A final look back at the historic 2022 MLB season

What a year of baseball we had in 2022. There was some highs and there were some lows, milestone achievements by certain teams and players, and the ending of a 21-year MLB postseason drought.

Let’s reminisce and look back at some of the memories we had during the 2022 MLB season

MLB lockout

Before we could even watch baseball or anything like that, MLB fans had to deal with a lockout issued by Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association. The last lockout MLB had issued was the year of 1994, when 938 games, a postseason, and the World Series were all canceled due to a dispute between both parties. Luckily for the 2022 season, the lockout only lasted 99 days and no games were canceled. However, the first week’s games were postponed, and there was still a little bit of time to prepare for the season with spring training.

Four no-hitters

There were a total of four no-hitters this past year: three combined no-hitters and one regular no-hitter. The first no-hitter in 2022 belonged to the New York Mets pitching staff! In April, the Mets pitched a combined no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies with Tylor Megill, Drew Smith, Joely Rodriguez, Seth Lugo, and Edwin Diaz making history.

Los Angeles Angels rookie starting pitcher, Reid Detmers, was the only starting pitcher in 2022 to pitch a nine-inning game without allowing a hit against the Tampa Bay Rays in May. It was the12th no-hitter in franchise history and finish the game with a stat line of nine innings, zero hits, zero earned runs, 1 walk, and two strikeouts.

Lastly, the Houston Astros pitched not just one, but TWO combined no-hitters! In June, the Astros traveled to the Bronx to face a familiar foe in the New York Yankees. With a young star in the making Cristian Javier carving all those hitters and finished with seven-innings of no hit baseball with at the time a career high in strikeouts in 13. Later, hands it off to Hector Neris and then Ryan Pressly comes in to close it. This was the Astros second time throwing a combined no-hitter against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, since 2003.

That one was special for the organization, however, to throw a no-hitter in the World Series is more remarkable. In Game 4, with the Astros down 2-1 in the series against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizen Bank Park, the pitching staff was lights out! Cristian Javier started it off again, next up was Bryan Abreu, who handed it off to Rafael Montero, and Ryan Pressly came in to put the nail in the coffin. Series tied, momentum switched over to Houston, and the rest was history. This was the first postseason/World Series no-hitter in franchise history, the first combined no-hitter in postseason and World Series history, and the second World Series no-hitter in MLB history. The last World Series no-hitter/perfect game was thrown by Don Larsen in the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Record-breaking year

Where were you when Aaron Judge made history on October 4, 2022? Well, Judge was in Arlington, Texas going against the Texas Rangers, attempting to pass the great Yankee Roger Maris, for the most single season home runs in American League history. Judge hit a line drive shot to the left field bleachers to pass Roger Maris’s 61 home runs in 1961 to become the American League single season home run king.

Judge later won the AL MVP in 2022, had to make a decision about where he will be playing baseball in 2023. In December, Judge signed a nine-year, $360M contract with the New York Yankees and later became the 16th Yankees captain in franchise history. You pass Babe Ruth and Roger Maris (two Yankee greats) on the single-season home run list, win the AL MVP, signs the third largest deal in MLB history, and become the 16th Yankees captain, you can say Aaron Judge had an amazing year. 

Legendary greats making history

We were fortunate enough to see future first ballot hall of famers make history in their final year or years in their careers.

Detroit Tigers’ very own Miguel Cabrera became the 33rd player in MLB history to join the prestigious 3,000 hit club in April. The future hall of famer continued the season hitting 88 more with a total of 3,080 hits ranking 24 in the exclusive club. He decided that 2023 will be his last season in the MLB, so we will get to witness one more season of greatness from Miggy Cabrera.

Moving on to another great player and one of the best catchers in MLB history, Yadier Molina. The former St. Louis Cardinal spent his whole 19-year career with the Cardinals and had caught fellow long time Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright since 2005.

Fast forward to September 2022, the battery mates set a MLB record of 325 starts together passing the Detroit Tigers battery Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan in 1975. The duo combined with 2,136 innings and 1,812 strikeouts together with the Cardinals. Yadier Molina retired at the end of the 2022 season, but Adam Wainwright stated he will return back for the 2023 season.

Another Cardinal great, Albert Pujols made a huge push in history becoming the fourth player in MLB history to join the 700 home run club, with Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Barry Bonds. The future first ballot hall of famer finished hitting 703 home runs in his career and finished the 2022 season with 24 home runs, his first time hitting at least 20 home runs since 2019 with the Los Angeles Angels. What a year for one of the greats to ever play this game. Signed a one-year contract going back to St. Louis where he did most of his damage in his career, participated in the Home Run Derby in Los Angeles, and joined the 700 home run club. Enjoy retirement Mr. Pujols.

Ending the drought

The Seattle Mariners have had so many great players in their organization throughout the years such as Edgar Martinez, Ken Griffey Jr., Ichiro, and many more. However, they held the longest postseason drought of any American sports team. The last time the Mariners made it to the playoffs was in 2001, when they lost to the New York Yankees in the ALCS.

The Mariners were close to making a wild card spot in 2021 but just fell short of that goal. On October 1, 2022, Mariners catcher Cal “Big Dumper” Raleigh hit one of the most memorable walk-off home runs at T-Mobile Park to send the Mariners to their first postseason appearance in over two decades. Later they traveled north of the border to face the Blue Jays and did the impossible of coming back from a 6-1 deficit and winning the game 10-9. Unfortunately, they lost in the ALDS to the Houston Astros, but they will be back with the young talent they have.

The 2022 season had a great rookie class we didn’t get to go though with Julio Rodriguez, Adley Rutschman, Michael Harris II, Spencer Strider, and many many more! There was even a no-hitter thrown by the Reds…but they didn’t score a run and allowed the Pirates to win off a run they received from a fielder’s choice. The beauty of baseball I tell you! Cheers to a great year of 2022 and let’s see what 2023 has in store for us.