MLB Wild Card Series Begin

The 2022 MLB regular season has officially ended and 12 teams are ready to compete for a title. On Friday, the wild card series begin to start off the MLB playoffs. All four of the first round series begin to play today. With them only being the best of three games, Friday will showcase some important opening games. View the closing 2022 regular season standings here.

The official 2022 MLB playoff bracket is here:

Via @TalkinBaseball_ pic.twitter.com/l6otbZz3Qa

— Brian (@byysports) October 5, 2022

 AL wild card

The first game of the day sees the Cleveland Guardians take on the Tampa Bay Rays. Cleveland won the AL Central this season fairly comfortably. The Rays hold the final wild card spot in the AL. The Guardians took game one of this series by a score of two to one. They will look to put away the Rays in game two. Whoever wins the series will take on Aaron Judge and the Yankees in the divisional round.

Back to the AL, this matchup features the top two wild card spots. Seattle takes a trip to Canada for this series, and this exciting young squad will look to take down Blue Jay’s slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on his home turf.  Mariners rookie Julio Rodriguez has had an exciting season so far, being named an all-star in his rookie year. He looks to keep his story going with a run in the playoffs. The winner of this series will take on the number one seed Houston Astros in the divisional round.

NL wild card

The second game of the day features St. Louis Cardinals and the Philadelphia Phillies. St. Louis took care of business in the NL central this season while Philadelphia just barely squeaked into the playoffs. The Phillies have some potential to do some damage this post season. However, In his last season Albert Pujols will look to work some magic with his team to win the world series. The winner of this series will go on to play the defending champions, the Atlanta Braves, in the divisional round.

The final wild card series of the day features the Padres visiting the Mets. This series features the top two wild card teams in the NL, however, it doesn’t seem that way. The Mets have had an outstanding season so far, ending with a 101-61 record. They held the same record has their division rival Braves this season, however, Atlanta held the tiebreaker and was given the division. Manny Machado will look to lead the Padres and upset the Mets in this series. Whichever team wins this series will take on the juggernaut Dodgers in round two.

The Show Finale

October has finally arrived in baseball, and if the playoff picture is any indication, this postseason is gonna be a good one. Atlanta shockingly took last year’s world series without Ronald Acuña Jr., so it should be noted that no team should be counted out.