Saturday MLB guide: Four Division Series open from Cleveland to Milwaukee

The Division Series begin Saturday with four Game 1s, running from Cleveland's early afternoon opener to Milwaukee's night game. The field is down to eight clubs, and every series starts level in the best-of-five round.

MLB's official bracket announcement set the matchups after the Wild Card round:

Saturday, October 3 — all times Eastern

The times and channels come from MLB's postseason schedule. Atlanta subsequently named Dylan Dodd to open against Tarik Skubal, as confirmed in the Dodgers' official Saturday roster announcement.

Cleveland opens against a familiar division rival. The Associated Press's Saturday preview puts the White Sox ahead 7–6 in the regular-season meetings. Messick enters with a 12–9 record and 2.56 ERA; Smith, a reliever during the regular season, is listed for Chicago's opener. The matchup follows Cleveland's division title and Chicago's Wild Card sweep of Houston.

Los Angeles sends Skubal into its opener after Atlanta won a deciding Wild Card game in Philadelphia. Ohtani's injury management remains one of the Dodgers' central questions, but his Friday comments are already part of the pre-series picture. Saturday's posted lineup will provide the next concrete check on how Los Angeles deploys him.

The Yankees and Rays supply the second American League divisional matchup. Cole and Rasmussen are the listed starters. The Yankees left Aaron Judge off their ALDS roster Saturday as he continues recovering from a right calf strain.

Milwaukee closes the day with Misiorowski against Ray. The Brewers finished 103–59 and went 55–26 at home, while San Diego won four of their six regular-season meetings, according to the AP preview. That gives the final opener a clear tension: Milwaukee's season-long strength against a visiting club that played it well head-to-head.