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84-597: The National League West is one of Major League Baseball 's six divisions. This division was created for the 1969 season when the National League (NL) expanded to 12 teams by adding the San Diego Padres and the Montreal Expos . For purpose of keeping a regular-season of 162 games, half of the teams were put into the new East Division and half into the new West Division. Within each division,
168-425: A center fielder . Corner outfielders are often slower and have less defensive value than the center fielder . However, there are some important differences between right fielders and left fielders . Right fielders tend to have the best throwing arms of the outfield so they can make the long throw to third base, but often are not as fast as left fielders. Center fielders are generally the fastest and most athletic of
252-575: A wild card tie-breaker game after both teams finished the season with the same record, 89–73. The Rockies defeated the Padres, 9–8, in 13 innings. A wild card tie-breaker game was still considered part of the regular season, and thus, the Rockies' win made it their 90th victory of the season. ** – From 2012 to 2019, and in 2021, the Wild Card was expanded to two teams. Those teams faced each other in
336-667: A batter could foul off any number of pitches with no strikes counted against him; this gave an enormous advantage to the batter. After the 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds, baseball was rocked by allegations of a game-fixing scheme known as the Black Sox Scandal . Eight players— "Shoeless" Joe Jackson , Eddie Cicotte , Claude "Lefty" Williams , George "Buck" Weaver , Arnold "Chick" Gandil , Fred McMullin , Charles "Swede" Risberg , and Oscar "Happy" Felsch —intentionally lost
420-406: A chance for recreation and for taking their minds off their work even more than before." With the approval of President Roosevelt, spring training began in 1942 with few repercussions. The war interrupted the careers of stars including Stan Musial , Bob Feller , Ted Williams , and Joe DiMaggio , but baseball clubs continued to field their teams. Branch Rickey, president and general manager of
504-456: A close second place. One of the main factors in the big surge by the Braves was that the slugging outfielder Rico Carty returned to the team after missing the first half of the season while he was recovering from tuberculosis . Carty immediately resumed his starring role, adding to the powerful offensive line-up of the Braves that also featured the sluggers Hank Aaron and Orlando Cepeda and
588-506: A grand jury in Pittsburgh related to cocaine trafficking. The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike from August 12, 1994, to April 25, 1995, caused the cancellation of over 900 games and the forfeit of the entire 1994 postseason. Routinely in the late 1990s and early 2000s, baseball players hit 40 or 50 home runs in a season, a feat that was considered rare even in the 1980s. It later became apparent that at least some of this power surge
672-605: A little better in subsequent campaigns—but in their eighth season (1969) the Mets became the first of the 1960s expansion teams to play in the postseason, culminating in a World Series title over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles. In 1966, the major leagues moved to the "Deep South" when the Braves moved to Atlanta. In 1968, the Kansas City Athletics moved west to become the Oakland Athletics . In 1969,
756-671: A man for many reasons. Color is not one of them." That year, Robinson won the inaugural Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award (separate NL and AL Rookie of the Year honors were not awarded until 1949). Less than three months later, Larry Doby became the first African-American to break the color barrier in the American League with the Cleveland Indians. The next year, a number of other black players entered
840-413: A new National Agreement which tied independent contracts to the reserve-clause contracts. The agreement also set up a formal classification system for minor leagues, the forerunner of today's system that was refined by Branch Rickey . Several other early defunct baseball leagues are considered major leagues, and their statistics and records are included with those of the two modern major leagues. In 1969,
924-431: A one-armed outfielder, got the chance to advance to the major leagues. However, MLB rosters did not include any black players through the end of the war. Black players, many of whom served in the war, were still restricted to playing Negro league baseball . Wartime blackout restrictions , designed to keep outdoor lighting at low levels, caused another problem for baseball. These rules limited traveling and night games to
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#17327917250951008-501: A rebellion by players against the hated "reserve clause", which restricted the free movement of players between clubs. Teams came and went; 1882 was the first season where the league's membership was the same as the preceding season's, and only four franchises survived to see 1900. Competitor leagues formed regularly and also disbanded regularly. The most successful was the American Association (1882–1891), sometimes called
1092-543: A single-game MLB attendance record in their first home appearance with 78,672 fans. In 1961, the first Washington Senators franchise moved to Minneapolis–St. Paul to become the Minnesota Twins . Two new teams were added to the American League at the same time: the Los Angeles Angels (who soon moved from downtown L.A. to nearby Anaheim ) and a new Washington Senators franchise. The NL added
1176-540: A successful Baltimore chop, the batter hits the ball forcefully into the ground, causing it to bounce so high that the batter reaches first base before the ball can be fielded and thrown to the first baseman. The adoption of the foul strike rule—in the NL in 1901, in the AL two years later—quickly sent baseball from a high-scoring game to one where scoring runs became a struggle. Before this rule, foul balls were not counted as strikes:
1260-437: Is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball , farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder , the center fielder , and the right fielder . As an outfielder, their duty is to catch fly balls and ground balls then to return them to the infield for the out or before the runner advances, if there are any runners on the bases . As an outfielder, they normally play behind
1344-462: Is often considered the most difficult outfield position, requiring both a good throwing arm and speed. Center fielders on many teams often bat lead off . Players who do not routinely start games, but often substitute as a pinch hitter or defensive replacement in the outfield are referred to as fourth outfielders or even fifth outfielders . These players can usually play any of the three outfield positions. Corner outfielders are outfielders who play
1428-687: Is the third-wealthiest professional sports league by revenue in the world after the National Football League (NFL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). Baseball games are broadcast on television, radio, and the internet throughout North America and in several other countries. MLB has the highest total season attendance of any sports league in the world; in 2023, it drew more than 70.75 million spectators. MLB also oversees Minor League Baseball , which comprises lower-tier teams affiliated with
1512-899: The Boston Braves became the Milwaukee Braves , the St. Louis Browns became the Baltimore Orioles , and the Philadelphia Athletics became the Kansas City Athletics . The 1958 Major League Baseball season began to turn Major League Baseball into a nationwide league. Walter O'Malley , owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers and "perhaps the most influential owner of baseball's early expansion era," moved his team to Los Angeles, marking
1596-641: The Chicago Cubs for the East championship. The sometimes called "Miracle Mets" won the first National League Championship Series over the Braves three games to none, and then the Mets defeated the Baltimore Orioles four games to one in the World Series in October 1969. Place cursor over year for division champ or World Series team. Before the forming of a third division in both leagues in 1994,
1680-596: The Great Depression , baseball's popularity had begun a downward turn in the early 1930s. By 1932, only two MLB teams turned a profit. Attendance had fallen, due at least in part to a 10% federal amusement tax added to baseball ticket prices. Baseball owners cut their rosters from 25 men to 23, and even the best players took pay cuts. Team executives were innovative in their attempts to survive, creating night games, broadcasting games live by radio, and rolling out promotions such as free admission for women. Throughout
1764-682: The Houston Astros and the New York Mets in 1962. The Astros (known as the "Colt .45s" during their first three seasons) became the first southern major league franchise since the Louisville Colonels folded in 1899 and the first franchise to be located along the Gulf Coast . The Mets established a reputation for futility by going 40–120 during their first season of play in the nation's media capital—and by playing only
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#17327917250951848-569: The Los Angeles Dodgers in a one game playoff for the division title, 7–1. ** – Defeated the Colorado Rockies in a one game playoff for the division title, 5–2. † – Due to the 1981 Major League Baseball strike , the season was split. Los Angeles won the first half and defeated second-half champion Houston (61–49) in the postseason. The Cincinnati Reds had the best record in the division (66–42) overall but due to
1932-687: The National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP). The NABBP existed as an amateur league for 12 years. By 1867, more than 400 clubs were members. Most of the strongest clubs remained those based in the Northeastern United States. For professional baseball 's founding year, MLB uses the year 1869—when the first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings , was established. A schism developed between professional and amateur ballplayers after
2016-706: The Pacific Time Zone . The American League had no such issues, as all six of its teams in the Eastern Time Zone played in the AL East, with the remaining six teams playing in the AL West. All of this increased the traveling distances and times for all of the teams, and it also made radio broadcasting and TV broadcasts of the games more difficult to schedule. The Braves and the Reds had to travel all
2100-621: The Texas Rangers . In 1977, baseball expanded again , adding a second Canadian team, the Toronto Blue Jays , as well as the Seattle Mariners . Subsequently, no new teams were added until the 1990s and no teams moved until 2005. By the late 1960s, the balance between pitching and hitting had swung in favor of the pitchers. In 1968—later nicknamed "the year of the pitcher" —Boston Red Sox player Carl Yastrzemski won
2184-651: The Wild Card Game to determine the final participant in the National League Division Series . In 2020 only, eight teams, including the three division winners, played in a best-of-three Wild Card Series, with the winners advancing to the Division Series. Starting in 2022, the Wild Card field was increased to three teams, and along with the lowest-ranked division winner, qualified for the best-of-three Wild Card Series to determine
2268-817: The first and second Negro National Leagues (1920–1931 and 1933–1948), the Eastern Colored League (1923–1928), the American Negro League (1929), the East–West League (1932), the Negro Southern League (1932), and the Negro American League (1937–1948). In 2021, baseball reference website Baseball-Reference.com began to include statistics from those seven leagues into their major-league statistics. In May 2024, Major League Baseball announced that it
2352-660: The "Big Four" major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada , MLB comprises 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. Formed in 1876 and 1901, respectively, the NL and AL cemented their cooperation with the National Agreement in 1903, making MLB the oldest major professional sports league in
2436-442: The "beer and whiskey league" for its tolerance of the sale of alcoholic beverages to spectators. For several years, the NL and American Association champions met in a postseason championship series—the first attempt at a World Series . The two leagues merged in 1892 as a single 12-team NL, but the NL dropped four teams after the 1899 season. This led to the formation of the American League in 1901 under AL president Ban Johnson , and
2520-541: The 1870s. In 1876, the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs (later known as the National League or NL) was established after the NA proved ineffective. The league placed its emphasis on clubs rather than on players. Clubs could now enforce player contracts, preventing players from jumping to higher-paying clubs. Clubs were required to play the full schedule of games instead of forfeiting scheduled games when
2604-544: The 1950s and 1960s. The AL and NL added eight clubs in the 1960s: two in 1961, two in 1962, and four in 1969. Player discontent with established labor practices, especially the reserve clause, led to the organization of the Major League Baseball Players Association to collectively bargain with the owners, which in turn led to the introduction of free agency in baseball. Modern stadiums with artificial turf surfaces began to change
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2688-557: The 1960s and 1970s, as baseball expanded, NFL football had been surging in popularity, making it economical for many of these cities to build multi-purpose stadiums instead of single-purpose baseball fields. Because of climate and economic issues, many of these facilities had playing surfaces made from artificial turf , as well as the oval designs characteristic of stadiums designed to house both baseball and football. This often resulted in baseball fields with relatively more foul territory than older stadiums. These characteristics changed
2772-463: The 1990s. During the 1980s, baseball experienced a number of significant changes the game had not seen in years. Home runs were on the decline throughout the decade, with players hitting 40 home runs just 13 times and no one hitting more than 50 home runs in a season for the first time since the Dead-ball era (1900–1919). The 1981 Major League Baseball strike from June 12 until July 31 forced
2856-491: The American League batting title with an average of just .301, the lowest in the history of Major League Baseball. Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain won 31 games, making him the only pitcher to win 30 games in a season since Dizzy Dean in 1934. St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Bob Gibson achieved an equally remarkable feat by allowing an ERA of just 1.12. Following these pitching performances, in December 1968
2940-788: The American and National Leagues both added two expansion franchises . The American League added the Seattle Pilots (who became the Milwaukee Brewers after one disastrous season in Seattle) and the Kansas City Royals . The NL added the first Canadian franchise, the Montreal Expos , as well as the San Diego Padres . In 1972, the second Washington Senators moved to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to become
3024-476: The Brooklyn Dodgers, began making efforts to introduce a black baseball player to the previously all-white professional baseball leagues in the mid-1940s. He selected Jackie Robinson from a list of promising Negro league players. After obtaining a commitment from Robinson to "turn the other cheek" to any racial antagonism directed at him, Rickey agreed to sign him to a contract for $ 600 a month. In what
3108-818: The Dodgers when they came to town, abandoning the Negro league teams that they had followed exclusively. Robinson's promotion met a generally positive, although mixed, reception among newspaper writers and white major league players. Manager Leo Durocher informed his team, "I don't care if he is yellow or black or has stripes like a fucking zebra. I'm his manager and I say he plays." After a strike threat by some players, NL President Ford C. Frick and Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler let it be known that any striking players would be suspended. Robinson received significant encouragement from several major-league players, including Dodgers teammate Pee Wee Reese who said, "You can hate
3192-683: The Great Depression, no MLB teams moved or folded. The onset of World War II created a shortage of professional baseball players, as more than 500 men left MLB teams to serve in the military. Many of them played on service baseball teams that entertained military personnel in the US or in the Pacific. MLB teams of this time largely consisted of young men, older players, and those with a military classification of 4F , indicating mental, physical, or moral unsuitability for service. Men like Pete Gray ,
3276-496: The MLB Playing Rules Committee voted to reduce the strike zone from knees to shoulders to top of knees to armpits and lower the pitcher's mound from 15 to 10 inches, beginning in the 1969 season. In 1973, the American League, which had been suffering from much lower attendance than the National League, sought to increase scoring even further by initiating the designated hitter (DH) rule. Throughout
3360-653: The NL Central and NL East respectively. The very first baseball season of division play, 1969, resulted in what might be considered by many to be two of the best pennant races in Major League baseball history. In the National League West, five of the teams battled for the divisional championship - with only the expansion team, the San Diego Padres , failing to be a contender. The remaining five teams were separated by as few as one-and-one-half games in
3444-413: The National Agreement of 1903, in which AL and NL agreed to respect each other's player contracts, including the contentious reserve clause . The period before 1920 was the dead-ball era , when home runs were rarely hit. Professional baseball was rocked by the Black Sox Scandal , a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series . Baseball survived the scandal, albeit with major changes in its governance as
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3528-687: The National League standings. The owners were concerned about putting those teams in the same division, thereby creating one very strong division (West) and one weak one (East). Given all of this, the owners of the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds consented to being placed into the West Division, even though Atlanta and Cincinnati are both in the Eastern Time Zone . Hence, the West Division had teams spread all
3612-770: The Special Baseball Records Committee of Major League Baseball officially recognized six major leagues: the National League, American League, American Association, Union Association (1884), Players' League (1890), and Federal League (1914–1915). The status of the National Association as a major league has been a point of dispute among baseball researchers; while its statistics are not recognized by Major League Baseball, its statistics are included with those of other major leagues by some baseball reference websites, such as Retrosheet . Some researchers, including Nate Silver , dispute
3696-614: The World Series in exchange for a ring worth $ 100,000 ($ 1,712,780.35 in 2022 dollars). Despite being acquitted, all were permanently banned from Major League Baseball. Baseball's popularity increased in the 1920s and 1930s. The 1920 season was notable for the death of Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians . Chapman, who was struck in the head by a pitch and died a few hours later, became the only MLB player to die of an on-field injury. Both leagues quickly began to require
3780-532: The cancellation of 713 total games and resulted in a split-season format. In 1985, Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb 's all-time hits record with his 4,192nd hit, and in 1989 Rose received a lifetime ban from baseball as a result of betting on baseball games while manager of the Cincinnati Reds . Rose was the first person to receive a lifetime ban from baseball since 1943. 1985 also saw the Pittsburgh drug trials which involved players who were called to testify before
3864-600: The center field fence, and the Huntington Avenue Grounds of the Boston Red Sox , which was 635 feet (194 m) to the center field fence, thus home runs were rare, and "small ball" tactics such as singles , bunts , stolen bases , and the hit-and-run play dominated the strategies of the time. Hitting methods like the Baltimore chop were used to increase the number of infield singles. On
3948-560: The club was no longer in the running for the league championship, which happened frequently under the NA. A concerted effort was made to curb gambling on games, which was leaving the validity of results in doubt. The first game in the NL—on Saturday, April 22, 1876 (at Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia )—is often pointed to as the beginning of MLB. The early years of the NL were tumultuous, with threats from rival leagues and
4032-573: The condition of the baseball itself. The baseball used American rather than the modern Australian wool yarn and was not wound as tightly, affecting the distance that it would travel. More significantly, balls were kept in play until they were mangled, soft and sometimes lopsided. During this era, a baseball cost three dollars, equal to $ 52.72 today (in inflation-adjusted USD ), and owners were reluctant to purchase new balls. Fans were expected to throw back fouls and (rare) home runs. Baseballs also became stained with tobacco juice, grass, and mud, and sometimes
4116-521: The corner positions of right field and left field . Corner outfielders often have less speed than center fielders , but make up for this deficiency with their offensive play. The main differences between left and right fielders are, first, that left fielders handle more chances because right-handed pull hitters tend to hit balls to left; second, that right fielders typically have stronger arms; third, that right fielders are frequently (not always) slower and less agile defensively. Many left fielders have had
4200-404: The first major league franchise on the West Coast. O'Malley also helped persuade the rival New York Giants to move west to become the San Francisco Giants. Giants owner Horace Stoneham had been contemplating a move to Minnesota amid slumping attendance at the aging Polo Grounds ballpark when O'Malley invited him to meet San Francisco Mayor George Christopher in New York. After Stoneham
4284-428: The first week of April. Six teams in each league then advance to a four-round postseason tournament in October, culminating in the World Series , a best-of-seven championship series between the two league champions first played in 1903. The New York Yankees have the most championships with 27. The reigning champions are the Los Angeles Dodgers , who defeated the New York Yankees in the 2024 World Series . MLB
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#17327917250954368-454: The founding of the Cincinnati club. The NABBP split into an amateur organization and a professional organization. The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players , often known as the National Association (NA), was formed in 1871. Its amateur counterpart disappeared after only a few years. The modern Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves franchises trace their histories back to the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players in
4452-453: The game in the 1970s and 1980s. Home runs dominated the game during the 1990s. In the mid-2000s, media reports disclosed the use of anabolic steroids among MLB players; a 2006–07 investigation produced the Mitchell Report , which found that many players had used steroids and other performance-enhancing substances , including at least one player from each team. Each team plays 162 games per season, with Opening Day traditionally held during
4536-449: The good singles hitter Félix Millán who was on base to score a lot of runs. Aaron finished in third place for the N.L. Most Valuable Player Award , and the starting pitcher Phil Niekro finished in second place for the N.L. Cy Young Award . Perhaps this latter pennant race was overshadowed by that of the New York Mets and the Chicago Cubs , with the Mets coming back from trailing by nine-and-one-half games near midseason to overtake
4620-429: The hole " between the corner and middle infielders. Starting pitchers were no longer expected to throw complete games ; it was enough for a starter to pitch 6–7 innings and turn the game over to the team's closer , a position which grew in importance over these decades. As stolen bases increased, home run totals dropped. After Willie Mays hit 52 home runs in 1965, only one player ( George Foster ) reached that mark until
4704-401: The juice of licorice, which some players would chew for the purpose of discoloring the ball. Also, pitchers could manipulate the ball through the use of the spitball (In 1921, use of this pitch was restricted to a few pitchers with a grandfather clause ). Additionally, many ballparks had large dimensions, such as the West Side Grounds of the Chicago Cubs, which was 560 feet (170 m) to
4788-404: The major league clubs, and the MLB Draft League , a hybrid amateur-professional showcase league. MLB and the World Baseball Softball Confederation jointly manage the international World Baseball Classic tournament. In the 1860s, aided by soldiers playing the game in camp during the Civil War , "New York"-style baseball expanded into a national game and spawned baseball's first governing body,
4872-485: The major leagues. Satchel Paige was signed by the Indians and the Dodgers added star catcher Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe , who was later the first winner of the Cy Young Award for his outstanding pitching. MLB banned the signing of women to contracts in 1952, but that ban was lifted in 1992. There have been no female MLB players since then. From 1903 to 1952, the major leagues consisted of two eight-team leagues whose 16 teams were located in ten cities, all in
4956-405: The major-league status of the Union Association by pointing out that franchises came and went and that the St. Louis club was deliberately "stacked"; the St. Louis club was owned by the league's president and it was the only club that was close to major-league caliber. In December 2020, Major League Baseball announced its recognition of seven leagues within Negro league baseball as major leagues:
5040-471: The nature of professional baseball, putting a higher premium on speed and defense over home-run hitting power since the fields were often too big for teams to expect to hit many home runs and foul balls hit in the air could more easily be caught for outs. Teams began to be built around pitching—particularly their bullpens—and speed on the basepaths. Artificial surfaces meant balls traveled quicker and bounced higher, so it became easier to hit ground balls " in
5124-527: The northeastern and mid-western United States: New York City had three teams and Boston , Chicago, Philadelphia , and St. Louis each had two teams. St. Louis was the southernmost and westernmost city with a major league team. The longest possible road trip, from Boston to St. Louis, took about 24 hours by railroad. After a half-century of stability, starting in the 1950s, teams began to move out of cities with multiple teams into cities that had not had them before. From 1953 to 1955, three teams moved to new cities:
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#17327917250955208-439: The owners of the St. Louis Cardinals wanted their team to be in the same division with their natural rivals, the Cubs. The league could have insisted on a purely geographical alignment like the American League did. But the owners were also concerned about what they thought would be a large imbalance in the strength of the divisions. In the previous two seasons prior to realignment, the Cardinals, Giants, and Cubs finished 1-2-3 in
5292-546: The pitcher behind their back to determine the pitch and tell where the ball could possibly be hit to. Many of the best power hitters in baseball play in the outfield , where they do not have as constant involvement in fielding plays as other positions, especially before the institution of the designated hitter . For example, Babe Ruth was moved from pitcher to the outfield. Left fielders and right fielders are more often slow power hitters, and center fielders are usually fast base-runners and good defensive players. Center field
5376-423: The playoffs. The wild card is given to the team in each league with the best record that did not win its division and was first introduced in 1994. The system, however, was not implemented until the following season, as a player strike prematurely ended the 1994 season. Since its implementation, three NL West teams have won the wild card, on six occasions. * – The Colorado Rockies played the San Diego Padres in
5460-466: The point that the 1942 season was nearly canceled. On January 14, 1942, MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis wrote to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt , pleading for the continuation of baseball during the war. Roosevelt responded, "I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going. There will be fewer people unemployed and everybody will work longer hours and harder than ever before. And that means that they ought to have
5544-458: The relatively weak National Commission was replaced with a powerful commissioner of baseball with near-unlimited authority over the sport. MLB rose in popularity in the decade following the Black Sox Scandal, and unlike major leagues in other sports it endured the Great Depression and World War II without any of its teams folding. Shortly after the war, Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier . Some teams moved to different cities in
5628-417: The remaining two slots in the Division Series. * – Won division via tiebreaker † indicates no longer in division since 1994 § indicates no longer in division since 1994, and no longer part of NL since 2013 Major League Baseball Major League Baseball ( MLB ) is a professional baseball league and the highest level of organized baseball in the United States and Canada . One of
5712-417: The resulting bidding war for players led to widespread contract-breaking and legal disputes. The war between the AL and NL caused shock waves throughout the baseball world. At a meeting at the Leland Hotel in Chicago in 1901, the other baseball leagues negotiated a plan to maintain their independence. A new National Association was formed to oversee these minor leagues. After 1902, the NL, AL, and NA signed
5796-646: The six players located in the field. By convention, each of the nine defensive positions in baseball is numbered. The outfield positions are 7 (left field), 8 (center field) and 9 (right field). These numbers are shorthand designations useful in baseball scorekeeping and are not necessarily the same as the squad numbers worn on player uniforms. Outfielders named to the MLB All-Century Team are Hank Aaron , Ty Cobb , Joe DiMaggio , Mickey Mantle , Willie Mays , Stan Musial , Pete Rose , Babe Ruth , Ted Williams , Carl Yastrzemski , and Ken Griffey Jr. Players can be characterized as either corner outfielders or
5880-406: The split season did not qualify for the playoffs. § – Due to the players' strike starting August 12, no official winner was awarded. Los Angeles was leading at the strike. †† – The San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers finished the 2006 season tied for first place with identical records. San Diego won the season series 13–5 against Los Angeles and was awarded the NL West title; Los Angeles
5964-439: The standings on August 18, despite the Houston Astros having lost 20 of its first 24 games. Beginning in mid-August the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers started collapsing, leaving the Braves, the Reds, and the San Francisco Giants in contention. Following a very-long hot streak in July, August, and September, the Braves clinched the divisional championship by winning their next-to-last game. The Giants finished in
6048-592: The teams played 18 games each against their five division mates (90 games), and also 12 games against the teams in the opposite division (72 games), totaling 162 games. Prior to 1969, the National League had informal, internal divisions strictly for scheduling purposes. Despite the geography, the owners of the Chicago Cubs insisted that their team be placed into the East Division along with the teams in New York City, Philadelphia , and Pittsburgh . Also,
6132-407: The three, because they have to run the farthest in order to field balls in the gaps and back up the other outfielders when balls are hit to them. Outfielders should also be able to read where the ball may be placed based on what the pitcher is throwing. They can tell what the pitcher is throwing by the middle infielders, second base and short stop, in which they show the numbers the catcher is giving to
6216-520: The use of new, white baseballs whenever a ball became scuffed or dirty, helping bring the "dead-ball" era to an end. The following year, the New York Yankees made their first World Series appearance. By the end of the 1930s, the team had appeared in 11 World Series, winning eight of them. Yankees slugger Babe Ruth had set the single-season home run record in 1927, hitting 60 home runs; breaking his own record of 29 home runs. Afflicted by
6300-741: The way from the East to the Pacific Coast, and scattered over three time zones (no MLB teams played in the Mountain Time Zone until 1993, when the Colorado Rockies were enfranchised). The East Division was spread over the Eastern Time Zone and the Central Time Zone - despite the fact that the National League had six teams in the Eastern Time Zone and six teams spread between the Central Time Zone and
6384-596: The way to California three times during each baseball season, and the three teams in California had to travel to Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Houston three times also. Sometimes, the trouble could be alleviated for them by playing some games in Chicago, St. Louis, or Pittsburgh on the same long road trips. The 1994 addition of the Central Division would remedy these problems, when the Reds and Braves moved to
6468-413: The winners of each division competed in a best-of-five series, with the series being lengthened by two possible games in 1985 to a best-of-seven series, dubbed the " League Championship Series " to determine the winner of the league pennant . This format was to be changed in 1994, though it was not carried out until 1995 due to the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike that started on August 12, 1994. There
6552-539: The world. They remained legally separate entities until 2000, when they merged into a single organization led by the commissioner of baseball . MLB is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan . Baseball's first all-professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings , was founded in 1869. The first few decades of professional baseball saw rivalries between leagues, and players often jumped from one team or league to another. These practices were essentially ended by
6636-399: Was "absorbing the available Negro Leagues numbers into the official historical record." The period between 1900 and 1919 is commonly referred to as the "dead-ball era". Games of this era tended to be low-scoring and were often dominated by pitchers, such as Walter Johnson , Cy Young , Christy Mathewson , Mordecai Brown , and Grover Cleveland Alexander . The term also accurately describes
6720-781: Was a result of players using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs . In 1993, the National League added the Florida Marlins in Miami and the Colorado Rockies in Denver . In 1998, the Brewers switched leagues by joining the National League, and two new teams were added: the National League's Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix and the American League's Tampa Bay Devil Rays in Tampa Bay . Outfielder An outfielder
6804-543: Was awarded the wild-card berth. Had a team from another division won the wild card, a one-game playoff would have decided the division champion. ††† – Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MLB teams played 60 games, with teams play within their division and their respective counterpart (NL West vs. AL West, NL Central vs. AL Central, NL East vs. AL East). By virtue of the eight-team postseason format used for that season, division runner-up San Diego (37–23, .617) also qualified for
6888-619: Was later referred to as "The Noble Experiment", Robinson was the first black baseball player in the International League since the 1880s, joining the Dodgers' farm club, the Montreal Royals , for the 1946 season. The following year, the Dodgers called up Robinson to the major leagues. On April 15, 1947, Robinson made his major league debut at Ebbets Field before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, including more than 14,000 black patrons. Black baseball fans began flocking to see
6972-449: Was persuaded to move to California, Time magazine put O'Malley on its cover. MLB Commissioner Ford C. Frick had opposed the meeting, but the dual moves proved successful for both franchises—and for MLB. Had the Dodgers moved out west alone, the St. Louis Cardinals —1,600 mi (2,575 km) away —would have been the closest NL team. Instead, the joint move made West Coast road trips economical for visiting teams. The Dodgers set
7056-497: Was the addition of two further teams in the playoffs in each league. This has led to the creation of a " Division Series " round of the playoffs, in which two best-of-five series are conducted to determine the participants of the League Championship Series. As before, the winners of each league's pennant compete in the best-of-seven World Series to determine the champion of Major League Baseball. * – Defeated
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