The 2022 MLB season is advancing into a brave new world, a 12-team postseason bracket that will decide a champion over the next month. The burst of high-stakes baseball pits eight teams against each other — Guardians-Rays, Cardinals-Phillies, Blue Jays-Mariners, Mets-Padres — for the right to advance. And it's getting real fast. The new best-of-three wild-card series began Friday with the Padres humbling Max Scherzer and the Phillies turning the tables on St. Louis.

The top seeds they would face in the next round are familiar — the Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston Astros, Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees. But certainly some of these challengers have designs on toppling baseball's existing world order.

[Here's the full TV schedule for the MLB postseason]

Phillies shut down Cardinals, ending storied careers of Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina

So long, St. Louis. A day after a ninth-inning meltdown, the Cardinals saw their season — along with the careers of Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina — end at the hands of the Phillies and ace Aaron Nola. The 29-year-old Philadelphia mainstay was brilliant in his playoff debut, going 6 2/3 scoreless innings as Philadelphia eliminated the Cardinals with a 2-0 win.

Pujols finished his Hall of Fame-bound career with a single.

The loss also ends the MVP-level campaigns of Cardinals cornerstones Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt. The pair went 1-for-15 in the two-game series and 0-for-8 in Game 2. Pujols, for his part, laced a single in what proved to be his final at-bat, and was replaced by a pinch runner.

It's onward and upward for the Phillies, who got a home run from Bryce Harper — extra encouraging considering his power outage since returning from injury — and a sacrifice fly from Kyle Schwarber to back Nola and company. They will move on to face the No. 2 seed Atlanta Braves.

Mets' bats wake up, bash Padres to force Game 3

Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso homered and batting champ Jeff McNeil laced a key two-run single as the Mets took Game 2 from the Padres, 7-2. Forced into an elimination game, the 101-win Mets bowed up to force a winner-take-all Game 3 on Sunday in New York.

Jacob deGrom started for the Mets, firing six innings and allowing two runs with eight strikeouts. Padres starter Blake Snell did not fare as well — walking six batters and lasting only 3 1/3 innings. But for all the struggles, Snell also only allowed two runs. It took the Mets until the seventh inning to separate. In a long inning against reliever Adrian Morejon — pocked with PitchCom issues — the Mets punched across four runs, starting with McNeil's big hit.

Manager Buck Showalter brought all-world closer Edwin Diaz in to pitch the seventh inning and got five outs from him before turning to Adam Ottavino and eventually Seth Lugo.

The Mets win sets up a showdown on Sunday for the right to face the Dodgers in the NLDS. The Mets are expected to send Chris Bassitt to the mound to face the Padres' Joe Musgrove.

Mariners roar back from 7-run deficit to eliminate Blue Jays

In their first postseason since 2001, the Mariners are advancing to the ALDS in dramatic fashion. After winning Friday's Game 1, Seattle fell behind 8-1 in the fifth inning against the Blue Jays in Saturday's Game 2. And then ... as fans at a Seattle watch party invented the "rally shoe," the Mariners began to rally.

They cut the deficit to three on a wild pitch and a Carlos Santana homer in the sixth. Then the Blue Jays tacked on a run to make it 9-5 heading into the eighth inning. Blue Jays reliever Anthony Bass started the inning, but gave up thee straight hits without recording an out. Toronto closer Jordan Romano entered and got two strikeouts before Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford hit a bloop into center field with the bases loaded.

Giving chase, Blue Jays center fielder George Springer and shortstop Bo Bichette came together in a scary collision that left Springer injured on the turf. All three runners scored to tie the game. In the ninth inning, Adam Frazier and frequent Seattle hero Cal Raleigh strung together doubles to put the Mariners up one.

Having used a huge swath of their bullpen, the Mariners turned to rookie starter George Kirby to close out the 10-9 win and clinch the franchise's first postseason series victory since the 2001 ALDS. They advance to face the Astros, their AL West rivals and tormentors.

Guardians eliminate Rays with walk-off homer to break scoreless tie in 15th

It took 15 innings for anyone to score, but Cleveland Guardians rookie Oscar Gonzalez scored in a big way. A loud walk-off homer in the bottom of the 15th sent the Guardians to a 1-0 win as they advance to the ALDS against the New York Yankees, and the Tampa Bay Rays are sent home on Saturday.

Gonzalez, a 24-year-old outfielder who uses the theme song from "SpongeBob Squarepants" as his walk-up music, was the only player in the game with more than one hit. Pitchers dominated Game 2, beginning with the Guardians' Triston McKenzie and the Rays' Tyler Glasnow. Reliever Sam Hentges, the eighth Cleveland pitcher of the day, went three innings and struck out six to earn the win.

The Rays become the first team eliminated in the new wild-card series, scoring a total of one run in 24 innings.

Need to catch up on the major storylines as the postseason gets rolling? We've got you covered.

• How dangerous is each playoff contender right now? These are the October power rankings

• Looking for the next Randy Arozarena? These 13 under-the-radar names might be ready for their moment

• The young Mariners finally broke through and ended Seattle's interminable playoff drought. Relive the delirious days that got them there

• The Mets started Max Scherzer in Game 1 and held back Jacob deGrom in a strategic gambit. Will it work?

• The path to the World Series in the National League runs through the Dodgers, the Braves and the Freddie Freeman saga

• Breaking down what could be a wild Blue Jays vs. Mariners matchup