. Meanwhile, the Pirates will go with Francisco Liriano, their ace this year.

Everything points to Pittsburgh in this one. 

In the American League, the Indians come into this game red-hot, having won 10 in a row and 15 of their last 17. They'll avoid David Price after he pitched against the Texas Rangers on Monday and Matt Moore as well, though Alex Cobb did beat them in April. 

Still, I like the Indians to survive the one-game series. 

Prediction: Pirates and Indians move on.

Divisional Series

The Detroit Tigers are my World Series pick, so I have to stick to my guns here. For as solid as the Athletics rotation is, I don't think Oakland has an answer for Detroit's top three of Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Anibal Sanchez.

Add in the fact that nobody in baseball has an answer for Miguel Cabrera, and I see the Tigers winning in five.

The Indians have had a wonderful season, but their run will end against the Boston Red Sox. Boston has too much balance in its lineup and a good enough rotation to get past an Indians team that is only going to get better as their young stars gain experience. Boston takes it in four. 

The Los Angeles Dodgers are going to handle the Atlanta Braves. Atlanta can't match LA's one-two punch of Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, though the Braves bullpen is excellent. Oh, and before you worry about Matt Kemp being shelved for the duration of the season, remember that the Dodgers were 42-8 without him this year.

The Dodgers win in four. 

Finally, we turn to the Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals, with Pittsburgh holding the slightest of advantages in the season series, 10-9. The balance of the Cardinals is pretty impressive, and having Adam Wainwright potentially for Game 1 and Game 5 could be the difference. 

The Pirates have an excellent pitching staff, but would it be enough to quiet the bats of the dangerous Cardinals? St. Louis is plenty familiar with the postseason, and that experience gives the Cards the edge here. They take it in five.

Prediction: Tigers, Red Sox, Dodgers, Cardinals advance.

Here's a full look at the bracket and schedule for this year's postseason:

NL Wild Card

Game	Matchup	Date	Time (ET)	TV	Streaming
NL Wild Card	Cincinnati Reds at Pittsburgh Pirates	Tue, Oct 1	8 p.m.	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com

 

AL Wild Card

Game	Matchup	Date	Time (ET)	TV	Streaming
AL Wild Card	Tampa Bay Rays @ Cleveland Indians	Wed, Oct 2	8 p.m.	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com

 

NLDS A

Game	Matchup	Date	Time (ET)	TV	Streaming
Game 1	NL Wild Card @ St. Louis Cardinals	Thu, Oct 3	5 p.m.	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 2	NL Wild Card @ St. Louis Cardinals	Fri, Oct 4	1 p.m.	MLBN	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 3	St. Louis Cardinals @ NL Wild Card	Sun, Oct 6	TBD	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 4*	St. Louis Cardinals @ NL Wild Card	Mon, Oct 7	TBD	TBS or MLBN***	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 5*	NL Wild Card @ St. Louis Cardinals	Wed, Oct 9	TBD	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com

 

NLDS B

Game	Matchup	Date	Time (ET)	TV	Streaming
Game 1	Los Angeles Dodgers @ Atlanta Braves	Thu, Oct 3	8:30 p.m.	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 2	Los Angeles Dodgers @ Atlanta Braves	Fri, Oct 4	6 p.m.	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 3	Atlanta Braves @ Los Angeles Dodgers	Sun, Oct 6	TBD	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 4*	Atlanta Braves @ Los Angeles Dodgers	Mon, Oct 7	TBD	TBS or MLBN***	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 5*	Los Angeles Dodgers @ Atlanta Braves	Wed, Oct 9	TBD	TBS

 

ALDS A

Game	Matchup	Date	Time (ET)	TV	Streaming
Game 1	AL Wild Card @ Boston Red Sox	Fri, Oct 4	3 p.m.	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 2	AL Wild Card @ Boston Red Sox	Sat, Oct 5	5:30 p.m.	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 3	Boston Red Sox @ AL Wild Card	Mon, Oct 7	TBD	TBS or MLBN***	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 4*	Boston Red Sox@ AL Wild Card	Tue, Oct 8	TBD	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 5*	AL Wild Card @ Boston Red Sox	Thu, Oct 10	TBD	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com

 

ALDS B

Game	Matchup	Date	Time (ET)	TV	Streaming
Game 1	Detroit Tigers @ Oakland Athletics	Fri, Oct 4	9:30 p.m.	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 2	Detroit Tigers @ Oakland Athletics	Sat, Oct 5	9 p.m.	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 3	Oakland Athletics @ Detroit Tigers	Mon, Oct 7	TBD	TBS or MLBN***	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 4*	Oakland Athletics @ Detroit Tigers	Tue, Oct 8	TBD	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 5*	Detroit Tigers @ Oakland Athletics	Thu, Oct 10	TBD	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com

 

NLCS

Game	Matchup	Date	Time (ET)	TV	Streaming
Game 1	TBD @ TBD	Fri, Oct 11	TBD	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 2	TBD @ TBD	Sat, Oct 12	TBD	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 3	TBD @ TBD	Mon, Oct 14	TBD	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 4	TBD @ TBD	Tue, Oct 15	TBD	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 5*	TBD @ TBD	Wed, Oct 16	TBD	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 6*	TBD @ TBD	Fri, Oct 18	TBD	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com
Game 7*	TBD @ TBD	Sat, Oct 19	TBD	TBS	Postseason.TV; TBS.com

 

ALCS

Game	Matchup	Date	Time (ET)	TV	Streaming
Game 1	TBD @ TBD	Sat, Oct 12	TBD	FOX	Postseason.TV
Game 2	TBD @ TBD	Sun, Oct 13	TBD	FOX	Postseason.TV
Game 3	TBD @ TBD	Tue, Oct 15	TBD	FOX	Postseason.TV
Game 4	TBD @ TBD	Wed, Oct 16	TBD	FOX	Postseason.TV
Game 5*	TBD @ TBD	Thu, Oct 17	TBD	FOX	Postseason.TV
Game 6*	TBD @ TBD	Sat, Oct 19	TBD	FOX	Postseason.TV
Game 7*	TBD @ TBD	Sun, Oct 20	TBD	FOX	Postseason.TV

 

World Series

Game	Matchup	Date	Time (ET)	TV	Streaming
Game 1	NL Champion @ AL Champion	Wed, Oct 23	TBD	FOX	Postseason.TV
Game 2	NL Champion @ AL Champion	Thu, Oct 24	TBD	FOX	Postseason.TV
Game 3	AL Champion @ NL Champion	Sat, Oct 26	TBD	FOX	Postseason.TV
Game 4	AL Champion @ NL Champion	Sun, Oct 27	TBD	FOX	Postseason.TV
Game 5*	AL Champion @ NL Champion	Mon, Oct 28	TBD	FOX	Postseason.TV
Game 6*	NL Champion @ AL Champion	Wed, Oct 30	TBD	FOX	Postseason.TV
Game 7*	NL Champion @ AL Champion	Thu, Oct 31	TBD	FOX	Postseason.TV

* If necessary

*** "TBS will air three of the four Division Series games on Friday, October 4 and up to three games on Monday, October 7. MLB Network will air one Division Series game on both of those dates. TBS will air 18 of the 20 Division Series games" (via MLB.com).