2022 American League Division Series
Teams
Team (Wins) Manager Season Houston Astros (3) Dusty Baker 106–56 (.654), GA: 16 Seattle Mariners (0) Scott Servais 90–72 (.556), GB: 16
Dates	October 11–15
Television	TBS
TV announcers	Brian Anderson,Jeff Francoeur, andMatt Winer
Radio	ESPN
Radio announcers	Dave O'Brien andMarly Rivera
Umpires	Cory Blaser,Pat Hoberg,James Hoye,Marvin Hudson (crew chief),Carlos Torres,Jansen Visconti
Teams
Team (Wins) Manager Season New York Yankees (3) Aaron Boone 99–63 (.611), GA: 7 Cleveland Guardians (2) Terry Francona 92–70 (.568), GA: 11
Dates	October 11–18
Television	TBS[A]
TV announcers	Bob Costas,Ron Darling,Lauren Shehadi (Games 1–4), andMatt Winer (Game 5)
Radio	ESPN
Radio announcers	Dan Shulman andEduardo Pérez
Umpires	Jordan Baker,Dan Iassogna (crew chief),Will Little,Alan Porter,Jeremie Rehak,Mark Ripperger
ALWC	Cleveland Guardians overTampa Bay Rays (2–0) Seattle Mariners overToronto Blue Jays (2–0)
← 2021 ALDS 2023 →

The2022 American League Division Series (ALDS) were the twobest-of-five playoff series inMajor League Baseball’s (MLB)2022 postseason to determine the participating teams of the2022 American League Championship Series. These matchups are:

• (1)Houston Astros (AL West champions) vs. (5)Seattle Mariners (Wild Card Series winner): Astros win series 3–0.
• (2)New York Yankees (AL East champions) vs. (3)Cleveland Guardians (AL Central champions, Wild Card Series winner): Yankees win series 3–2.

The team with the better regular-season record (higher seed) of each series hosted Games 1, 2, and (if necessary) 5, while the lower-seeded team hosted Game 3 and (if necessary) 4. Following the series, the Yankees and Astros met in the2022 American League Championship Series, with the Astros sweeping the series in four games. The Astros would go on to win the2022 World Series over the National League championPhiladelphia Phillies, four games to two.

The top two division winners (first two seeds) are determined by regular seasonwinning percentages. The final two teams are the winners of theAmerican League Wild Card Series, played between the league's third to sixth-seeded teams.

TheHouston Astros (106–56) clinched their sixth straight playoff berth and seventh in eight years on September 16.^[1] They then clinched both theAmerican League West and first-round bye from theAmerican League Wild Card Series on September 19^[2][3] and the 1 seed in the American League on September 30 after the Yankees lost to theBaltimore Orioles, thus earning them home-field advantage throughout the American League playoff.^[4][5][6] They played against theSeattle Mariners (90–72), who clinched their first division series berth and appearance since2001 by defeating theToronto Blue Jays in a two-game sweep in theWild Card Series. The Astros won 12 of the 19 games they played versus the Mariners in the regular season.^[7] The Astros swept the Mariners and advanced to the American League Championship Series for the sixth consecutive season.

TheNew York Yankees (99–63) clinched their sixth straight postseason appearance on September 22.^[8][9] They then clinched theAmerican League East and a first-round bye on September 27, marking their first AL East title since2019,^[10][11] locked into 2 seed 3 days later after they lost to theBaltimore Orioles,^[5] and played the third-seededCleveland Guardians (92–70), who clinched a division series berth by defeating theTampa Bay Rays in a two-game sweep in the Wild Card Series,^[B] their first division series appearance since2018, and first under theGuardians moniker. New York won 5 out of 6 games against Cleveland.^[12] The Yankees defeated the Guardians in 5 games and advanced to the American League Championship Series for the first time since2019.

Houston won the series, 3–0.

New York won the series, 3–2.

† Game 2 was originally scheduled for October 13 but was postponed due to rain.
‡ Game 5 was originally scheduled for October 17 but was postponed due to rain.

This was the first postseason meeting between Seattle and Houston. During the regular season, the Astros won the season series 12-7 and finished first in theAmerican League West, 16 games in front of the second-place Mariners.

In the first postseason matchup between the two teams,Justin Verlander made his first postseason start sinceGame 6 of the 2019 World Series whileLogan Gilbert was making his first career postseason start for Seattle. The Mariners jumped Verlander early with aCal Raleigh RBI single in the first and three more runs in the second from aJulio Rodríguez double andTy France single. The Astros put runs on the board in the third with a two-run double fromYordan Alvarez.J. P. Crawford hit a solo homer and France drove in Rodríguez to increase the Mariners' lead to four in the fourth. Verlander closed out the inning and ended his day, giving up 10 hits and six runs over four innings pitched.Yuli Gurriel led off the bottom of the inning with a solo shot to cut the deficit in half, butEugenio Suárez crushed a solo homer into the Crawford Boxes in the seventh to widen the lead.Alex Bregman hit a two-run shot in the bottom of the eighth to bring it within two and set up the dramatic events of the ninth inning.

Mariners relieverPaul Sewald hitDavid Hensley with a pitch and allowed aJeremy Pena single while only getting two outs beforeRobbie Ray, who had started the clinching Game 2 of the Wild Card Series against Toronto, was brought on in relief to face Yordan Alvarez. Alvarez slammed Ray's second pitch into deep right field, stunning the Mariners for a walk-off Game 1 victory. It was the first postseason walk-off win for the Astros since Game 5 of the2020 American League Championship Series; the first walk-off postseason home run by a trailing team since Game 6 of the1993 World Series, and fourth overall; the second walk-off postseason home run in history to be hit with a team down to their final out, with the other one being in the1988 World Series; and the first ever by a team trailing by multiple runs with two outs.^[21] Alvarez went 3-for-5 and drove in five runs and made important contributions on defense—MLB.com analyst Mike Petriello argued this was the greatest performance in playoff history by a position player.^[22]

As it happened two days earlier, Seattle tried to hold on to a lead late in the game beforeYordan Alvarez came up to the plate to crush those plans. In the sixth inning, with two outs,Jeremy Pena lined a hit to get on base for Alvarez to bat. A couple of pitches later, Alvarez lined a towering shot into left field off ofLuis Castillo to give the Astros a 3–2 lead. He became the second player to hit go-ahead home runs in the sixth inning or later of back-to-back postseason games, joiningTroy Glaus in the2002 American League Division Series, and the first to do it with his team trailing in both games.^[23]

Kyle Tucker had started the scoring with a home run for Houston in the bottom of the second, while the Mariners got their two runs in the fourth on afielder's choice error scoringEugenio Suárez and aDylan Moore single scoringMitch Haniger. In the eighth inning, Pena drew a walk to bring up Alvarez with two outs, which led to Seattleintentionally walking him.Alex Bregman was next, and he hit a line drive to right field that got Pena running all the way home. Seattle left thirteen runners on base, which included having the bases loaded in the sixth (withHéctor Neris inducing a ground out) and a double play lineout in the ninth. With the win, the Astros had won the first two games of an ALDS for the sixth straight year.

A new postseason record was set in this game, the first postseason game in Seattle in 21 years. The two teams did not score for 17 innings, becoming the longest scoreless postseason game in Major League history, surpassing the record of 14 scoreless innings in the2022 American League Wild Card Series Game 2 between theCleveland Guardians and theTampa Bay Rays a week earlier. The game also broke the record set that day for most combined strikeouts in a postseason game with 42.^[24]

Jeremy Peña hit a solo home run to give Houston the lead in the top of the 18th.Luis García hurled five scoreless innings of relief to earn the victory in a game that lasted six hours and 22 minutes. With 18 innings, this game is tied with the2005 NLDS Game 4,2014 NLDS Game 2, and2018 World Series Game 3 as the longest postseason games in Major League history in terms of innings, with this being the second to go the full eighteen (as the home team in two of the games won on a walk-off before making three outs); the Astros had previously participated in the 2005 contest, thereby making them the first team to participate in multiple eighteen-inning postseason games in MLB history. In addition, this was the first game to go 18 innings since a 19-inning September 24, 2019 game between theCardinals andDiamondbacks.^[25]

With the win, the Astros made it into theALCS for six consecutive years. This is a record forAmerican League teams and second most overall next to theAtlanta Braves, who made eight straight trips to the NLCS from 1991 to 1999 but only had to win a postseason series to reach the LCS for five of them while the Astros had to win a postseason series each of their six times to reach the ALCS.^[26]

2022ALDS (3–0):Houston Astros beatSeattle Mariners

This was the sixth postseason meeting between the Yankees and Guardians, with the Yankees holding a 3–2 advantage in their postseason meetings. The Guardians (then namedIndians) previously won the1997 American League Division Series 3–2 and the2007 American League Division Series 3–1, while the Yankees previously won the1998 American League Championship Series 4–2 and the2017 American League Division Series 3–2. The fifth and latest meeting came during the2020 American League Wild Card Series when New York swept Cleveland in two games. In the regular season, New York won the season series 5–1.

Gerrit Cole took the mound in his first postseason home game for the Yankees, who despite making the postseason in each of the last two seasons, had not played a home game in the playoffs since October 18, 2019.Steven Kwan homered off of Cole to right field to make it 1–0 Guardians in the third inning. The home run Cole gave up marked his seventh postseason appearance, giving up a home run, tied for the most home runs given up in consecutive postseason appearances.^[27] In the bottom of the third, the Yankees struck back asHarrison Bader hit a solo shot to left to tie the game. In the fifth,Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a triple to right field, and catcherJose Trevino had asacrifice fly scoring Kiner-Falefa to make it 2–1. Then in the bottom of the sixth inning,Aaron Judge walked and stole second base and went to third due to a throwing error byAustin Hedges attempting to pick Judge off. The next batterAnthony Rizzo hit a two-run home run scoring Judge from third to extend the Yankees' lead to 4–1. After giving up the home run to Kwan, Cole bounced back as he pitched6+1⁄3 innings, allowing four hits, one walk, hitting one batter, and striking out eight batters to get the win.Clay Holmes faced the final two batters in the ninth and closed out the 4–1 victory. With the win, this marked the sixth straight postseason victory over the Guardians, starting from the Yankees' 2–0 comeback in the2017 ALDS.

Game 2 was originally scheduled to be played on October 13 at 7:37 pm (EDT), but was postponed to October 14 at 1:07 pm (EDT) due to the forecast of sustained inclement weather.^[28]Nestor Cortés Jr. was slated to go for the Yankees againstShane Bieber for the Guardians.Giancarlo Stanton got the scoring started early with a two-run home run to the short porch in right field in the first inning. This would be the only time the Yankees scored for the rest of the game as Bieber would settle in and strike out seven over5+2⁄3 innings. Cortés shut down the Guardians through the first three innings before giving up an RBI single toAndrés Giménez in the fourth and a game-tying home run toAmed Rosario in the fifth, finishing his day with three walks and three strikeouts over five innings. Both bullpens kept the game tied untilOscar González hit an RBI single off ofJameson Taillon in the 10th inning.Josh Naylor would tack on an insurance run with an RBI double, andEmmanuel Clase would finish off the game with a scoreless frame to tie the series at one game apiece heading to Cleveland.

Luis Severino andTriston McKenzie squared off against each other in Game 3 as the series moved to Cleveland. The Guardians got the scoring started early asJosh Naylor andSteven Kwan both hit RBI singles in the first and second to put the Guardians up 2–0, but the Yankees responded in the third whenAaron Judge hit a two-run homer to tie the game up.Oswaldo Cabrera would put the Yankees up 4–2 in the fifth with a two-run shot of his own. McKenzie would finish the inning and end his night with 5 strikeouts and four runs given up over five innings. The Guardians would chase Severino in the sixth after he gave up back-to-back singles and cut the deficit to one after an RBI single fromWill Brennan.Harrison Bader padded the Yankees' lead with a solo shot in the seventh, andWandy Peralta came in to try and finish the game off with a seven-out save. After bringing the game within one again from anAmed Rosario RBI single,Oscar González hit a walk-off two-run single for a comeback 6–5 victory and a stunning 2–1 lead in the series. It was the second walk-off hit of the postseason for González after his walk-off home run in Game 2 of theWild Card Series.

Cal Quantrill andGerrit Cole faced off in a rematch of Game 1 as the Guardians looked to advance to their first ALCS since 2016. The Yankees jumped on Quantrill early with anAnthony Rizzo RBI single in the first and a two-run homer fromHarrison Bader in the second to grab an early 3–0 lead.José Ramírez got the Guardians on the board in the third inning with an RBI single, but was thrown out trying to advance to second to end the inning.Josh Naylor cut the deficit to one with a solo homer in the fourth and, while rounding the bases, stared down Cole while performing a baby rocking motion that drew the ire of opposing fans and the media.^[29] Cole shook off the home run and finished with eight strikeouts over seven innings of two-run ball.Giancarlo Stanton tacked on an insurance run in the sixth with a sacrifice fly, and the Yankees' bullpen finished the game with two scoreless innings to tie the series at 2–2 and force it back to New York.

Due to a rain delay, the second of the series, the game was forced to be postponed from October 17 to October 18, overlapping with the first game of theNLCS for the first time in Major League History.^[30]

The Yankees taskedNestor Cortés Jr. to help them advance to the ALCS while, in a controversial move,Terry Francona elected to startAaron Civale over Game 2 starterShane Bieber. The move immediately backfired asGiancarlo Stanton hit a three-run home run in the first inning and chased Civale after only getting one out.Aaron Judge followed up with a solo home run in the second inning, and Cortés threw five innings while only giving up one run, a sacrifice fly fromJosé Ramírez in the third inning.Anthony Rizzo would pad the lead with an RBI single in the fifth inning, and the Yankees' bullpen sealed the game and the series with four scoreless innings, advancing to the ALCS for the first time since 2019. Due to the compressed schedule from the rain delays in the series, the Yankees held a quick post-game celebration before flying to Houston for Game 1 of theALCS the following day.

2022ALDS (3–2):New York Yankees beatCleveland Guardians

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