Wynton Bernard calls mom with good news: He’s headed to the MLB
Wynton Bernard cries as he calls his mom to share good news. After 10 years in the minor leagues, he finally gets to play in the MLB.
Sportskind, USA TODAY
With the calendar tilting toward October and the number of Major League Baseball games remaining diminishes, the 2022 playoff picture becomes a little clearer.
Yet with three wild card slots in both the American and National leagues, the seeding and matchups figure to go all the way down to Game No. 162.
For the first time, best-of-three wild card series will be contested, with all three games played at the home of the higher seed. Both leagues’ division winners with the two best records receive byes and will play the wild-card survivors in the best-of-five division series. The third-best division winner will receive home-field advantage in the wild-card round, regardless of record.
Also, there will be no one-game playoffs; all tiebreakers will be determined by head-to-head records, with extensive tiebreaking protocols in place until the deadlock is broken.
So, how would the playoff field look if the postseason began today? A look at the field as it currently stands:
(through games of Sept. 16)
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American League
Wild-card series, Oct. 7-9
No. 6 Tampa Bay Rays at No. 3 Cleveland Guardians
No. 5 Toronto Blue Jays at No. 4 Seattle Mariners
All games on ESPN
Division Series, Oct. 11-17
Rays-Guardians winner vs. No. 2 New York Yankees
Blue Jays-Mariners winner vs. No. 1 Houston Astros
All games on ESPN
ALCS
Oct. 19-26
All games on TBS
National League
Wild-card series, Oct. 7-9
No. 6 San Diego Padres at No. 3 St. Louis Cardinals
No. 5 Philadelphia Phillies at No. 4 Atlanta Braves
All games on ESPN
Division Series, Oct. 11-16
Padres-Cardinals winner vs. No. 2 New York Mets
Phillies-Braves winner vs. No. 1 Los Angeles Dodgers
All games on Fox or FS1
NLCS
Oct. 18-25
All games on Fox or FS1
World Series
Oct. 28-Nov. 5
All games on Fox
