Cubs Play First 2 Wild Card Games Tuesday, Wednesday Afternoon on ABC
The Cubs and Padres will play Tuesday and Wednesday at 2:08pm CT on ABC, which is good/bad in terms of the timing and platform. While everyone will be able to watch without any sort of cable or streaming service, early afternoons aren’t the best for folks who actually have to pay attention to work. See below for the full slate of the postseason’s first two games. Thursday’s times and networks will be announced later.
Major League Baseball today announced the broadcast schedule for the first two days of the 2025 Wild Card Series. The 2025 Postseason will have four Wild Card Series games scheduled each day from Tuesday through Thursday under a best-of-three format, all available on ESPN’s family of networks.
The MLB Wild Card Series will be available in Spanish on ESPN Deportes and the ESPN App. ESPN Radio will also provide live national coverage of all 2025 MLB Postseason games, beginning with the Wild Card Series. In addition, MLB Network will have extensive studio coverage of the Wild Card Series.
The 2025 Postseason schedule, subject to change, can be viewed in its entirety at MLB.com/postseason.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30th
| WILD CARD SERIES | First Pitch (ET/Site Time) | NETWORK |
| Game 1 of an AL Wild Card Series | 1:08 p.m. | ESPN |
| Game 1, #5 Padres @ #4 Cubs | 3:08 p.m./2:08 p.m. (CT) | ABC |
| Game 1 of an AL Wild Card Series | 6:08 p.m. | ESPN |
| Game 1, #6 Reds/Mets @ #3 Dodgers | 9:08 p.m./6:08 p.m. (PT) | ESPN |
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1st
| WILD CARD SERIES | First Pitch (ET/Site Time) | NETWORK |
| Game 2 of an AL Wild Card Series | 1:08 p.m. | ESPN |
| Game 2, #5 Padres @ #4 Cubs | 3:08 p.m./2:08 p.m. (CT) | ABC |
| Game 2 of an AL Wild Card Series | 6:08 p.m. | ESPN |
| Game 2, #6 Reds/Mets @ #3 Dodgers | 9:08 p.m./6:08 p.m. (PT) | ESPN |
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2nd
| WILD CARD SERIES (If Necessary) | First Pitch (ET/Site Time) | NETWORK |
| TO BE ANNOUNCED TONIGHT | ||
