The Athletic is bringing you the latest news and updates. Follow along with our live coverage.Required readingBaseball is back. Today we will discuss about MLB: Expanded playoffs| Transactions 2022| Mock draft 2022
MLB: Expanded playoffs| Transactions 2022| Mock draft 2022
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. [a] As of 2022, a total of 30 teams play in Major League Baseball—15 teams in the National League (NL) and 15 in the American League (AL)—with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. The NL and AL were formed in 1876 and 1901 respectively. Beginning in 1903, the two leagues signed a national agreement and cooperated but remained legally separate entities until 2000, when they merged into a single organization led by the Baseball Commissioner. MLB is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan.
| Sport | Baseball |
|---|---|
| Founded | National League (NL), April 22, 1876 American League (AL), April 22, 1901 National Agreement signed, 1903 Merged into one organization, 2000 |
| Commissioner | Rob Manfred |
| No. of teams | 30 |
| Countries | United States (29 teams) Canada (1 team) |
Expanded playoffs
As expected, the collective bargaining agreement expanded the postseason field from ten teams to twelve. The Score’s Travis Savick reports the format (via Twitter): the top two division winners in each league receive a first round bye, while the worst division winners and three wild card teams per league advance to three- The game set will play. Division Series. The winner in the worst category will face the final wild card qualifier, while the top two wild card clubs will face each other.
There is no “ghost victory” involved. The Players Association had previously introduced the possibility of division winners with a one-game advantage in any first-round set against a wild card club. MLB opposed that idea, and did not make it into a final agreement.
Transactions 2022
Hold on to your hats, athletics nation. Things are about to get weird.
Since the lockout was pulled for more than three months, with MLB transactions halted full time, the league must now meet the full offseason in a week before spring training games begin on Thursday (or Friday for A’s) . Now the frenzy has begun, not yet with a full blast, but there are still several important steps in the first day—plus.
As a refresher, a few things happened before the lockdown began in November. Rangers strengthened their middle zone by signing Marcus Semien and Corey Seeger; The Mariners signed Cy Young winner Robbie Ray and acquired All-Star infielder Adam Frazier; The Astros re-signed superstar pitcher Justin Verlander; The Angels re-signed closer to Raicel Iglesias and grabbed some expensive rotation lotto tickets; and the Mets in free agency from AK lost star outfielder Mark Canha and starling Marte, where they will be joined by superstar pitcher Max Scherzer. Also the Giants lost ace starter Kevin Gossman to the Blue Jays.
Now the lockdown is over, with a new labor deal signed and ratified on Thursday, and trading resumed. Here are the highlights as of mid-Saturday, along with a link to the writeup of the MLB Trade rumors
Mock draft 2022
With the college baseball season approaching on the horizon, we thought it was as good a time as any to drop our first full mocks for the 2022 draft.
As usual with the mock draft released early, it is important to emphasize that this is for entertainment purposes and a thought exercise to see how the class is shaping up today. We have a full six months before the Orioles make their first draft pick and the teams in the top 10 haven’t come close to impacting who they will pick yet – let alone 20 clubs behind them.
A lot will change between now and draft day. It happens every year and 2022 will be no different. Still, we at Baseball America love the draft and we know you do too. That’s why we’ve enlisted a scout to help create this mock draft and alternate selections with me, trying to make the best selection for each team by looking at the talent on board and whatever information we think is available. That we can have on team instincts.
