Major League Baseball season

The Major League Baseball season has been 162 games long for each team since 1961 in the American League and 1962 in the National League. The preceding 154-game schedule was adopted in 1904 and modified only in 1919. This article is about the evolution of the season schedule since Major League Baseball began.

TOCright A Major League season normally lasts from the beginning of April to the end of September, followed by the post-season tournament in October. The endpoints of the season have gradually changed through the years. In the early years, the regular season began in late April and ran through late October. By the early 1900s, however, the season was running from late April to late September or early October, with the World Series capping the season in October, sometimes actually starting in the last days of September.

The gradual elimination of scheduled doubleheaders in the last decade or two of the 20th century has necessitated pushing the start of the season earlier and earlier, sometimes starting in the last day or two of March and ending several days into October. Another recent trend has been to hold one or more games in a nation outside of the United States and Canada a day or two prior to the "official" Opening Day. The regular season was suspended for several days due to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and resulting disruptions in travel, resulting in games scheduled for September 11-17 being rescheduled to the first week of October and the playoffs and World Series being rescheduled one week later than their originally planned dates, which resulted in the World Series continuing into early November.

Meanwhile, the addition and eventual expansion of the League Championship Series, and then the addition of the Division Series, has extended the post-season into late October. Other than simple rain-outs, the World Series has been delayed only once: in 1989 due to the San Francisco earthquake, which slightly damaged both teams' stadiums (San Francisco and Oakland), requiring a delay of one week in mid-series.

While extending the playoff tournament has boosted TV ratings, it has also meant a greater possibility of snow falling during baseball's premier event, as the weather in the northern United States is often markedly colder in late October than it is in early October. As of 2007, despite snow flurries very visibly flying at times (for instance at Jacobs Field in Cleveland during the 1997 World Series), no post-season games have actually had to be postponed due to wintry weather.

Post-season

The following is a chronology summary of the post-season championship events held by Major League Baseball through the years.

World Series

:1903 - Best 5 of 9 games:1904 - No Series played:1905-1918 - Best 4 of 7 games:1919-1921 - Best 5 of 9 games:1922-present - Best 4 of 7 games

::The standard 2-3-2 home field pattern was established in 1924; from 1903 to 1923, the Series generally alternated sites between games.::The 19th Century World's Championship Series' were individually scheduled each year, with varying numbers of games ranging from 2 to 15

League Championship Series

:1969-1984 - Best 3 of 5 games, 2-3 home field pattern:1985-present - Best 4 of 7 games, 2-3-2 home field pattern

Division Series

:1994-present - Best 3 of 5 games (not begun until 1995 due to strike)

::In 1998, the home field pattern was changed from 2-3 to 2-2-1

Historic Regular Season schedule format

This account gives the length of the major league "championship season" schedule by league and year. It does not cover the curtailment of play by war (1918) or by strikes and lockouts (1972, 1981, 1994, 1995). The schedules for 1995 were revised from 162 to 144 games, after a late resolution of the strike (which had begun in 1994) required a delay in the beginning of play to accommodate a limited Spring Training schedule.

The listed years are those in which the league revised its schedule. For example, the National League scheduled 84 games during 1879, 1880, 1881, and 1882 — four seasons begin 1879, ending before 1883, the next listing. 1876 is listed here for convenience although the NL did not schedule games (see 1871 to 1876).

National League

:1876 - 70 games - 10 games × 7 opponents:1877 - 60 games - 12 games × 5 opponents:1879 - 84 games - 12 games × 7 opponents:1883 - 98 games - 14 games × 7 opponents:1884 - 112 games - 16 games × 7 opponents:1886 - 126 games - 18 games × 7 opponents:1888 - 140 games - 20 games × 7 opponents:1892 - 154 games - 14 games × 11 opponents:1893 - 132 games - 12 games × 11 opponents:1898 - 154 games - 14 games × 11 opponents:1900 - 140 games - 20 games × 7 opponents:1904 - 154 games - 22 games × 7 opponents:1919 - 140 games - 20 games × 7 opponents:1920 - 154 games - 22 games × 7 opponents:1962 - 162 games - 18 games × 9 opponents:1969 - 162 games - 18 games × 5 opponents in own division, 12 × 6 in other division:1993 - 162 games - expansion - schedules same as AL 1979-1993:1994 - 162 games - leagues split into 3 divisions - schedules based on 1993 alignments:1997 - 162 games - inter-league play introduced - opponent schedules vary:1998 - 162 games - expansion - opponent schedules vary

American League

:1901 - 140 games - 20 games × 7 opponents:1904 - 154 games - 22 games × 7 opponents:1919 - 140 games - 20 games × 7 opponents:1920 - 154 games - 22 games × 7 opponents:1961 - 162 games - 18 games × 9 opponents:1969 - 162 games - 18 games × 5 opponents in own division, 12 × 6 in other division:1977 - 162 games - expansion - 15 games × 6 opponents in own division, 10 or 11 × 7 opponents in other division:1979 - 162 games - 13 games × 6 opponents in own division, 12 games × 7 opponents in other division:1994 - 162 games - leagues split into 3 divisions - schedules based on 1993 alignments:1997 - 162 games - inter-league play introduced - opponent schedules vary:1998 - 162 games - expansion - 19 games × 3 or 4 opponents in own division - other opponent schedules vary

American Association

:1882 - 80 games - 16 games × 5 opponents:1883 - 98 games - 14 games × 7 opponents:1884 - 112 games - 16 games × 7 opponents:1886 - 126 games - 18 games × 7 opponents:1888 - 140 games - 20 games × 7 opponents:1889 - 112 games - 16 games × 7 opponents:1890 - 140 games - 20 games × 7 opponents::League disbanded after 1891, 4 teams joined NL

Union Association

:1884 - 112 games - 16 games × 7 opponents

Players' League

:1890 - 140 games - 20 games × 7 opponents

1871 to 1876

The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (1871-1875) did not schedule games. Nor did it control the number of teams, a major reason for its demise after the 1875 season. Clubs paid a $10 entry fee, later $20, to enter the Association for one season and thereby declare for that year's national championship. Without continuing membership or heavy investment there was little to deter a team from breaking a commitment, and that sometimes happened, although mainly with clubs going out of business.

The National League organized for 1876 on a different basis, granting exclusive memberships to eight clubs that would continue from year to year — it was generally expected, if only because membership would be profitable. But the new league followed its predecessor in merely agreeing that each club would play a certain number of matches to a decision (excluding ties) by a certain date. Boston played 70 games with its quota of ten decisions against every rival.

For all six early seasons, clubs made their own dates including championship games, other games with members, and games with non-members. Some may have practically dictated arrangements with some others, but there was no central control or coordination.

This listing gives the greatest number of games played by any club for each season. Naturally, the leader by games played was always a strong club fielding one of the better gate attractions.

:1871 - 33 games (Mutual, New York):1872 - 58 games (Lord Baltimore):1873 - 60 games (Boston):1874 - 71 games (Boston):1875 - 86 games (Hartford)

:1876 - 70 games (Boston) — first National League season; see text

Current Regular Season schedule format

Currently, a maximum total of 2430 regular season games (not including 1 game playoffs) are played each year - 2178 intraleague, and 252 interleague. Each team will be scheduled for 162 games, consisting of 81 games hosted at its home field, and 81 in which it appears as the travelling team. (Occasionally, games may be played at sites other than teams' home fields, however, for scheduling and other purposes one team is always designated as the 'home' team, and such games are thus subtracted from its allotment of games at its home field.)

Here is a breakdown of how many games between 2 teams in the same league can be played in the same season:

Division games

*25 match-ups will have 19 games each (475 games)
*21 match-ups will have 18 games each (378 games)
*13 match-ups will have 16 games each (208 games)
*2 match-ups will have 15 games each (30 games)
*Total: 1091 games

Other intraleague games

*23 match-ups will have 10 games each (230 games)
*15 match-ups will have 9 games each (135 games)
*8 match-ups will have 8 games each (64 games)
*34 match-ups will have 7 games each (238 games)
*70 match-ups will have 6 games each (420 games)
*Total: 1053 games
*Total of all intraleague games: 2178 games

Interleague play

Currently, the following match-ups are guaranteed to have 2 3-game series each year (one in each stadium):
*Baltimore VS. Washington
*Chicago Cubs VS. Chicago White Sox
*Cincinnati VS. Cleveland
*Florida VS. Tampa Bay
*Houston VS. Texas
*Kansas City VS. St. Louis
*LA Angels VS. LA Dodgers
*Milwaukee VS. Minnesota
*NY Mets VS. NY Yankees
*Oakland VS. San Francisco

These will amount for 60 of the interleague games played each year. The other 192 will be determined by a rotating schedule.

Sources

*"The Sporting News Baseball Guide"
*"The MacMillan Baseball Encyclopedia"

References

*Retrosheet. [http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/index.html "The Directory of Major League Years"] . Retrieved 2006-09-05.