2022 Major League Baseball postseason

2022 Major League Baseball postseason

Tournament details
Dates	October 7 – November 5, 2022
Teams	12
Final positions
Champions	Houston Astros (2nd title)
Runner-up	Philadelphia Phillies (8th World Series appearance)
Tournament statistics
MVP	Jeremy Peña (HOU)
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The 2022 Major League Baseball postseason was the playoff tournament of Major League Baseball (MLB) for the 2022 season. This was the first edition of the postseason since 2012 to have a new format, as it has been expanded to include six teams per league. The top two division winners of the American and National leagues receive first-round byes into the Division Series, and the worst-division winner is the third seed in their respective league. The three Wild Card teams are the fourth, fifth, and sixth seeds. The third seed hosts the sixth seed, and the fourth seed does the same with the fifth seed in the best-of-three Wild Card series.^[1] The postseason started on Friday, October 7, two days after the end of the regular season.^[2]

The Wild Card series winners advanced to face the two best division winners from each league in the best-of-five Division Series with no reseeding (i.e. the 1 seed will face the 4/5 winner and the 2 seed will face the 3/6 winner). The winners of the Division Series (LDS) will then move on to the best-of-seven League Championship Series (LCS) to determine the pennant winners that will face each other in the World Series.^[1]

In the American League, the Houston Astros were the first team to clinch a postseason spot, their seventh appearance in the last eight seasons. The New York Yankees also clinched their seventh postseason berth in the past eight years, while the now-Cleveland Guardians clinched their fifth postseason berth in the past seven seasons. The Toronto Blue Jays also returned, as they clinched their second postseason appearance in the past three years. The Tampa Bay Rays returned for the fourth year in a row, and the Seattle Mariners ended two decades of futility by clinching their first postseason berth since 2001, ending what was the longest active postseason drought in the American League and all of the four major North American sports leagues.^[3]

In the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers became the first team to clinch a postseason spot in MLB overall, marking their tenth straight appearance; this became the longest active postseason appearance streak in the four major North American professional sports leagues after the Pittsburgh Penguins failed to qualify for the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.^[4][5] The Dodgers became the first team to make ten consecutive postseason appearances since the Yankees did so from 1998 to 2007. On September 19, the New York Mets clinched their third postseason berth in the past eight years and first overall since 2016, marking the first time since 2015 that both New York City teams appeared in the postseason.^[6] The defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves clinched their fifth straight postseason berth on September 20. The St. Louis Cardinals clinched the NL Central title on September 27, which was their first division title since 2019 and their fourth consecutive postseason appearance. The San Diego Padres clinched their second postseason berth in the past three years on October 2. On October 3, the Philadelphia Phillies clinched their first postseason berth since 2011, ending what was also the longest active postseason drought in the National League.^[7]

The Wild Card Series saw three of the lower seeds advanced to the next round, while the Division Series saw the top two seeds in the National League win only one game each.

The postseason ended on November 5, with the Astros defeating the Phillies in six games in the World Series. It was the Astros' second championship in franchise history, and the latest date for a World Series game on record.^[8]