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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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Sale, Crochet named comeback players of year

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Sale, Crochet named comeback players of year

LAS VEGAS — Left-handers Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves and Garrett Crochet of the Chicago White Sox won Major League Baseball’s Comeback Player of the Year awards on Thursday.

Cleveland right-hander Emmanuel Clase won his second AL Reliever of the Year award and St. Louis righty Ryan Helsley won the NL honor.

Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani joined David Ortiz as the only players to win four straight Outstanding Designated Hitter awards. Ohtani and the New York YankeesAaron Judge won Hank Aaron Awards as the outstanding offensive performers in their leagues.

Major League Baseball made the announcements at its All-MLB Awards Show.

Sale, 35, was 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts in 177⅔ innings for the NL’s first pitching triple crown since the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw in 2011. He earned his eighth All-Star selection and first since 2018.

Sale helped Boston to the 2018 World Series title but made just 56 starts from 2020-23, going 17-18 with a 4.86 ERA, 400 strikeouts and 79 walks over 298⅓ innings. He was acquired by Boston from the White Sox in December 2016 and made nine trips to the injured list with the Red Sox, mostly with shoulder and elbow ailments. He had Tommy John surgery on March 30, 2020, and returned to a big league mound on Aug. 14, 2021.

Sale fractured a rib while pitching in batting practice in February 2022 during the management lockout. On July 17, in his second start back, he broke his left pinkie finger when he was hit by a line drive off the bat of the Yankees’ Aaron Hicks. Sale broke his right wrist while riding a bicycle en route to lunch on Aug. 6, ending his season.

Crochet, 25, was 6-12 with a 3.58 ERA over 32 starts for a White Sox team that set a post-1900 record of 121 losses, becoming a first-time All-Star. He struck out 209 and walked 33 in 146 innings.

He had Tommy John surgery on April 5, 2022, and returned to the major leagues on May 18, 2023. Crochet had a 3.55 ERA in 13 relief appearances in 2023, and then joined the rotation this year.

Sale and Crochet were chosen in voting by MLB.com beat writers.

Clase and Helsley were unanimous picks by a panel that included Hall of Famers Trevor Hoffman, Mariano Rivera, Dennis Eckersley and Rollie Fingers, along with John Franco and Billy Wagner. The AL award is named after Rivera and the NL honor after Hoffman.

A three-time All-Star, Clase was 4-2 with a 0.61 ERA, 66 strikeouts and 10 walks in 74⅓ innings, holding batters to a .154 average. The 26-year-old converted 47 of 50 save chances, including his last 47.

Voting was based on the regular season. Clase was 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA in the playoffs, allowing three home runs, one more than his regular-season total.

Helsley, a two-time All-Star, was 7-4 with a 2.04 ERA and 49 saves in 53 chances. He struck out 79 and walked 23 in 66⅓ innings.

Ohtani became the first player with 50 or more homers and 50 or more stolen bases in a season. A two-way star limited to hitting following elbow surgery, Ohtani batted .310 and led the NL with 54 homers and 130 RBIs while stealing 59 bases.

Ortiz won the DH award five years in a row from 2003-07.

The DH award, named after Edgar Martinez, is picked in voting by team beat writers, broadcasters and public relations departments. MLB.com writers determined the finalists for the Aaron awards, and a fan vote was combined with picks from a panel of Hall of Famers and former winners to determine the selections.

Judge led the major leagues with 58 homers and 144 RBIs while hitting .322.

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QB Castellanos exits after losing BC starting job

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QB Castellanos exits after losing BC starting job

Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos, who lost his starting job earlier this week, will not be returning to the team, he announced Thursday night.

Castellanos, who started 12 games last season and retained the top job under new coach Bill O’Brien, wrote on X that “unfortunately, all good things come to an end, even though it’s sooner than I would like.” He did not mention the transfer portal in his departing message and has not officially entered it. The junior from Waycross, Georgia, started his career at UCF and appeared in five games in 2022.

O’Brien said Tuesday that Grayson James, who replaced Castellanos in last week’s win against Syracuse, will start Saturday when Boston College visits No. 14 SMU. Castellanos “wasn’t real thrilled” with the decision, O’Brien said, adding that the quarterback decided to step away from the team for several days.

Castellanos had 2,248 passing yards and 1,113 rushing yards last season under coach Jeff Hafley, passing for 15 touchdowns and adding 13 on the ground. He had 18 touchdown passes and only five interceptions this season, but his accuracy dipped in recent weeks, and he completed only 2 of 7 passes against Syracuse before being replaced.

In his statement, Castellanos thanked both coaching staffs he played for at Boston College and wrote that he had “some of the best experiences of my life in the Eagles Nest and I will truly cherish these memories forever.”

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Gators’ Lagway ‘ready to play,’ will start vs. LSU

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Gators' Lagway 'ready to play,' will start vs. LSU

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida quarterback DJ Lagway is “ready to play,” coach Billy Napier said Thursday on his weekly radio show.

Napier removed Lagway from the team’s injury report and penciled him in to start against No. 21 LSU in the Swamp on Saturday.

Lagway practiced every day this week while progressing from a strained left hamstring. The highly touted freshman was carted off the field against Georgia on Nov. 2. Tests revealed a “less significant” injury than initially feared, and now he’s back in time to face the Tigers.

The Gators (4-5, 2-4 Southeastern Conference) need him. They have to win two of their final three regular-season games to become bowl eligible.

LSU (6-3, 3-2) has struggled mightily against dual-threat QBs, including Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, who ran for 185 yards and four touchdowns last week.

Lagway returns after walk-on and Yale transfer Aidan Warner started in his place against Texas. Warner threw two interceptions and was 12-of-25 passing for 132 yards in a 49-17 loss.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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