Oakland Athletics vs. Houston Astros schedule, MLB playoffs live stream, TV channel, start times for ALDS. The two AL West rivals will meet in Dodger Stadium this week for the right to advance to the ALCS. You can stream all the games here via WatchTBS, the FS1 games and the MLB Network games through the At Bat app.

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The No. 2 seed Oakland Athletics and and the No. 6 seed Houston Astros, AL West rivals, will meet this week in the best-of-five American League Division Series. Under this year's postseason format and because of COVID-19 concerns, every game of this series will be played at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

The A's got here by prevailing over the White Sox two games to one in the best-of-three Wild Card Series. The Astros advanced by sweeping the favored Twins in two games.

Here is how you can watch the Astros vs. A's ALDS matchup.

Date: Monday, Oct. 5 | Time: 4:07 p.m. ET
Location: Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles, California)
TV: TBS | Stream: TBS app
Odds: TBD
Pitchers: RHP Chris Bassitt vs. RHP Lance McCullers Jr.
Follow: CBS Sports App

Preview

While the entire NLDS will be played in Los Angeles, the teams will alternate hosting duties as they would during a typical year. That means the A's as higher seed will function as the home team in Games 1, 2, and 5. The Astros will get to bat last in Games 3 and 4.

Here are three things to know heading into the Astros vs. A's ALDS.
The A's won the season series

The two teams met 10 times during the regular season, and the A's went 7-3 in those games while out-scoring Houston by a margin of 38-25. In games not against each other, the A's were 29-21 with a plus-29 run differential, while the Astros were 26-24 with a plus-17 run differential.

While Oakland was plainly the better team both head-to-head and overall in 2020, it's worth recalling that they're without franchise third baseman Matt Chapman, who's out until 2021 after undergoing hip surgery. The good news for the A's is that scrap heap addition Jake Lamb has filled in admirably for Chapman. While there's no replacing Chapman's fielding at the hot corner, Lamb has more than delivered at the plate. In 13 regular season games with the A's, Lamb slashed .267/.327/.556 with seven extra-base hits. To repeat, Lamb is no Chapman, but there's reason to believe he could continue being a quality stop-gap as long as the A's are still playing this season.
This is the first time the A's and Astros will meet in the playoffs

In the all-time series between these two teams, the A's narrowly lead 75-74. However, those 149 games include no postseason encounters. The Astros have been a member of the American League since just 2013, and that's limited opportunities for these two clubs to run into each other.
These two teams have very different recent playoff histories

With their Wild Card Series win over Chicago, the A's won a playoff series for the first time since 2006, when they wound up getting swept in the ALCS. The Astros, however, will be trying to reach the ALCS for the fourth straight year. At present, just four teams have made four or consecutive LCS appearances. Those teams are the Braves from 1995-99, the A's from 1971-75, the Yankees from 1998-2001, and the Cardinals from 2011-14. The Astros won the World Series in 2017, but the A's haven't won it all since 1989.