The word “playoffs” can refer to several different sports, and each has its own playoff calendar, so the date depends on which league you mean.

Clarify which playoffs

To give an exact answer, it helps to know the sport or league, for example:

  • NBA Playoffs
  • NFL Playoffs
  • MLB Playoffs
  • NHL Playoffs
  • College Football Playoff

Each of these has a different postseason window each year, usually published before the regular season ends.

General timing by major leagues

Here is a quick overview of when big U.S. sports playoffs usually run each season (exact dates change year to year).

  • NBA: Mid‑April through early to mid‑June.
  • NFL: Early January through early to mid‑February (ending with the Super Bowl).
  • MLB: Early October through late October or early November (World Series).
  • NHL: Mid‑April through early to mid‑June.
  • College Football Playoff: Late December through early or mid‑January.

What you can do next

  • Reply with the sport/league (for example: “NBA” or “NFL”) and, if you want, the season/year.
  • Or, if you mean your local school or amateur league, mention the team/league name and location so the right playoff info can be looked up.

For now, the most accurate answer to “when is the playoffs” is: it depends on the league and year , so specifying those details is necessary to give the exact dates.

TL;DR: Different sports have different playoff calendars, so share which league (NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, college football, etc.) and the year, and the exact playoff dates can be pinned down.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.