The MLB 2022 season playoffs are here after an exciting season that finally reached a decisive stage, which had details after seeing Wild Card qualifiers increase from two to three, being the first time in history that a total of six teams, for each league, would be present at the party. big.
In previous years, the three champions from each division played against the second best on three fronts: East, Central and West. In 2012, this number increased to two, with several teams in the Wild Cards facing off against each other, in a single game, to determine qualification for the Division Series vs. the team with the best division record. Then, the two winners will go to the Championship Series and then, the World Series.
The regular season officially ends on Wednesday, October 5, and the playoffs begin with a wild-card series on Friday, October 7.
Wild Card Round: draws, matches and results
All time is from the Eastern United States (ET) (1 hour less on CDMX, 1 hour more in Argentina, 6 hours more in Spain).
2022 Playoff Format: How many wild cards qualify in MLB?
The new structure of the Playoffs in each league is detailed as follows:
Featured No. 1: Best record in the league.
No. 2 seeded: Second best winner in the division.
Featured No. 3: Third best winner in this division.
Seed No.4: Best record among teams that have not won their division.
Featured No. 5: Second best record between teams not winning their division.
Featured No. 6: Third best record among teams that did not win their division.
Featured No. 1 and No. 2 advance directly to the Division stage in this format, while No. 3 hosts the No. 6th in the Best-of-three Wild Card series. The same will happen between seed No. 4 and No. 5.
After this, winner No. 4 vs. No. 5 will face seed No. 1 and No. 3 vs. No. 6 to No. 2 seeds.
Ranking in America’s League
East: New York Yankees
At the start of the year and having such a good start, everyone assumed they would soon become the New York Yankees; however, after the All-Star Game in July, their dominance began to wane, with the Tampa Bay Ray and Toronto Blue Jays gaining strength.
Even so, the Bronx Mulos secured their place in the next round by beating the Boston Red Sox 5-4 last Thursday, leaving them on the court to complete their 16th walk-off of the year, being the season with the most numbers in this round. the field since 1943. Now it remains to be seen if they manage to conquer the pennant and who will accompany them from the Wild Card.
Center: Cleveland Guardians
The Ohioans conquered the Division title by adding to their tenth win in their last 11 presentations last Sunday, September 25, including sweeping the Chicago White Sox (second in the table), plus another against the Texas Rangers in the last three days.
This classification, coupled with the poor prize from the Patiblancos, allowed them to celebrate for the first time since 2018, two years after giving up the World Series against the Chicago Cubs.
Additionally, according to Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first team in the entire league to win the Pennant with at least 16 players debuting the same year, MLB reports. “This team is really special,” said Steven Kwan, a 25-year-old left winger who finished Sunday with 5 RBI and including one Grand Slam. Time will tell the reason.
West: Houston Astros
A solid team in throwing and attacking. He hasn’t slowed down in recent years and this Monday he won his fifth division championship in six years. Since 2017 they have dominated the West and progress straight to the Division Series, where they will start at home. Now his new goal is to get the best record in the entire American League to be seeded first.
The others in the race, already on the Wild Card, are the Seattle Mariners, who haven’t played a Division Series since the 2001 season.
Wild Cards: Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays, and Seattle Mariners
Without being on the court, the ninth Canadian qualified this Thursday as the first wild card in the American League after the Baltimore Orioles lost 5-2 at the Boston Red Sox. Toronto’s lead in the wildcard race is +2.0 games from the last seed in this bracket (Tampa Bay Rays).
Oropendola, meanwhile, are five and a half behind Florida with five games to go. Therefore, they no longer have aspirations of qualifying, so Seattle and Tampa Bay advance to the postseason. This will be the first time since 2001 the Mariners have attended a major party, while for the Rays it will be the fourth in a row, a franchise record.
Ranking in National League
East: Atlanta Braves
This Tuesday, October 4, the champions beat the Division after beating the Miami Marlins 2-1. They had led the Mets by two full games over the weekend and ended up winning the pennant. The World Series title defenders thus added to their fifth straight division win and increased their title tally to 17, with a wide difference over the second, the Phillies (11).
This is the third time in history that a team has won at least five wins in a row. The other two were the Braves themselves, who did it eleven times from 1995 to 2005! and the Phillies, who owned five from 2007 to 2011.
Atlanta will now seek two near-impossible feats. One, very difficult, unprecedented: to be the first Eastern National team to win the World Series after winning the Division in consecutive years. In fact, the only times this area won back-to-back major league titles was in 1979 and 1980, when the Pirates and Phillies, respectively, won MLB.
Middle: St. Louis Cardinals
The Missouri Red Birds sealed their ticket to the next round. They are seven games ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers, dominant in the division in recent years, and precisely against whom they won 6-2 on 27 September to win the Pennant.
The return of Albert Pujols and his final dance with Yadier Molina; Paul Goldschmidt’s incredible campaign, Nolan Arenado’s glove… all conspired that they now face a Playoff challenge where they will attempt to fight and return to the World Series they haven’t been to since 2013.
Brewers, meanwhile, are battling for a Wild Card spot to play their fifth consecutive postseason. Problem? Two to be exact: the San Diego Padres and the Philadelphia Phillies.
West: Los Angeles Dodgers
Californians are the best at baseball, period. The only team to have more than 100 wins, first place and Division champions this season, strong contenders in the last 8 years and World Series champions 2020. This year they will do everything and despite fighting, they can (half) give the San Diego Padres landed comfortably in the Division Series.
Wild Cards: New York Mets, San Diego Padres, Philadelphia Phillies
After the sweep, the Mets were left leading the wild-card bracket. Their place in the playoffs is more than guaranteed, and they even have a, albeit small, chance of regaining the top and qualifying as the first seed in the East at the Nationals, though eventually that privileged spot was ceded to the Atlanta Braves.
In addition to the ninth New Yorker, this Sunday, October 2, the San Diego Padres sealed their ticket despite losing 2-1 to the Chicago White Sox at Petco Park. A 4-3 defeat to the Milwaukee Brewers against the Miami Marlins gave them the boost they needed to play their seventh postseason.
And the last to join the big party are the Philadelphia Phillies, who have their magic figure at +1 and beat the Houston Astros 3-0 on the road this Monday, October 3. After 11 years of waiting, they will finally face at least one postseason series. Aaron Nola is a great protagonist, allowing just two strokes in 6.2 innings of work, attacking nine opponents. Kyle Schwarber, meanwhile, added to the offense with two RBIs.
