{"id":135856,"date":"2025-09-11T09:57:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T09:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/135856\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T09:57:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T09:57:07","slug":"standings-schedule-format-for-2025-postseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/135856\/","title":{"rendered":"Standings, schedule, format for 2025 postseason"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;right:0;bottom:0;width:100%;height:100%;z-index:2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/86052054007-usatsi-27010663.jpg\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"vidplayicon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/appservices\/universal-web\/universal\/icons\/icon-play-alt-white.svg\" alt=\"play\" style=\"height:40px;margin:auto 18px auto 27px;width:40px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Fever clinch playoffs without Caitlin Clark<\/p>\n<p>USAT&#8217;s Meghan Hall breaks down the Indiana Fever team as they head into the playoffs with several notable injuries to their roster.<\/p>\n<p>Sports Pulse<\/p>\n<p>The final days of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/sports\/wnba\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2025 WNBA regular season<\/a> have arrived and the playoff picture is taking shape.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/wnba\/storm\/2025\/09\/10\/wnba-playoffs-2025-seattle-storm-clinch\/86067289007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Seattle Storm claimed the eighth and final spot<\/a> in the postseason on Tuesday with a dramatic win over the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/wnba\/2025\/09\/05\/golden-state-valkyries-wnba-playoffs-first-season\/85987984007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Golden State Valkyries<\/a>, officially eliminating the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/wnba\/teams\/los-angeles-sparks\/149\/\" data-autotag=\"42a38b7d-51a0-474a-b4f9-86ef100a0cf9\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Los Angeles Sparks<\/a> from the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. Although all eight playoff spots have been earned, there&#8217;s plenty to be decided in the seedings with only a few games remaining.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/wnba\/lynx\/2025\/08\/30\/minnesota-lynx-secure-wnba-playoff\/85915394007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Minnesota Lynx clinched the No. 1 overall seed<\/a> and homecourt advantage throughout the postseason with one game remaining on their schedule. The Phoenix Mercury are locked into the No. 4 seed and have a first-round matchup against the defending champion New York Liberty, who secured the No. 5 seed.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Atlanta Dream and Las Vegas Aces are jockeying for the No. 2 seed, which will come in handy should both advance to the semifinals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"related-link\">2025 WNBA AWARDS PREDICTIONS: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/wnba\/2025\/09\/09\/wnba-2025-awards-predictions\/86038718007\/\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">From MVP to Rookie of the Year, who will win?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The sixth, seventh and eighth seed will come down the Valkyries&#8217; regular-season finale against the Lynx on Thursday. If Golden State defeats Minnesota, the Valkyries will secure the No. 6 seed, the Fever will be the No. 7 seed and Seattle will be the No. 8 seed. But, if the Valkyries lose to the Lynx, Golden State will drop to the No. 8 seed, the Fever will stay at No. 6 and the Storm will move up to the No. 7 seed.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a look at the 2025 WNBA playoff picture, including the league&#8217;s postseason format, a potential bracket and first-round matchups based on the current standings:<\/p>\n<p>WNBA playoff picture<\/p>\n<p>*clinched seed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/wnba\/teams\/minnesota-lynx\/156\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Minnesota Lynx<\/a> (33-10)*<a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/wnba\/teams\/las-vegas-aces\/153\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Las Vegas Aces<\/a> (29-14)<a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/wnba\/teams\/atlanta-dream\/8406\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Atlanta Dream<\/a> (29-14)<a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/wnba\/teams\/phoenix-mercury\/151\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Phoenix Mercury<\/a> (27-16)*<a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/wnba\/teams\/new-york-liberty\/150\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New York Liberty<\/a> (26-17)*<a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/wnba\/teams\/indiana-fever\/158\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Indiana Fever<\/a> (24-20)<a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/wnba\/teams\/golden-state-valkyries\/44817\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Golden State Valkyries<\/a> (23-20)<a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/wnba\/teams\/seattle-storm\/161\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Seattle Storm<\/a> (23-21)<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/wnba\/teams\/los-angeles-sparks\/149\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Los Angeles Sparks<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/wnba\/teams\/washington-mystics\/154\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Washington Mystics<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/wnba\/teams\/dallas-wings\/155\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dallas Wings<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/wnba\/teams\/chicago-sky\/5691\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chicago Sky<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/wnba\/teams\/connecticut-sun\/157\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Connecticut Sun<\/a> have all been eliminated from playoff contention.<\/p>\n<p>WNBA first-round matchups, potential bracket<\/p>\n<p>Based on standings before games played on Sept. 10<\/p>\n<p>No. 1 Minnesota Lynx vs. No. 8 Seattle StormNo. 4 Phoenix Mercury vs. No. 5 New York LibertyThis matchup is set as the Mercury and Liberty are both locked in at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.No. 2 Las Vegas Aces vs. No. 7 <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/wnba\/teams\/golden-state-valkyries\/44817\/\" data-autotag=\"abc4e590-1682-4284-a7c6-2f311ced922c\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Golden State Valkyries<\/a>No. 3 Atlanta Dream vs. No. 6 Indiana FeverWNBA playoff format<\/p>\n<p>The WNBA playoffs are set to begin on Sept. 14 with the WNBA Finals scheduled to end by Oct. 19 at the latest. The top eight WNBA teams based on the overall regular-season standings qualify for the playoffs. The bracket will feature three postseason rounds, including the championship series. The first-round will be a best-of-three series, while the semifinals will have best-of-five format. The WNBA Finals are a best-of-seven series, with the higher seed hosting Games 1, 2, 5 and 7.<\/p>\n<p>WNBA standings<\/p>\n<p>Standings reflect results as of 4 p.m. ET on Sept. 10<\/p>\n<p>Minnesota Lynx: 33-10Las Vegas Aces: 29-14 (4 games back)Atlanta Dream: 29-14 (4)Phoenix Mercury: 27-16 (6)New York Liberty: 26-17 (7)Indiana Fever: 24-20 (9.5)Golden State Valkyries: 23-20 (10)Seattle Storm: 23-21 (10.5)Los Angeles Sparks: 21-22 (12)Washington Mystics: 16-28 (17.5)Connecticut Sun: 11-32 (22)Chicago Sky: 10-33 (23)Dallas Wings: 9-34 (24)<\/p>\n<p>The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news \u2014 fast.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/app.adjust.com\/1el9h6z4\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fever clinch playoffs without Caitlin Clark USAT&#8217;s Meghan Hall breaks down the Indiana Fever team as they head&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[10228,1338,3044,505,732,461,49,48,6681,726,5316,4785,3458,5315,5319,1329,8522,6003,10230,1612,5904,2803,1458,3460,7079,3043,632,8521,8456,2598,736,8454,5268,3457,44,3285,5317,1333,1345,8455,3461,1334,7675,1611,11610,12195,82,865,1426,1440,2047,10231,1459,3642,737,630,4134,4143,5841],"class_list":["post-135856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-aces","tag-affiliate","tag-angeles","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-dream","tag-basketball","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-sky","tag-commerce","tag-connecticut","tag-connecticut-sun","tag-contains","tag-contains-commerce-or-affiliate-content","tag-content","tag-dream","tag-fever","tag-golden","tag-golden-state-valkyries","tag-indiana","tag-indiana-fever","tag-las","tag-las-vegas-aces","tag-liberty","tag-los","tag-los-angeles-sparks","tag-lynx","tag-mercury","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-lynx","tag-mystics","tag-new","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-news","tag-now","tag-or","tag-overall","tag-overall-positive","tag-phoenix","tag-phoenix-mercury","tag-positive","tag-seattle","tag-seattle-storm","tag-sky","tag-sparks","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-state","tag-storm","tag-sun","tag-valkyries","tag-vegas","tag-washington","tag-washington-mystics","tag-wnba","tag-womens","tag-womens-sports","tag-york"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}