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In 1969, the San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers — who were the Seattle Pilots for one season — were founded as MLB expansion teams.

Now, 58 short years later, the perennial National League contenders are meeting in the postseason for the first time.

On Saturday, Oct. 3, the best-of-five NLDS will get underway at Milwaukee’s American Family Field with the Brewers’ ace and Cy Young favorite Jacob Misiorowski (16-5, 1.80 ERA) on the hill.

Following a two-game stint in the Cream City, the series will move to SoCal for a pair of contests at San Diego’s PETCO Park. They’re slated to take place:

Game 3Tuesday, Oct. 6

Game 4Wednesday, Oct. 7

If you’d like to be there, tickets are available for both high-stakes hypothetical San Diego showdowns.

At the time of publication, the lowest price we could find on tickets for either game was $121 including fees on Vivid Seats.

Prices start at $99 including fees for the three potential meetings in Milwaukee.

Before this series, the Padres got revenge against the Chicago Cubs in the Wild Card round, sweeping MVP hopeful Pete Crow-Armstrong’s club at home after losing to them in three games to open the playoffs last year.

“They’re playing great baseball right now,” San Diego manager Craig Stammen said about his club.

Next up, they have a tall task taking on MLB’s winningest team in 2026.

Oddsmakers project the Brewers are -180 favorites going into the NLDS.

Yet, it should be factored in that San Diego took four of their six meetings over the course of the regular season including a clutch 4-3, eleven-inning victory on Aug. 12.

Is this the year that one of these two clubs finally gets over the hump and returns to the World Series?

While we can’t say for certain we do know that their first-ever postseason meeting with some of the game’s hardest flamethrowers in Misiorowski and Mason Miller should be downright electric.

Don’t miss this one. We just might have an instant classic on our hands.

For more information, our team has everything you need to know and more about the Padres vs. Brewers 2026 NLDS below.

What do tickets cost to see the Padres at home in the 2026 NLDS?

All hypothetical Padres home game dates at PETCO Park and links to the cheapest tickets available are listed here:

How much are tickets for Brewers 2026 NLDS games in Milwaukee?

A complete calendar of all potential Brewers home games at American Family Field and the lowest-priced tickets can be found below.

Are Padres tickets available for later rounds?

Starry-eyed fans looking to get ahead of themselves can procure potential NLCS and World Series tickets before the NLDS even begins.

To grab seats for the game of your choosing, all hypothetical Padres playoff tickets can be found here.

How to watch the Padres in the 2026 playoffs

Fans that prefer to watch on the tube, you can catch Padres playoff contests on FOX, which can be found on DIRECTV.

Huge 2026-27 San Diego shows

The Yankees aren’t the only huge attraction in America’s Finest City these next few months.

Here are just five of the biggest acts headed to San Diego in the near future.

• Metallica

• Don Omar

• Gorillaz

• Los Tigres del Norte

• Teddy Swims

Who else is out and about? Take a look at this list of all the biggest artists coming to the Pechanga Arena these next few months to find the show for you.

Why you should trust ‘Post Wanted’ by the New York Post

This article was written by Matt Levy, New York Post live events reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour announcements from your favorite musical artists and comedians, as well as Broadway openings, sporting events and more live shows – and finds great ticket prices online. Since he started his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed a Bruce Springsteen concert and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to name a few. Please note that deals can expire, and all prices are subject to change.

In a year where the (not particularly inspiring) tagline for playoff baseball is “No Time Like October”, only one out of four Wild Card series made it to today, the actual first day of the month. Aren’t we so lucky that it was Braves vs. Phillies? /s

Two games into the postseason and three sweeps later, the Padres, Yankees, and papally-blessed White Sox have punched their tickets to the next round. The swift eliminations of the Cubs, Red Sox, and Astros means the singular scenario for a night game at Truist Park has come to fruition.

Tonight’s winner-take-all game will decide which NL East team will board the plane to Los Angeles for the weekend to play in the National League Division Series, aiming to deny the two-time defending World Series champions their shot at a three-peat.

Doesn’t it feel like it was always destined to come down to this? A pair of divisonal rivals, with fanbases that passionately hate each other, both trying to dispel a miasma of past playoff failures. Apparently, this makes for tremendous baseball for those without a specific rooting interest or stake in it.

Unfortunately, we here at Battery Power are rooting very hard for the home team. And we would do pretty much anything to trade exciting and entertaining baseball for easy and comfortable victories. But if you’ve been following the team this season, you know they like to do things the hard way. So here we are.

The Atlanta Braves will send Ray Kerr to the mound to start for Game 3. Kerr returned to the majors on August 16 after missing two years due to Tommy John surgery and long rehab process. The lanky lefty is capable of multiple innings and had a 1.47 ERA and .600 WHIP in nine games.

Kerr faced the Phillies for a solid third of his 18.1 innings pitched in the regular season. His two outings were as follows:

• September 5: 3.1 innings of one-hit ball (a single by Kyle Schwarber) and one strikeout
• September 13: 3.0 innings of one-hit ball (a double by Bryce Harper) and four strikeouts

In the latter game, Kerr relieved starter Grant Holmes. The roles will reverse today; we can expect Holmes to follow for the bulk of the innings. A Braves bullpen unit that has been so strong all year faltered yesterday afternoon, but it is likely that all hands will be on deck to get all 27 outs tonight.

The Phillies are in the same mode and will counter with right-hander Aaron Nola. He is their most-rested option, but Zack Wheeler, Game 1’s starter Jesús Luzardo, and yesterday’s winning pitcher Andrew Painter are all also on the table. Closer Jhoan Duran was unavailable yesterday, and his status for tonight is not yet known.

The Braves are very familiar with Nola, of course. He has a 4.50 ERA in three starts against the team in 2026. He last pitched in Saturday for the pentultimate game of the regular season on short rest, lasting one inning after allowing three runs on four hits on 21 pitches.

It would be great to see the team in the home uniforms be the ones to Let It Fly – the leaders in home runs off Nola are Austin Riley with 7, Matt Olson with 5, and Ronald Acuña Jr. with 4.

Welcome to October. Who will shine brightest under the Truist Park lights?

Game Info

Game Time: Thursday, October 1, 8:00 pm EDT

Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA

Watch: NBC/Peacock

Radio/Audio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan, La Mejor 1600/1460/1130 AM, ESPN Radio

Although the box score doesn’t reflect an intensely competitive game, tempers flared in the stands at Yankee Stadium Wednesday night.

A big fight broke out in the upper deck during the Yankees’ 9-2 Game 2 win over the Red Sox, which swept Boston out of the playoffs.

A viral video of the brawl captured a Yankees fan wearing black shirt throwing punches left and right on a Red Sox fan, who was wearing a yellow Boston jersey.

Another Red Sox fan, wearing a red jersey and who appeared to be with the fan in the yellow jersey, ended up getting in a blow to the Yankees fan’s head.

It knocked the fan backwards into the stairs of the section and gave the Red Sox fan in the yellow jersey enough time to gather himself and retaliate.

The fan got in a few punches before the Yankees fan stood back up and began fighting back again.

As the chaos went on, many fans around the fight didn’t take action.

Instead, many watched and recorded the incident on their phones.

The Red Sox fan in the red jersey eventually pushed the Yankee fan away, towards the exit, but he didn’t go quietly.

The fan said “F–k you” toward the Boston supporters while flipping them the bird before putting their Yankee hat back on and leaving.

Since, the Yankees knocked out biggest rivals for the second consecutive season in the wild-card round, there was bound to be some tension and outbursts during the series.

The upper deck battle wasn’t the only notable altercation of the night in The Bronx.

Before the game, Spike Lee found himself in the middle of an intense scene with a fan, who asked the famous director for a selfie and requested that he say “F–k Palestine” while inside the Legends Suite.

An angry Lee immediately stood up and sought out security. The unidentified fan was kicked out of the suite.

Boston was alarmingly outscored 18-2 overall throughout the two games.

The Yankees hit the road to take on the Rays in Game 1 of the ALDS on Saturday, with Game 2 in St. Petersburg on Monday.

Games 3 and 4 will be in The Bronx and Game 5 would be back in Florida.

The Phillies are turning to a starter with a 5.14 ERA in his last 50 starts.

The Braves are opening with a reliever who has pitched nine times since the end of the 2024 season.

Welcome to Desperationville.

The only wild-card series to go the distance will feature the Phillies starting veteran Aaron Nola over ace Zack Wheeler on short rest, per The Athletic, and the Braves countering with southpaw reliever Ray Kerr, who went 26 months between major-league appearances before his Aug. 17 season debut.

Neither NL East squad has to be loving its current situation, with the Phillies surely kicking themselves for stumbling late in the year and the Braves’ lack of pitching depth looming large.

In an ideal world, the Phillies would have had Wheeler available for a start in this series but they had to burn him Sunday against the Rays to secure their playoff spot.

Rather than turn to Wheeler on three days rest, they will be going with Nola on regular rest.

Nola had a chance to ensure Wheeler could start in this series when he faced the Rays last Saturday, but he lasted one inning and allowed three runs on four hits.

He finished the regular season with a 7-12 record and a 4.67 ERA.

The Athletic noted that Wheeler could serve as a reliever, along with Game 1 starter Jesus Luzardo, but he’s made just one relief appearance out of 323 career MLB outings, including the postseason.

Wheeler tossed 1 ⅔ innings in relief in the 2023 NLCS in a 4-2 loss to the Diamondbacks.

The Braves, meanwhile, are likely using Kerr to limit how many times Grant Holmes — a starter — has to face the Phillies’ lineup, per The Athletic.

Holmes allowed an .886 OPS to opposing batters when facing them a second time, compared to a .590 OPS the first time through.

Kerr, meanwhile, only joined the team in August after last pitching for the franchise in 2024.

He only made his major-league debut at 27 in 2022 after previously working at 7-Eleven.

“It’s really surprising to just see him go from 7-Eleven and us working together at IMAX theater,” Kerr’s brother Richard Kerr told The Athletic for a piece published in September.

“Him furthering his career was such an eye-opener for a lot of people.”

The Yankees are on their way to Tampa after making quick work of the Red Sox in the Wild Card Series. It’s only fitting that their next hurdle takes the form of the team that edged them for the division title—just like last year. The Tampa Bay Rays own the Junior Circuit’s top regular season record and likely represent the Yankees’ most significant hurdle for returning to the World Series.

Unsurprisingly, the Yankees fed off terrific starting pitching to sweep Boston. Cam Schlittler continued his superlative season (and his ownership of their arch rival) in Game 1, then Max Fried followed with an understated yet still stellar six innings of his own. But Aaron Boone’s club didn’t need to rely solely on the starters. In both games, the Yankee offense exploded in the latter half of the game to make the late innings as comfortable as a California King after a long day on the road.

With all that in mind, the Yankees are entering this tilt with the Rays looking like a well-oiled machine. They’ll need to keep it up to handle a pesky, modular, and cerebral Tampa Bay team that thrives on the margins.

On offense, this year’s Rays are not unlike the Blue Jays who ended the Bombers’ season in 2025, marking a departure from more power-focused, high-whiff lineups of past iterations. Like that Toronto team, they are extremely difficult to strike out—both their K rate and whiff rate were lowest in the league. They have plenty of contact-oriented bats: Yandy Díaz led the AL with 180 hits, and Chandler Simpson is the ultimate throwback, hitting over .300 with 46 steals and zero homers. Jonathan Aranda blends contact skills and pull power to right field. But they also have their own equivalent to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at the heart of the order: All-Star third baseman Junior Caminero, whose 42 homers match the total Ben Rice put up this year. Their 104 team wRC+ was tied for fifth in MLB with the ALDS-bound White Sox.

As ever, the Rays’ pitching staff is loaded for bear—one of the few staffs that can compete with the Yankees. They throw tons of different looks at you, from the relentless top-down attack of ace Drew Rasmussen to the bouncy, crafty stylings of veteran Nick Martinez. Trade deadline addition Freddy Peralta is pitching like Freddy Peralta again, and they’ve got Griffin Jax and Ian Seymour as additional options.

For a five-game series, I anticipate Rasmussen (already listed as the Game 1 starter), Martinez, and Peralta in a three-man rotation, with Seymour as their designated long man out of the bullpen. Jax, who converted to starter this year after a fruitful stint in Minnesota’s bullpen, took a comebacker off his back in the penultimate game of the season. Indications from the team are that he’ll be good to go and could potentially reprise his late-inning role or be a “leverage guy.” Manager Kevin Cash demurred when asked for more details on his strategy—no surprise for a team that likes to keep their cards close to the chest.

Then there’s the bullpen, which could add Jax or Seymour to an already talented crew. Closer Bryan Baker, once an inconsistent middle-inning arm for Baltimore, has blossomed into an intimidating closer with triple-digit heat and a nasty changeup. Kevin Kelly has been among the league’s best setup men with a 2.44 ERA in 73.2 innings. Reports indicate that the Rays could welcome back Tyler Wells and Garrett Cleavinger, both of whom have missed time with injury. Add lefty Cam Booser to the mix, and you have a good idea of some of the arms the Yankees will see in the later innings.

The fruits of dispatching Boston early are borne in how the Yankees can set up their staff for this series. Gerrit Cole was the presumptive Game 3 starter for New York—he’ll likely start Game 1. There will then be a day between Game 1 and Game 2, giving an additional day of rest for Schlittler and Fried, who I expect to be deployed afterward. Since there will be a full four days between Game 1 and a hypothetical Game 4, the Yankees could start Cole again if they so choose and reserve Carlos Rodón for a piggyback role in case a starter can’t go deep.

The staggered scheduling of games promises to redound to the benefit of both pitching staffs, who likely won’t run their bullpens ragged with the first three games taking place across five days. As such, the focus in the series to me will be the lineups. Which team can snatch the initiative and give their pitchers a lead with which to work? Who can put up a crooked number—like the ones the Yankees pasted onto Boston—to dent opposing morale?

It’s with that question that we address the Aaron Judge of it all. Judge was vocal about his desire to play in the Wild Card Series, but ultimately was left off the roster. Instead, Giancarlo Stanton was given a spot, though he went unused. The full nature of Judge’s quad strain is still a little iffy, but bringing him back was wishful thinking against Boston, and I believe will be wishful thinking against Tampa, too. At any rate, this lineup has been clicking—which gives Boone every excuse to wait until they’re confident Judge can be his fully healthy self, rather than the limited version which probably couldn’t play the outfield as it stands. I expect the Yankees will not bring Judge onto the ALDS roster—and if they do, he will see limited playing time, if any.

For the best-of-three series with Boston, the Yankees got aggressive with their roster, constructing a super-bench and bringing only ten pitchers. With a best-of-five series on the horizon, the Yankees will probably add another arm or two, but I expect them to continue to carry a deep bench, especially if Judge remains sidelined. Boone was able to roll out two very different-looking lineups against Boston, and both produced. Just as the Rays thrive on changing things up and preventing their opponent from getting comfortable, the Yankees can and should continue to weaponize their depth in the same way.

Whose lineup is better? On paper, you can make a compelling argument for either side. One thing I’ll note, though, is the relative inexperience in the postseason for Tampa Bay as compared to the Yankees, who feature plenty of guys who have become postseason mainstays. Caminero has two postseason plate appearances in his career—Aranda has one. Richie Palacios and Victor Mesa Jr., two toolsy bats whom the Rays have relied upon for much of the latter half of the year, are playing October ball for the first time. Cedric Mullins appeared on two Orioles teams that combined to win zero postseason games.

The only hitter with an extensive October resumé is Díaz—who has a .561 OPS in 26 career playoff games. Past results don’t predict future outcomes, but we have seen plenty of teams with minimal collective postseason appearances flame out quickly. There will be lots of pressure on Tampa to prove they can hang.

One last thing: the last time New York faced Tampa in the postseason, they did so during the pandemic, in an absolutely vacant Petco Park in San Diego. This year, the series starts in Tropicana Field, where a healthy contingent of Yankee fans has always made their presence felt. This could undercut the Rays’ home-field advantage and give the Bombers an important energy source to siphon in the first two games. The Trop is not a beloved building in these pages, but if the Yankees can make it a second home field, the Rays will need to be that much more perfect.

For those reasons, I believe the Yankees will win this ALDS in four games. I think it could stand as another example of how participating in the Wild Card Series can help a team more than a first-round bye—provided they ace the test, which the Yankees did. From my perspective, New York’s pitching staff has more talent, and their lineup more experience. I think these factors will prevent us from seeing the complacent, often sluggish Yankees who bowed out early last October and were vanquished by the Dodgers in the previous Fall Classic. So long as they continue to cash in on their opportunities and mitigate mistakes, they’ll be able to unseat the AL’s top seed.

But you know what they say: you have to play the games. Game 1 of the Divsion Series is slated for Saturday, with coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. EST.