2022 Major League Baseball season: schedule, draft

Major League Baseball (MLB) 2022 is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world.

2022 Major League Baseball season: schedule, draft

The 2022 Major League Baseball season was originally scheduled to begin March 31 and end on October 2.

2022 MLB season
League	Major League Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Duration	April 7 – October 5, 2022
Number of games	162
Number of teams	30

However, the 2021–22 MLB lockout caused the season to be delayed by one week, starting on April 7. The regular season is scheduled to end on October 5.

The start of the season was delayed by a lockout of players, which commenced on December 2, 2021, following the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the league and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA).

On March 10, 2022, MLB and the MLBPA reached a deal on a five-year CBA, with Opening Day scheduled for April 7 (delayed from its originally-planned March 31), and a full 162-game schedule. Under the new CBA, there will be a universal designated hitter, and the postseason will also be expanded to 12 teams.

In November 2021, the Cleveland Indians announced their new team name, the Cleveland Guardians.

The 2022 MLB All-Star Game is scheduled to be hosted by the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

2022 Major League Baseball season schedule

Major League Baseball released their 2022 regular season schedule on August 4, 2021.

As has been the case since 2013, all teams play their four division opponents 19 times each for a total of 76 games, play six or seven games against each of the other ten same-league opponents for a total of 66 games, and 20 interleague games.

Interleague play will feature AL East vs. NL Central, AL Central vs. NL West, and AL West vs. NL East.

The MLB at Field of Dreams game is planned to return for a second year, featuring the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds at the purpose built ballpark in Dyersville, Iowa, on August 11.

The annual MLB Little League Classic is scheduled to feature the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles at Bowman Field in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on August 21.

Twelve teams will qualify for the postseason, with the division winners seeded one through three, and three wild cards seeded four through six in their respective leagues.

The top two seeds in each league will receive a bye into the Division Series.The lowest-seeded division winner, and three wild card teams (each seeded according to regular season record), will play a best-of-three Wild Card round, with the higher seed hosting all three games.

The third-seed will play the sixth-seed, and the fourth-seed will play the fifth-seed.

Draft

The 2022 MLB Draft continued Monday with Rounds 3-10. A total of 316 picks have been made in the first 10 rounds (plus compensation rounds), and the final 300 picks will be made Tuesday, when the draft wraps up with Rounds 11-20.

The three-day selection process started Sunday night in Los Angeles with the Baltimore Orioles selecting high school shortstop Jackson Holliday (Matt’s son) with the top overall pick.

Pick	Team	Player	Position	School
1	Orioles	Jackson Holliday	SS	Stillwater High (Stillwater, Okla.)
2	Diamondbacks	Druw Jones	OF	Wesleyan High (Norcross, Ga.)
3	Rangers	Kumar Rocker	RHP	No school
4	Pirates	Termarr Johnson	2B	Mays High (Atlanta, Ga.)
5	Nationals	Elijah Green	OF	IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.)
6	Marlins	Jacob Berry	3B	LSU
7	Cubs	Cade Horton	RHP	Oklahoma
8	Twins	Brooks Lee	SS	Cal Poly
9	Royals	Gavin Cross	OF	Virginia Tech
10	Rockies	Gabriel Hughes	RHP	Gonzaga

The Arizona Diamondbacks then took high school outfielder Druw Jones (Andruw’s son) with the second pick. Kumar Rocker (Rangers), Termarr Johnson (Pirates) and Elijah Green (Nationals) rounded out the top five.

The draft was shortened from 40 rounds to five rounds in 2020 as a cost-cutting move during the pandemic but was stretched back to 20 rounds last year. That will be the new norm heading forward.