Potential MLB Postseason Teams
The MLB regular season will begin two days from now. Just like every season, there are those who will make predictions about whom will make it to the 2022 MLB Playoffs. The playoff field used to have five teams in the National League and the American League.
This season and beyond, it will feature six teams from the National League and six teams from the American League. We will see what the MLB picks today are for the potential 2022 postseason field. What will be the postseason field this year?
American League Wild Card
The wild card game will not be a best of one anymore between the 5 seed and the 4 seed. It will now feature the 6 vs 3 and the 5 vs 4 in a best of three series. This is the best thing baseball could do because you won’t be eliminated if your team has a bad day on the first try.
In the first wild card game last season, the (4) Boston Red Sox defeated the (5)New York Yankees. For this season, the two AL Wild Card matchups are going to be: (6) Houston Astros vs (3) Seattle Mariners and (5) Boston Red Sox vs (4) Tampa Bay Rays.
These two matchups would feature two divisional matchups in the AL West and the AL East. Houston will make it as a wild card because they lost shortstop Carlos Correa in the offseason to the Minnesota Twins, but still have other talent on their roster. This feels like the year that the Seattle Mariners will finally win their division after winning 90 games last season and missing the playoffs entirely.
Seattle hasn’t made it to the MLB postseason since 2001 and they are ready to make some noise. The Mariners feel like they have arrived.
As for the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays, the American League East is going to feel loaded and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see either three or four teams from this division make it to the MLB Postseason. Sorry New York Yankees, you’re not going to make it to the playoff field this season.
Boston and Tampa Bay would be a very wild short series because they just played each other last season in the ALDS and the Red Sox won that series over the Rays in four games.
National League Wild Card
In the National League Wild Card Game last season, the (5) St. Louis Cardinals faced the (4) Los Angeles Dodgers. Los Angeles won that game over St. Louis. The National League does not feel as strong as the American League.
The Dodgers being in the wild card round again this season would be a total surprise in all honesty because they are loaded again.
The matchups that could very well happen in the National League are the (6) New York Mets vs (3) Milwaukee Brewers and the (5) San Diego Padres vs (4) Atlanta Braves.
New York and Milwaukee would be a pitcher’s duel and not a whole lot of runs would be scored. This could be the year the Mets finally get back to the postseason unless injuries derail them again. The Brewers always fade away in the MLB postseason.
San Diego feels like they are a playoff team this year with manager Bob Melvin at the helm. Atlanta is talented enough to make another World Series Title run, but they’ll get off to a slow start that will allow them not to win the National League East though.
NLDS
The top two seeds in the NLDS will be the (2) Philadelphia Phillies and the (1) Los Angeles Dodgers. The first match-up will be (4) Atlanta Braves vs (2) Philadelphia Phillies and the second match-up will be the (6) New York Mets vs (1) Los Angeles Dodgers. This series would be a best of five.
ALDS
The top two seeds in the ALDS will be the (2) Toronto Blue Jays and the (1) Chicago White Sox. The first match-up will feature the (3) Seattle Mariners vs the (2) Toronto Blue Jays. The second match-up will feature the (4) Tampa Bay Rays vs the (1) Chicago White Sox.
NLCS
The National League East winner in the (2) Philadelphia Phillies would face the (1) Los Angeles Dodgers, who would happen to be the National League West winner. This would be a great series between two high-powered offenses and they met in the 2009 NLCS.
ALCS
The American League East winner in the (2) Toronto Blue Jays would face the (1) Chicago White Sox, who would happen to be the American League Central winner. This would be a great series, but Chicago’s pitching would mow down Toronto’s bats.
2022 World Series
The 2022 World Series will be the American League (1) Chicago White Sox vs the National League (1) Los Angeles Dodgers. Los Angeles would beat Chicago in six games to claim its second World Series title in three seasons also.
