The primary spherical of the 2025 WNBA playoffs is underway with no scarcity of surprises. The Indiana Fever had been dealing with elimination on Tuesday evening however they compelled a Sport 3 with a dominant dwelling win over the Atlanta Dream. The Seattle Storm will attempt to do the identical whereas internet hosting a red-hot Las Vegas Aces staff, who’re at present on a 17-game successful streak.
The Fever will face the Dream once more on Thursday, this time in Atlanta.
The New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx have 1-0 leads on the opposite facet of the bracket. The Phoenix Mercury might want to win a street sport in opposition to the defending champion Liberty on Wednesday to remain alive, whereas the top-seeded Lynx will look to finish the inaugural season of the Golden State Valkyries.
The perfect-of-three first spherical will wrap up on Friday or earlier, and the best-of-five semifinals will start on Sunday (Sept. 21).
The Lynx entered the playoffs because the No. 1 seed after being the WNBA’s most dominant staff all through the 44-game common season. The Lynx, searching for the fifth championship in staff historical past and their first since 2017, can have home-court benefit all through the playoffs.
Under is a take a look at the first-round matchups and the total schedule for the 2025 playoffs.
WNBA playoff bracket
Keytron Jordan, CBS Sports activities
Listed below are the 4 first-round matchups and seeding:
- No. 1 Lynx vs. No. 8 Valkyries
- No. 2 Aces vs. No. 7 Storm
- No. 3 Dream vs. No. 6 Fever
- No. 4 Mercury vs. No. 5 Liberty
Groups will play a best-of-three sequence within the first spherical, a best-of-five sequence within the semifinals, and — in a brand new change this 12 months — a best-of-seven affair within the Finals.
In 2024, the primary spherical had a 2-1 format, which meant the upper seed received the primary two video games at dwelling, whereas the decrease seed solely received to host in the event that they made it to Sport 3. This 12 months will probably be a 1-1-1 format, with Video games 1 and three hosted by the upper seed whereas the decrease seed hosts Sport 2.
All video games on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 are streaming on fubo (Strive without spending a dime).
First-round schedule, scores (best-of-three)
All instances Japanese
Sunday, Sept. 14
Tuesday, Sept. 16
Wednesday, Sept. 17
- Sport 2: No. 4 Mercury at No. 5 Liberty, 7:30 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
- Sport 2: No. 1 Lynx at No. 8 Valkyries, 9:30 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
Thursday, Sept. 18
- *Sport 3: No. 6 Fever at No. 3 Dream, TBD — ESPN2/fubo
- *Sport 3: No. 7 Storm at No. 2 Aces, TBD — ESPN2/fubo
Friday, Sept. 19
- *Sport 3: No. 8 Valkyries at No. 1 Lynx, TBD — ESPN2/fubo
- *Sport 3: No. 5 Liberty at No. 4 Mercury, TBD — ESPN2/fubo
Semifinals schedule (best-of-five)
Sunday, Sept. 21
Tuesday, Sept. 23
Friday, Sept. 26
Sunday, Sept. 28
Tuesday, Sept. 30
- *Sport 5: TBD vs. TBD, TBD
- *Sport 5: TBD vs. TBD, TBD
Finals schedule (best-of-seven)
Friday, Oct. 3
- Sport 1, 8 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
Sunday, Oct. 5
- Sport 2, 3 p.m. — ABC/fubo
Wednesday, Oct. 8
- Sport 3, 8 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
Friday, Oct. 10
- Sport 4, 8 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
Sunday, Oct. 12
- *Sport 5, 3 p.m. — ABC/fubo
Wednesday, Oct. 15
- *Sport 6, 8 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
Friday, Oct. 17
- *Sport 7, 8 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
* If vital
