Baseball postseason schedule revealed

New York, NY – Major League Baseball announced its schedule for the 2011 postseason and for the first time in three years the World Series will end before November.

Last year's World Series finished on November 1 and the 2009 Fall Classic concluded on November 4.

Major League Baseball made a concerted effort this year to start the regular season early, on March 31, to avoid having World Series games played after Halloween.

This year's postseason will start Friday, September 30 with a pair of American League Division Series games. The two National League Division Series matchups will begin on Saturday, October 1.

It marks the first time since the 1915 World Series that baseball's postseason will start on a Friday.

The first round of the playoffs will conclude, providing there is a Game 5 in one of the National League matchups, on Friday, October 7.

Game 1 of the American League Championship Series is set to begin Saturday, October 8 with the NLCS opener slated for the following day. A potential Game 7 in the NLCS would take place Monday, October 17.

The World Series will open at the home of the National League champion on Wednesday, October 19 with Game 2 the following day. The series would then shift to the AL champion's park on Saturday, October 22, with Game 4 and, if necessary, Game 5 each of the next two days. Game 6 would return to the NL champ's home on Wednesday, October 26 with a potential seventh game on Thursday, October 27.

For the fifth consecutive year the Division Series games will be broadcast on Turner Sports, while Turner will handle the National League Championship Series and FOX will televise the ALCS as well as the World Series.