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MLB’s first-ever wild-card series weekend is here.

As the playoff field expands to 12 teams for the 2022 postseason, four best-of-three series starting today will determine which teams will advance to the American League Division Series (against either the Houston Astros or the New York Yankees) and National League Division Series (against either the Atlanta Braves or Los Angeles Dodgers).

Friday’s festivities begin with the Tampa Bay Rays at the Cleveland Guardians, followed by the Philadelphia Phillies at the St. Louis Cardinals. Then it’s the Seattle Mariners at the Toronto Blue Jays, and finally, the San Diego Padres at the New York Mets.

Follow the action below all day long with start times, pitching matchups and starting lineups as they’re announced, followed by in-game updates and takeaways after each game is concluded.

More: Everything you need to know about the 2022 MLB playoffs | Could this be the greatest postseason … ever? | Bracket, results and more


Tampa Bay Rays at Cleveland Guardians (12:07 p.m. ET on ESPN)

Series tied 0-0

Rays starter: Shane McClanahan (12-8, 194 K, 2.54 ERA)

Guardians starter: Shane Bieber (13-8, 198 K, 2.88 ERA)

Starting lineups:

RAYS

TBD

GUARDIANS

TBD

What to watch for: Expect a low-scoring series, if only because pitching and defense is what got these teams to this point. Game 1 features a marquee starting-pitching matchup in Cy Young candidate McClanahan against perennial awards contender Bieber. But because runs should be hard to come by into the late innings, expect this to turn into a battle of the bullpens.

If and when that happens, those who overlooked Cleveland during the regular season will get a glimpse of what makes this Guardians squad dangerous. The group includes lights-out closer Emmanuel Clase, Trevor Stephan, Sam Hentges and Eli Morgan. The wild card is hard-throwing righty James Karinchak, whom Terry Francona has leaned on but has vacillated between dominance and inconsistency. — Bradford Doolittle

Our experts’ pick to win the series: Guardians 19 votes, Rays 12


Philadelphia Phillies at St. Louis Cardinals (2:07 p.m. ET on ABC)

Series tied 0-0

Phillies starter: Zack Wheeler (12-7, 163 K, 2.82 ERA)

Cardinals starter: Jose Quintana (6-7, 137 K, 2.93 ERA)

Starting lineups:

PHILLIES

TBD

CARDINALS

TBD

What to watch for: The Cardinals were the last team to declare a Game 1 starter for the wild-card round, and for good reason. While St. Louis forged a deep and dependable rotation over the course of the season, there is no clear-cut ace on the staff, nor any real degree of separation between pitchers one through five.

This is where the Phillies can steal the series: A couple of dominant outings from starters Wheeler and Aaron Nola in St. Louis. Both will have the edge on Quintana and Game 2 starter Miles Mikolas. St. Louis has the better team, with a deeper and more balanced offense, a slight edge in the bullpen and a tremendous edge in team defense. But the starters could be the great equalizer for the Phillies. — Doolittle

Our experts’ pick to win the series: Cardinals 19 votes, Phillies 12


Seattle Mariners at Toronto Blue Jays (4:07 p.m. ET on ESPN)

Series tied 0-0

Mariners starter: Luis Castillo (8-6, 167 K, 2.99 ERA)

Blue Jays starter: Alek Manoah (16-7, 180 K, 2.24 ERA)

Starting lineups:

MARINERS

TBD

BLUE JAYS

TBD

What to watch for: This will be an intense series between two hungry franchises. The Blue Jays haven’t won a title in nearly 30 years, and the Mariners have never won one. Seattle just snapped baseball’s longest postseason drought and would desperately love to knock off the Jays and bring playoff baseball back to Seattle for the first time since 2001 by reaching the ALDS.

The Game 1 starting matchup is terrific, with Seattle sending midseason trade acquisition Castillo to the mound against a turn-back-the-clock ace in Toronto’s Manoah, who loves to carry a heavy workload. Yes, it’s the playoffs and the bullpens will factor in. But this has the makings of an old-school October pitching duel. — Doolittle

Our experts’ pick to win the series: Blue Jays 18 votes, Mariners 13


San Diego Padres at New York Mets (8:07 p.m. ET on ESPN)

Series tied 0-0

Padres starter: Yu Darvish (16-8, 197 K, 3.10 ERA)

Mets starter: Max Scherzer (11-5, 173 K, 2.29 ERA)

Starting lineups:

PADRES

TBD

METS

TBD

What to watch for: The Padres have no choice but to travel across the country and beat a Hall of Fame-level starter at Citi Field, or else they’ll be flying back to the West Coast on Sunday for the start of the offseason. Their first crack at that is in Game 1 with Max Scherzer taking the hill for the Mets, a 101-win team that has to deal with the shock of winning that many games only to end up in the wild-card round on the same half of the NL bracket as the Dodgers.

This is not a hopeless cause for San Diego, whose rotation has been red-hot in recent weeks. Game 1 starter Yu Darvish has been on top of his game and has loads of postseason experience, though not all of it good. If he can match zeros with Scherzer for six or seven innings, then perhaps it comes down to one key blow. And the Padres can match the Mets in lineup star power, with Manny Machado and Juan Soto going toe-to-toe with Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso. — Doolittle

Our experts’ pick to win the series: Mets 27 votes, Padres 4

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Buckeyes seize No. 1; LSU, Canes rise as Tide fall

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Buckeyes seize No. 1; LSU, Canes rise as Tide fall

Ohio State climbed to No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 college football poll on Tuesday, LSU and Miami moved into the top five, and Florida State jumped back into the rankings at the expense of Alabama, which plummeted to its lowest spot in 17 seasons.

The defending national champion Buckeyes received 55 of 66 first-place votes to move up two spots after their win over preseason No. 1 Texas. Ohio State is at the top of a regular-season poll for the first time since November 2015.

The Longhorns dropped to No. 7 as the media voters shuffled the rankings following a topsy-turvy Labor Day weekend. It was only the second time — and first since 1972 — that two top-five teams lost in Week 1 and the first time that four top-10 teams lost.

Only three teams in the Top 25 are in the same spot they were in the preseason poll.

Penn State got seven first-place votes and remained No. 2. LSU, which received three first first-place votes, was followed by Georgia and Miami to round out the top five.

Oregon got the other first-place vote and was followed by Texas, the Clemson Tigers, Notre Dame and South Carolina.

LSU jumped six spots after winning at Clemson and Miami got a five-rung promotion for its victory over Notre Dame.

The biggest movers in the poll were Florida State and Alabama after the Seminoles’ 31-17 victory in their head-to-head matchup.

The Seminoles, who were 15 spots outside the Top 25 in the preseason, are now No. 14. The Crimson Tide fell all the way from No. 8 to No. 21 — their lowest ranking since Bama was No. 24 in the 2008 preseason poll. That was the second of Nick Saban’s 17 teams in Tuscaloosa.

It’s been quite a turnabout for Florida State. The Seminoles were No. 10 in the 2024 preseason, lost their first two games, finished 2-10 and weren’t ranked again until now.

Utah, at No. 25, joins Florida State as the only newcomers to this week’s poll. The Utes are ranked for the first time since last October, when they were at the front end of a seven-game losing streak.

Utah had received the second-most points, behind BYU, among teams outside the preseason Top 25, but the Utes got more credit for beating UCLA on the road than the Cougars received for hammering FCS foe Portland State.

Boise State, which had been No. 25, received no votes following its 34-7 loss at South Florida. The Broncos had appeared in 14 straight polls.

The other team to drop out of the poll was No. 17 Kansas State, which followed up its season-opening loss to Iowa State with a last-minute home win over FCS team North Dakota.

Ohio State is the first team to take over the top spot in the first regular-season poll since Alabama in 2012. It was the biggest jump to No. 1 in the first regular-season poll since USC was promoted from No. 3 in 2008.

Texas’ fall was the biggest for a preseason No. 1 since Auburn dropped to No. 8 in the first regular-season poll of 1984.

LSU has its highest ranking after Week 1 since it was No. 3 in 2012, and Miami has its highest ranking after Week 1 since it was No. 5 in 2004.

South Carolina is in the top 10 in the regular season for the first time since it was No. 8 in December 2013.

CONFERENCE CALL

SEC: 10 (Nos. 3, 4, 7, 10, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)

Big Ten: 6 (Nos. 1, 2, 6, 11, 15, 23)

ACC: 4 (Nos. 5, 8, 14, 17)

Big 12: 4 (Nos. 12, 16, 24, 25)

Independent: 1 (No. 9)

RANKED VS. RANKED

No. 15 Michigan at No. 18 Oklahoma: This weekend’s game will be the first meeting since Oklahoma beat the Wolverines in the Orange Bowl to win the 1975 national championship. Wolverines freshman QB Bryce Underwood gets put to the test in his second start.

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Hold that, Tiger: Kelly asks if Dabo saw 2nd half

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Hold that, Tiger: Kelly asks if Dabo saw 2nd half

While Dabo Swinney isn’t inflating LSU‘s grade for beating his team in Saturday’s season opener, Brian Kelly is ready to give the Clemson coach an incomplete for his evaluation.

Both coaches weighed in Tuesday on how LSU’s 17-10 win at Clemson should be viewed. After trailing 10-3 at halftime, LSU outscored Clemson 14-0 in the second half and finished with significant edges in both total yards (354-261) and first downs (25-13).

LSU rose six spots to No. 3 in the AP Top 25 poll Tuesday, while Clemson dropped four spots to No. 8.

“It was a helluva game, down to the last play,” Swinney said in his weekly news conference. “Right out of the gate. It’s like getting the final exam [on] Day 1 of class. They made a 65; we made a 58. Neither one of us were great.”

Kelly had not won a season opener at LSU before Saturday, and the victory was his first with the Tigers against an AP top-5 opponent.

“I thought we dominated them in the second half, so he’s really a really good grader for giving himself a 58, or he’s a really hard grader on us,” Kelly said in his news conference when told about Swinney’s comment.

“Or he didn’t see the second half, which, that might be the case. He might not have wanted to see the second half.”

Kelly added that LSU is moving on to this week’s game against Louisiana Tech.

“Clemson is a darn good football team,” Kelly said. “That’s a top-notch team, and they’re going to be a team in the hunt for [the] playoff picture. We hope we are, too. But it was only one game. So I don’t know if he’s a hard grader or an easy grader, but I like the way that we played in the second half.”

Clemson visits LSU to open the 2026 season.

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Venables: Michigan’s Underwood ‘a little different’

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Venables: Michigan's Underwood 'a little different'

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said Bryce Underwood “looks to be wise beyond his years” and compared Michigan‘s freshman quarterback to former Clemson national championship QB Trevor Lawrence on Tuesday ahead of the No. 18 Sooners’ Week 2 visit from the No. 15 Wolverines.

Underwood, ESPN’s No. 1 overall recruit in the 2025 class, will make his second career start at Oklahoma on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC).

The coveted freshman earned Michigan’s starting job at the end of fall camp, beating out a collection of experienced passers on the depth chart including offseason portal additions Mikey Keene (Fresno State) and Jake Garcia (East Carolina). Underwood delivered a smooth college debut against New Mexico in Week 1, completing 21 of 31 passes for 251 yards and a touchdown in Michigan’s 34-17 win.

At Oklahoma, Underwood is set to face a much stiffer challenge against Venables, who resumed control of the Sooners’ defensive playcalling ahead of the 2024 season, and an experienced defense that held Illinois State to 151 yards of total offense in Week 1.

The former Clemson defensive coordinator compared Underwood to Lawrence, the five-star quarterback prospect who started as a freshman in 2018 and led the Tigers to a national championship win over Alabama.

“He’s a little different,” Venables said of Underwood. “It reminds me a lot of a Trevor Lawrence. Quick. Decisive. Accurate. Poised. Tough. Consistent. There’s a reason he was the No. 1 player in America. And he’s got a maturity and a work ethic and leadership agility to go along with that.”

As Oklahoma seeks to rebound from a 6-7 finish last fall, a new-look Sooners offense will get a test of its own Saturday.

Behind transfer QB John Mateer and first-year offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, Oklahoma gained 495 yards of offense in its 35-3, season-opening win over Illinois State. Mateer, who arrived in the offseason from Washington State alongside Arbuckle, passed Baker Mayfield for the most passing yards by an Oklahoma QB in a debut with 392 yards.

On Tuesday, Venables highlighted the Wolverines’ experience on defense, particularly in the front seven, as a defining challenge for the Sooners in an intriguing Week 2 matchup between two of college football’s most storied brands.

“[It’s] a defense that for the last several years has been one of the gold standards of college football when it comes to playing good defense,” Venables said. “It’s going to be a great physical matchup, and for us, a great litmus test to where we’re at.”

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