Baseball sets playoff schedule

Major League Baseball's newest opening round of playoff will begin Oct. 5 and the World Series is scheduled to end by Nov. 1, baseball officials said Thursday. Baseball added a virtual play-in game to open its playoffs. The teams with the best records and that didn't win their divisions will take part in a one-game playoff Oct. 5. The winners of those games will advance to the best-of-five Division Series. This is the first change in the baseball playoff format since MLB went to a six-team, eight-team playoff in 1995. Two Division Series are to begin Oct. 6 with the wild-card winners opening their series Oct. 7 against the other division winner. The series will open at one city for two games with as many as three games in the home field of the other team. The potential Game Five would Oct. 11 and Oct. 12. There is no travel day in the Division Series schedule. The American League Championship Series is to begin Oct. 13 and the National League is set to open Oct. 14. Those series are best-of-seven. The World Series is to begin Oct. 24 in the park of the National League champion. The series moves to the American League city for Game Three on Oct. 27. The World Series Game Seven would be Nov. 1 at the National League team's home field.