How to adjust your October around Twins playoff baseball

Leaf-peeping road trips, fall weddings, MEA weekend … the optimists out there might want to start considering plans and compare calendars to this playoff schedule.

You planners out there, especially you optimistic ones, might want to take a closer look at your early October plans. Playoff baseball is coming for Twins fans. Might be one game, or might be most of one month. If you want to compare your calendar with baseball's schedule, here's what a successful Twins October would look like:

First, it's the American League Division Series. Best of five. Twins are in and will be the third seed, facing the second seed (Houston or the New York Yankees). No matter the opponent, here's the schedule:
Game 1: Friday, Oct. 4, in either Houston or New York.
Game 2: Saturday, Oct. 5, in either Houston or New York.
(Sunday is a travel day.)
Game 3: Monday, Oct. 7, at Target Field. (So, yes, this is the Twins' next home game).
Game 4: (If necessary) Tuesday, Oct. 8, at Target Field.
(Wednesday would be a travel day.)
Game 5: (If necessary) Thursday, Oct. 10, in either Houston or New York.

All those games will be on Fox Sports 1 (not to be confused with FSN) or Major League Baseball Network (MLBN).

If the Twins win the necessary three games and advance to the American League Championship Series, they'll be in baseball's final four. If the wild-card winner beats the top seed in the other ALDS series, the Twins would have home-field advantage and be the host of games 1 and 2. If the AL's top seed advances, then the Twins would start on the road again. Here's that best-of-seven series schedule:
Sat., Oct. 12: ALCS Game 1.
Sun., Oct. 13: ALCS Game 2.
Tue., Oct. 15: ALCS Game 3.
Wed., Oct. 16: ALCS Game 4.
Thu., Oct. 17: ALCS Game 5 (if necessary).
Sat., Oct. 19: ALCS Game 6 (if necessary).
Sun., Oct. 20: ALCS Game 7 (if necessary).

All of those games will be on either FOX (Ch. 9) or FS1.

And those final three ALCS games are during MEA Weekend, for your school-calendar families out there.

The World Series? Now we're really tilting toward optimism here — but hey, it's happened before, right?

Here's that schedule (all games on FOX, Ch. 9):
Tue., Oct. 22: World Series Game 1.
Wed., Oct. 23: World Series Game 2.
Fri., Oct. 25: World Series Game 3.
Sat., Oct. 26: World Series Game 4.
Sun., Oct. 27: World Series Game 5 (if necessary).
Tue., Oct. 29: World Series Game 6 (if necessary).
Wed., Oct. 30: World Series Game 7 (if necessary).