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The drama is about to truly begin in MLB and the NHL season is off and running. Here we look at the top stories from this week in US Sports.

This week in US sports: MLB playoffs begin, Stefon Diggs wants out of Minnesota

The MLB playoffs have begun as the Washington Nationals won a dramatic wild-card game over the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Oakland Athletics convincingly.

Now the true drama begins.

Meanwhile, the NHL season started and another NFL star appears keen to change teams.

All that and more on this week in US Sports.

1. MLB divisional round set

The best part of the baseball season is upon us as the divisional round matchups are set.

In the National League the Los Angeles Dodgers will take on the Nationals and the Atlanta Braves will face off with the St. Louis Cardinals. In the American League the Houston Astros will deal with the Rays and the New York Yankees will be challenged by the Minnesota Twins.

All of these series have some sort of intrigue as the Yankees and Twins combined for more than 600 home runs, the Astros and Rays have two of the best pitching staffs in MLB, the Dodgers and Nationals match up supremely well and the Braves and Cardinals are two up-and-coming rosters looking to restore past glory.

The NLDS starts with two games on Thursday and will continue with two more on Friday. The ALDS starts on Friday.

2. Stefon Diggs wants out of Minnesota

Vikings wide receiver Diggs stirred up some rumours by skipping practice on Wednesday with no explanation given. Some speculated he wanted out, but that was all purely a guess.

That is until Diggs said on Thursday: "There's truth to all rumours. I won't get into that."

The Vikings are a disappointing 2-2 to start the year and Adam Thielen has already publicly criticised quarterback Kirk Cousins for his play.

Maybe we should have seen this coming.

3. NHL regular season kicks off with two historic nights

The NHL kicked off its regular seasonon Wednesday and one young gun shined again while a veteran just kept on doing what he does.

In the Toronto Maple Leafs' win over the Ottawa Senators, Auston Matthews scored twice, giving him a goal in his fourth straight season opener.

Alex Ovechkin netted in the Washington Capitals' 3-2 defeat of the defending champion St. Louis Blues. Ovechkin now has 11 goals in 15 season openers, which is the most among active NHL players.

Ovechkin is 41 goals away from 700 in his career. He would be just the eighth player to reach that mark.

4. California passes Fair Pay to Play Act

This is a big step in amateur sports in the US as California essentially made it legal for college athletes to be paid. As it stands now a player cannot be paid for anything and if they are they lose their amateur status and can be punished by being ruled ineligible for games.

But California's Fair Pay to Play Act made it legal in the state for players to profit off of use of their name, likeness and image. This is step one in college athletes being able to be paid, but it is something that remains illegal in the NCAA, which is the major governing body of college sports.

There is still a long way to go, but this could have a ripple effect that could either force the NCAA to change or result in the expulsion of players in California who do get paid for their likeness. A standoff has begun.

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