MLB playoff picture: How 2022 postseason would look if season ended 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 Oct. 2)
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American League
Wild-card series, Oct. 7-9
No. 6 Tampa Bay Rays at No. 3 Cleveland Guardians
No. 5 Seattle Mariners at No. 4 Toronto Blue Jays
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 Philadelphia Phillies at No. 3 St. Louis Cardinals
No. 5 San Diego Padres at No. 4 New York Mets
All games on ESPN
Division Series, Oct. 11-16
Phillies-Cardinals winner vs. No. 2 Atlanta Braves
Padres-Mets 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
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MLB playoff standings 2022: Postseason picture if season ended today