The WNBA’s eight-team postseason begins Sept. 27. Here is how the bracket works, why the first round can end quickly and why every spot in the standings carries weight.

The 2026 WNBA Playoffs begin Sunday, Sept. 27, with the first game scheduled for 2 p.m. ET. The field contains the top eight teams in the league by regular-season record, regardless of conference, and those clubs are ordered from No. 1 through No. 8. A seed is simply that position in the standings: No. 1 had the best regular-season record among playoff teams, while No. 8 claimed the final berth.

Those seeds establish a fixed opening bracket: 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6 and 4 vs. 5. The first round is best-of-three, meaning a team advances by winning two games. Its 1-1-1 arrangement gives the higher seed Games 1 and 3, if necessary, at home, while the lower seed hosts Game 2; all four Game 1s are set for Sept. 27, and potential Game 3s fall Oct. 1-2.

That setup makes seeding pivotal. Finishing higher delivers the opening home game and, in a series-deciding Game 3, another game in front of the home crowd, while it also determines an opponent and route through the bracket. The survivors move to best-of-five semifinals beginning Oct. 4, using a 2-2-1 home pattern, before the best-of-seven Finals start Oct. 17 in a 2-2-1-1-1 format. A champion therefore needs nine postseason wins: two in Round 1, three in the semifinals and four in the Finals.

How the 2026 WNBA Playoffs Work: A Beginner’s Guide to Seeds, Series and Home Court