ST. LOUIS – A budding rivalry takes on a bigger stage. St. Louis CITY SC will face Sporting Kansas City in their first-ever playoff series.

Sporting KC, which entered the MLS playoff picture as the Western Conference’s eight-seed, won its Wild Card match Wednesday against the San Jose Earthquakes. Scoreless through regulation, Sporting KC outscored San Jose, 4-2, in a penalty-kick tiebreaker to advance to play St. Louis.

CITY SC holds the top seed in the Western Conference after a 17-5-12 record (56 points).

In three head-to-head matches this season between St. Louis and Kansas City, the home team won each match. CITY SC rattled off four goals in victories from May 20 and Sept. 30. Sporting KC edged St. Louis, 2-1, during the other match on Sept. 2.

As for the playoffs, St. Louis and Kansas City will compete in a best-of-three series. The winner will advance to the Western Conference semifinals.

The first match is set for Sunday, Oct. 29, and 9 p.m. CT at CITYPARK. The series then moves to Kansas City for the second match, set for Sunday, Nov. 5, at 4 p.m. CT at Children’s Mercy Park. If a third match is necessary, St. Louis will host on Saturday, Nov. 11, at 5 p.m. CT.

All matches can be watched through the MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Fans in the St. Louis area can also listen to radio broadcasts on 98.1 FM.