MLB Playoff Bracket 2022: Expert Hot Takes on Wild-Card Race

The six teams that will fill the wild-card spots in the Major League Baseball postseason have been determined.

The Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays are locked into the American League field. The New York Mets, San Diego Padres and Philadelphia Phillies are the likely National League wild-card teams. New York needs a miracle to snatch the NL East from the Atlanta Braves.

The final two days of the MLB regular season will be about finalizing seeding and determining which players will land on the playoff rosters for the three-game wild-card series scheduled to begin Friday.

Most of the wild-card teams were expected to play in the opening round of the postseason, but the Mets did not. New York blew a 10.5-game lead in the NL East and dropped into second place after it was swept by Atlanta over the weekend.

The Mets could be understandably low at the moment, but they need to rally in their final three games against the Washington Nationals, two of which come in a Tuesday doubleheader, to get focused for the postseason.

SNY's Danny Abriano outlined that the Mets' postseason performance will be what fans remember of this team, and that could mean forgetting about the collapse in the division title race.

"Now, the only thing that matters is what the Mets do in the playoffs. And if they go far, no one will care what happened over the last month—and especially during the lost weekend in Atlanta, which has been a house of horrors for New York since the 1990s," Abriano wrote.

New York still has two of the best starting pitchers in baseball in Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer, who could win the three-game series at home by themselves in two games.

The Mets will likely face the Padres, who made the biggest splash at the trade deadline to succeed in the postseason.

The Athletic's James Fegan and Nick Groke wrote about Juan Soto's potential impact on a postseason run in their latest power rankings piece: "Juan Soto hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire since arriving in San Diego, but he wasn’t meant to win them the 2022 NL West division title. He was meant to push them into the World Series. And Soto has been one of the best postseason performers in the past decade."

Philadelphia clinched the last wild-card spot in the NL on Monday. The Phillies will likely face the St. Louis Cardinals in the No. 3-versus-No. 6 series. MLB.com's John Denton broke down why the Phillies pitching could be an issue for St. Louis.

"Philadelphia also has a solid one-two punch it can throw at the Cardinals in Zack Wheeler (12-7) and Aaron Nola (10-13). In two starts against the Cardinals, Wheeler was 2-0 with no earned runs allowed in 14 innings."

In the American League, the Tampa Bay Rays will likely face the Cleveland Guardians. Tampa needs to make some tough roster choices in the coming days, including one on infielder Vidal Brujan.

Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Yahoo) broke down why it may be tough to include Brujan on the postseason squad.

"This is Brujan’s fourth stint with the Rays this season, having hit .165 with two homers, 15 RBIs and a .479 OPS in his first 49 games," Topkin wrote. "But at Durham, he has hit .292 with six homers, 21 RBI and an .809 OPS in 63 games. He said he learned some things that should help him in the big leagues after the unexpected call-up following his 4-for-5 performance in Saturday’s International League championship game."

Seattle and Toronto are headed for a showdown in Canada. Seattle needs one more win to lock up that matchup. WynnBet and Seattle Sports' Joe Fann said he feels more confident with Robbie Ray not making a start in the three-game series.

Ray allowed four or more earned runs in three of his last five starts and he walked eight batters in his last three appearances. Seattle could go with Luis Castillo, Logan Gilbert and George Kirby, but Ray will likely be included as the No. 2 starter and one that has some postseason experience from his time in Toronto.