Major League Baseball

All you want to know about Major League Baseball

"MLB" redirects here. For other uses, see MLB (disambiguation).
Major League Baseball
Current season or competition:
2008 Major League Baseball season
Major League Baseball
Sport Baseball
Founded 1869
Commissioner Bud Selig
No. of teams 30
Country(ies) Flag of the United States United States
Flag of Canada Canada
Most recent
champion(s)		 Boston Red Sox
Most championships New York Yankees (26)
TV partner(s) FOX, ESPN, and TBS
Official website MLB.com

Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball composed of over 30 teams. More specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has existed between them since 1903. Each season consists of 162 games, which generally begins on the first Sunday in April and ends on the first Sunday in October, with the playoffs played in October and sometimes in early November. The same rules and regulations are played between the two leagues with one exception: the American League operates under the Designated Hitter Rule, while the National League does not. Utilization of the DH Rule in Interleague play, the All-Star and World Series games are determined by the home team's league rules. In 2000, two leagues were officially disbanded as separate legal entities with all rights and functions consolidated in the commissioner's office.[1] MLB effectively operates as a single league and as such it constitutes one of the major professional sports leagues of North America.

MLB is controlled by the Major League Baseball Constitution that has undergone several incarnations since 1876 with the most recent revisions being made in 2005. Under the direction of Commissioner of Baseball (currently Bud Selig), Major League Baseball hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts. As is the case for most North American sports leagues, the "closed shop" aspect of MLB effectively prevents the yearly promotion and relegation of teams into and out of the Major League by virtue of their performance. Private enterprises is mostly funded by Major league Baseball, but also partially funded directly by public taxes. Major League Baseball maintains a unique, controlling relationship over the sport, including most aspects of minor league baseball. This is due in large part to a 1922 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Federal Baseball Club v. National League, which held that baseball is not interstate commerce and therefore not subject to federal antitrust law. This ruling has been weakened only slightly in subsequent years.[2][3]

The production/multimedia wing of MLB is New York-based MLB Advanced Media, which oversees MLB.com and all 30 of the individual teams' websites. Its charter states that MLB Advanced Media holds editorial independence from the League itself, but it is indeed under the same ownership group and revenue-sharing plan. MLB Productions is a similarly-structured wing of the league, focusing on video and traditional broadcast media.

Contents

History of Major League Baseball

Main article: History of baseball in the United States

Rise of Major League Baseball

In 1870, a schism developed between professional and amateur ballplayers. The NABBP split into two groups. The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players operated from 1871 through 1875, and is considered by some to have been the first major league. Its amateur counterpart disappeared after only a few years.

The National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, which still exists, was established in 1876 after the National Association proved ineffective. The emphasis was now on "clubs" rather than "players". Clubs now had the ability to enforce player contracts, preventing players from jumping to higher-paying clubs. Clubs in turn were required to play their full schedule of games, rather than forfeiting scheduled games once out of the running for the league championship, as happened frequently under the National Association. A concerted effort was made to reduce the amount of gambling on games which was leaving the validity of results in doubt.

At the same time, a "gentlemen's agreement" was struck between the clubs to exclude non-white players from professional baseball, a bar that remained until 1947. It is a common misconception that Jackie Robinson was the first African-American major-league ballplayer; he was actually only the first after a long gap. Moses Fleetwood Walker and his brother Welday Walker were unceremoniously dropped from major and minor-league rosters in the 1880s, as were other African-Americans in baseball. An unknown number of African-Americans played in the major leagues by representing themselves as Indians, or South or Central Americans. And a still larger number played in the minor leagues and on amateur teams as well. In the majors, however, it was not until the signing of Robinson (in the National League) and Larry Doby (in the American League) that baseball began to remove its color bar.

The early years of the National League were tumultuous, with threats from rival leagues and a rebellion by players against the hated "reserve clause", which restricted the free movement of players between clubs. Competitive leagues formed regularly, and also disbanded regularly. The most successful was the American Association (1881–1891), sometimes called the "beer and whiskey league" for its tolerance of the sale of alcoholic beverages to spectators. For several years, the National League and American Association champions met in a postseason championship series—the first attempt at a World Series.

The Union Association survived for only one season (1884), as did the Players League (1890), an attempt to return to the National Association structure of a league controlled by the players themselves. Both leagues are considered major leagues by many baseball researchers because of the perceived high caliber of play (for a brief time anyway) and the number of star players featured. However, some researchers have disputed the major league status of the Union Association, pointing out that franchises came and went and contending that the St. Louis club, which was deliberately "stacked" by the league's president (who owned that club), was the only club that was anywhere close to major league caliber.

National League Baltimore Orioles, 1896
National League Baltimore Orioles, 1896

In fact, there were dozens of leagues, large and small, at this time. What made the National League "major" was its dominant position in the major cities, particularly New York City, the edgy, emotional nerve center of baseball. The large cities offered baseball teams national media distribution systems and fan bases that could generate revenues enabling teams to hire the best players in the country.

A number of other leagues, including the venerable Eastern League, threatened the dominance of the National League. The Western League, founded in 1893, became particularly aggressive. Its fiery leader Ban Johnson railed against the National League and promised to build a new league that would grab the best players and field the best teams. The Western League began play in April 1894 with teams in Detroit (the only league team that has not moved since), Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Sioux City and Toledo. Prior to the 1900 season, the league changed its name to the American League and moved several franchises to larger, strategic locations. In 1901 the American League declared its intent to operate as a major league.

The resulting bidding war for players led to widespread contract-breaking and legal disputes. One of the most famous involved star second baseman Napoleon Lajoie, who in 1901 went across town in Philadelphia from the National League Phillies to the American League Athletics. Barred by a court injunction from playing baseball in the state of Pennsylvania the next year, Lajoie was traded to the Cleveland team, where he played and managed for many years.

The war between the American and National 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. On September 5 1901 Patrick T. Powers, president of the Eastern League announced the formation of the second National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, the NABPL or "NA" for short.

These leagues did not consider themselves "minor" -- a term that did not come into vogue until St. Louis Cardinals GM Branch Rickey pioneered the farm system in the 1930s. Nevertheless, these financially troubled leagues, by beginning the practice of selling players to the more affluent National and American leagues, embarked on a path that eventually led to the loss of their independent status.

Ban Johnson had other designs for the NA. While the NA continues to this day, he saw it as a tool to end threats from smaller rivals who might some day want to expand in other territories and threaten his league's dominance.

After 1902 both leagues and the NABPL signed a new National Agreement which achieved three things:

  • First and foremost, it governed player contracts that set up mechanisms to end the cross-league raids on rosters and reinforced the power of the hated reserve clause that kept players virtual slaves to their baseball masters.
  • Second, it led to the playing of a "World Series" in 1903 between the two major league champions. The first World Series was won by Boston of the American League.
  • Lastly, it established a system of control and dominance for the major leagues over the independents. There would not be another Ban Johnson-like rebellion from the ranks of leagues with smaller cities. Selling player contracts was rapidly becoming a staple business of the independent leagues. During the rough and tumble years of the American-National struggle, player contracts were violated at the independents as well: Players that the team had developed would sign deals with the National or American leagues without any form of compensation to the indy club.

The new agreement tied independent contracts to the reserve-clause national league contracts. Baseball players were a commodity, like cars. $5,000 bought your arm or your bat, and if you didn't like it, find someplace that would hire you. It set up a rough classification system for independent leagues that regulated the dollar value of contracts, the forerunner of the system refined by Rickey and used today.

It also gave the NA great power. Many independents walked away from the 1901 meeting. The deal with the NA punished those other indies who had not joined the NA and submitted to the will of the 'majors.' The NA also agreed to the deal to prevent more pilfering of players with little or no compensation for the players' development. Several leagues, seeing the writing on the wall, eventually joined the NA, which grew in size over the next several years.

The dead ball era

Cy Young, 1911 baseball card
Cy Young, 1911 baseball card
Main article: Dead ball era

At this time the games tended to be low scoring, dominated by such pitchers as Walter Johnson, Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, and Grover Cleveland Alexander to the extent that the period 1900–1919 is commonly called the "dead ball era". The term also accurately describes the condition of the baseball itself. Baseballs cost three dollars apiece, a hefty sum at the time, equaling approximately 65 inflation adjusted US dollars as of 2005; club owners were therefore reluctant to spend much money on new balls if not necessary. It was not unusual for a single baseball to last an entire game. By the end of the game, the ball would be dark with grass, mud, and tobacco juice, and it would be misshapen and lumpy from contact with the bat. Balls were only replaced if they were hit into the crowd and lost, and many clubs employed security guards expressly for the purpose of retrieving balls hit into the stands—a practice unthinkable today.

As a consequence, home runs were rare, and the "inside game" dominated—singles, bunts, stolen bases, the hit-and-run play, and other tactics dominated the strategies of the time.[4] Hitting methods like the Baltimore Chop were put into use to increase the number of infield singles.[5]

The foul strike rule was a major rule change that, in just a few years, sent baseball from a high-scoring game to one where scoring any runs became a struggle. Prior to this rule, foul balls were not counted as strikes: thus a batter could foul off a countless number of pitches with no strikes counted against him. This gave an enormous advantage to the batter. In 1901, the National League adopted the foul strike rule, and the American League followed suit in 1903.

The major leagues move west

Baseball had been in the West for almost as long as the National League and the American League had been around. It evolved into the Pacific Coast League, which included the Hollywood Stars, Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Oaks, Portland Beavers, Sacramento Solons, San Francisco Seals, San Diego Padres, Seattle Rainiers.

The PCL was huge in the West. A member of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, it kept losing these great players to the National and the American leagues for less than $8,000 a player.

The PCL was far more independent than the other "minor" leagues, and rebelled continuously against their Eastern masters. Clarence Pants Rowland, the President of the PCL, took on baseball commissioners Kenesaw Mountain Landis and Happy Chandler at first to get better equity from the major leagues, then to form a third major league. His efforts were rebuffed by both commissioners. Chandler and several of the owners, who saw the value of the markets in the West, started to plot the extermination of the PCL. They had one thing that Rowland did not: The financial power of the Eastern major league baseball establishment.

No one was going to back a PCL club building a major-league size stadium if the National or the American League was going to build one too, and potentially put the investment in the PCL ballpark into jeopardy.

Up to this time, major league baseball franchises had been largely confined to the northeastern United States, with the teams and their locations having remained unchanged from 1903 to 1952. The first team to relocate in fifty years was the Boston Braves, who moved to Milwaukee in 1953. In Milwaukee the club set attendance records, and more teams moved: the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore, and the Philadelphia Athletics to Kansas City.

Pitching dominance and rules changes

Graph showing the yearly number of runs per MLB game
Graph showing the yearly number of runs per MLB game

By the late 1960s, the balance between pitching and hitting had swung in favor of the pitchers. In 1968 Carl Yastrzemski won the American League batting title with an average of just .301, the lowest in history. That same year, Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain won 31 games — making him the last pitcher to win 30 games in a season. St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Bob Gibson achieved an equally remarkable feat by allowing an ERA of just 1.12.

In response to these events, major league baseball implemented certain rules changes in 1969 to benefit the batters. The pitcher's mound was lowered, and the strike zone was reduced.

In 1973 the American League, which had been suffering from much lower attendance than the National League, made a move to increase scoring even further by initiating the designated hitter rule.

The Power Age

While the introduction of steroids certainly increased the power production of greats there were other factors that drastically increased the power surge after 1994. The factors cited are: smaller sized ballparks than in the past, "juiced baseballs" implying that the balls are wound tighter thus travel further following contact with the bat, "watered down pitching" implying that lesser quality pitchers are up in the Major Leagues due to too many teams. Albeit that these factors did play a large role in increasing home run thus scoring totals during this time, others that directly impact ballplayers have an equally important role. Another such factor is better nutrition, as well as training and training facilities/equipment which can work with (or without) steroids to produce a more potent ballplayer and further enhance his skills.

Routinely in today's baseball age we see players reach 40 and 50 home runs in a season, a feat that even in the 1980s was considered rare. The need of pitchers to combat the rise in power will likely lead to a pitching revolution at some point in the future. Many modern baseball theorists believe that a new pitch, such as the infamous gyroball, will swing the balance of power back to the pitcher. However, the gyroball is still something of a phantom pitch--the only pitchers allegedly able to throw it are Daisuke Matsuzaka of the Boston Red Sox and a college pitcher named Joey Niezer. However, during the 2006 World Baseball Classic, Matsuzaka admitted that though he has tried to throw the gyroball, he cannot do so on a consistent basis.[6] A pitching revolution would not be unprecedented--several pitches have changed the game of baseball in the past, including the slider in the 50's and 60's and the split-fingered fastball in the 70's to 90's. Since the 1990s, the changeup has made a resurgence, being thrown masterfully by pitchers such as Trevor Hoffman, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Johan Santana.

Current Major League franchises

Main article: Current Major League franchises
Division Team Founded City Stadium Reference
American League
East Baltimore Orioles 19011 Baltimore, MD Oriole Park at Camden Yards [7]
Boston Red Sox 1901 Boston, MA Fenway Park [8]
New York Yankees 19012 Bronx, NY Yankee Stadium3, 4 [9]
Tampa Bay Rays 1998 St. Petersburg, FL Tropicana Field [10]
Toronto Blue Jays 1977 Toronto, ON Rogers Centre [11]
Central Chicago White Sox 1901 Chicago, IL U.S. Cellular Field [12]
Cleveland Indians 1901 Cleveland, OH Progressive Field [13]
Detroit Tigers 1901 Detroit, MI Comerica Park [14]
Kansas City Royals 1969 Kansas City, MO Kauffman Stadium [15]
Minnesota Twins 19015 Minneapolis, MN Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome6 [16]
West Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 1961 Anaheim, CA Angel Stadium of Anaheim7 [17]
Oakland Athletics 19018 Oakland, CA McAfee Coliseum9 [18]
Seattle Mariners 1977 Seattle, WA Safeco Field [19]
Texas Rangers 196110 Arlington, TX Rangers Ballpark in Arlington [20]
National League
East Atlanta Braves 187111 Atlanta, GA Turner Field [21]
Florida Marlins* 1993 Miami Gardens, FL Dolphin Stadium [22]
New York Mets 1962 Flushing, NY Shea Stadium13 [23]
Philadelphia Phillies 1883 Philadelphia, PA Citizens Bank Park [24]
Washington Nationals 196914 Washington, DC Nationals Park [25]
Central Chicago Cubs 1871 Chicago, IL Wrigley Field [26]
Cincinnati Reds 1882 Cincinnati, OH Great American Ball Park [27]
Houston Astros 1962 Houston, TX Minute Maid Park [28]
Milwaukee Brewers 196915 Milwaukee, WI Miller Park [29]
Pittsburgh Pirates 1882 Pittsburgh, PA PNC Park [30]
St. Louis Cardinals 1882 St. Louis, MO Busch Stadium16 [31]
West Arizona Diamondbacks 1998 Phoenix, AZ Chase Field [32]
Colorado Rockies 1993 Denver, CO Coors Field [33]
Los Angeles Dodgers 188317 Los Angeles, CA Dodger Stadium [34]
San Diego Padres 1969 San Diego, CA PETCO Park [35]
San Francisco Giants 188318 San Francisco, CA AT&T Park [36]
1 Milwaukee Brewers 1901; St. Louis Browns 1902-1953
2 Baltimore Orioles 1901-1902
3 To be replaced in 2009 by a new stadium also named "Yankee Stadium"
4 Hosting 2008 All-Star Game.
5 Washington Senators 1901-1960
6 To be replaced in 2010 by a new stadium currently named "Twins Ballpark"
7 Hosting 2010 All-Star Game.
8 located in Philadelphia 1901-1954, Kansas City 1955-1967
9 To be replaced in 2010-2012 by a new stadium named "Cisco Field"
10 Washington Senators 1961-1971
A graph showing the historical performance of the 30 Major League Baseball franchises
A graph showing the historical performance of the 30 Major League Baseball franchises
11 located in Boston 1876-1952; Milwaukee 1953-1965
13 To be replaced in 2009 by a new stadium named "Citi Field"
14 Montreal Expos 1969-2004
15 Seattle Pilots 1969
16 Hosting 2009 All-Star Game
17 located in Brooklyn 1890-1957
18 located in New York 1883-1957
* When the Marlins move out of Dolphin Stadium the team will be renamed the "Miami Marlins"

Major League Baseball uniforms

Main article: Baseball uniform

A baseball uniform is a type of uniform worn by baseball players, and sometimes by non-playing personnel, such as managers and coaches. It is worn to indicate the person's role in the game and, through use of logos and colors, to identify the two teams and officials.[37]

The New York Knickerbockers were the first baseball team to use uniforms, taking the field on April 4, 1849 in pants made of blue wool, white flannel shirts and straw hats.[38][39][40][38][41] The practice of wearing a uniform soon spread, and by 1900, all Major League teams had adopted them. By 1882, most uniforms included stockings, which covered the leg, from foot to knee and had different colors that reflected the different baseball positions.[42] In the late 1880s, the Detroit Wolverines and Washington Nationals of the National League and the Brooklyn Bridegrooms of the American Association were the first to utilise striped uniforms.[43][38]

A baseball team and their uniforms in the 1870s.
A baseball team and their uniforms in the 1870s.

Caps, or other types of headgear with eyeshades, have been a part of baseball uniforms from the beginning.[44][45] Baseball teams often wore full-brimmed straw hats or no cap at all since there was no official rule regrding headgear.[46] Completing the baseball uniform are cleats and stockings, both of which have also been around for a long time.

By the end of the 19th century, teams began the practice of wearing one of two different uniforms, one when they played in their own baseball stadium and a different one when they played on the road. It became common to wear white at home and one of gray, solid dark blue, or black on the road. An early examples of this is the Brooklyn Superbas, who started to use a blue pattern for their road uniforms in 1907.

All-Star Game

Early July marks the midway point of the season, during which a three day break is taken when the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is staged. The All-Star game pits players from the NL, headed up by the manager of the previous NL World Series team, against players from the AL, similarly managed, in an exhibition game. Since 1989, the designated hitter rule is used when the game is played in an AL ballpark; formerly no designated hitters played in the All-Star game. The 2002 contest ended in an 11-inning tie because both teams were out of pitchers, a result which proved highly unpopular with the fans. As a result, for a two-year trial in 2003 and 2004, the league which won the game received the benefit of home-field advantage in the World Series (four of the seven games taking place at their home park). That practice has since been extended indefinitely, since it has become popular with fans. The practice has upset purists over the previous format of the two leagues alternating home-field advantage for the World Series (especially considering that the NL has not won since 1996, thus they have not had home-field advantage in the World Series since 2001). The Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox took some advantage of the rule in 2004 and 2005 respectively, as each team started the Series with two home victories, giving them good momentum for a sweep (the Red Sox doing it again in 2007). However, the rule did not help the Yankees in 2003, as they lost the Series to Florida in 6 games, or the Detroit Tigers in 2006, as they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in 5 games.[47][48]

Since 1970, the eight position players for each team who take the field initially have been voted into the game by fans.[49] The fan voting had been cancelled since 1957 as a result of the Cincinnati ballot-box-stuffing scandal (a local newspaper had printed pre-voted ballots for fans to send in, resulting in seven of the eight positions going to Cincinnati players). The league overruled the vote, adding St. Louis' Stan Musial and Milwaukee's Henry Aaron to the team, and fan voting was eliminated until the 1970 season. In more recent years, internet voting has been allowed.

The remaining position players and all of the pitchers on each league's roster were, for a large number of years, solely at the discretion of that team's manager. In 2004, however, MLB instituted a system where some reserves and pitchers were selected by a vote of MLB players, and some were selected by the manager after consulting with the Commissioner's Office. Each person is allowed to vote 25 times. By MLB regulation, every team in the majors must have at least one designated all-star player, regardless of voting. This rule exists so that fans of every team have a player to watch for in the All-Star Game.

Post-season

Total World Series Championships
Rank Team Titles
1st New York Yankees 26
2nd St. Louis Cardinals 10
3rd Oakland Athletics 9
4th Boston Red Sox 7
5th Los Angeles Dodgers 6
T-6th Cincinnati Reds 5
T-6th Pittsburgh Pirates 5
T-6th San Francisco Giants 5
9th Detroit Tigers 4
T-10th Atlanta Braves 3
T-10th Baltimore Orioles 3
T-10th Chicago White Sox 3
T-10th Minnesota Twins 3
T-14th Toronto Blue Jays 2
T-14th New York Mets 2
T-14th Cleveland Indians 2
T-14th Florida Marlins 2
T-14th Chicago Cubs 2
T-19th Arizona Diamondbacks 1
T-19th Kansas City Royals 1
T-19th Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 1
T-19th Philadelphia Phillies 1
Further information:
World Series

When the regular season ends after the first Sunday in October (or the last Sunday in September), eight teams enter the post-season playoffs. Six teams are division champions; the remaining two "wild-card" spots are filled by the team in each league that has the best record but is not a division champion (best second-place team). Three rounds of series of games are played to determine the champion:

  1. American League Division Series and National League Division Series, each a best-of-five game series;
  2. American League Championship Series and National League Championship Series, each a best-of-seven game series played between the surviving teams from the ALDS and NLDS; and
  3. World Series, a best-of-seven game series played between the champions of each league.

The division winners are seeded 1-3 based on record. The wild-card team is the 4 seed, regardless of its record. The matchup for the first round of the playoffs is usually 1 seed vs. 4 seed and 2 seed vs. 3 seed, unless the wild-card team is from the same division as the 1 seed, in which case the matchup is 1 seed vs. 3 seed and 2 seed vs. 4 seed, as teams from the same division cannot meet in the 1st round. In the first and second round of the playoffs, the better seeded team has home-field advantage, regardless of record.

The team belonging to the league that won the mid-season All-Star Game receives home-field advantage in the World Series.

As all playoff series are split between the two teams' home fields, "home field advantage" does not play a significant role unless the series goes to its maximum number of games, in which case the final game takes place at the field of the team holding the advantage.

Tie-breaking procedures

  • One game tie-breakers are played between teams tied for a division or wildcard on the day after the season was scheduled to end. Contrary to what some believe, home field advantage is not determined by head to head record in the regular season. For example, in 1995, the Mariners and Angels played a one-game playoff to break a tie for the AL West championship. The Mariners hosted (and won) the one game playoff, but lost the season series 5 games to 7 games (excluding the one game playoff), and the system has not changed. Home field advantage in the game is determined by a series of coin tosses that occur a few weeks before the end of the season between teams that are close enough to each other in the standings where a tie becomes a significant possibility. If new situations occur (i.e. a team quickly rises in the standings making another tie possible) more coin tosses occur. The game is not played if both teams are guaranteed to go to the playoffs without the game, which is possible if the team that loses the game in a tie-breaker for the division would still go to the playoffs as a wildcard. If teams are tied for the wildcard (and both teams have a worse record than their division champion, whether in the same division or not), the tie-breaker is always necessary, since there is no other way they could go to the playoffs, since they did not win their division. Ties that do not need to be broken with an extra game (and three and four way ties) are broken as follows:
  • Two-way Intra division tie-breaker, with both teams already guaranteed a playoff spot with one as the wildcard and one as the division champion. The division title is awarded in the following priority:

1. The team with the best record in head to head play.
2. The team with the best overall record ignoring interleague play.
3. The team with the best record in the final 81 games of the season, ignoring interleague play.
4. The team with the best record in the final 82 games of the season, extending backward until the tie is broken (since teams in the same division play each other as many as 19 times, this step is guaranteed to break the tie. Interleague games are skipped and ignored in this process.)

The loser of this tie-breaker goes to the playoffs as the wildcard team.

  • Three way tie for the division or wildcard

-If the three teams have identical records against each other in the regular season, the office of the commissioner conducts a draw with the teams designated as "team A," "team B," and "team C"

-If the teams do not have identical records against one another, and one team has a best record against both other teams, and another team has a winning record against the final team, the first team shall get the first pick of their team designation, the second team gets the second pick, and the last team is assigned the remaining designation.

-If team 1 has a better record against both of the other teams, and the two other teams have the same record against each other, then team 1 would get the first pick for team designation, and the other teams would draw lots. The winner of the draw would get the second pick, and the loser of the draw would be assigned the remaining designation.

-If two teams have the same record against each other, and both have a better record than the last team. The first two teams draw lots, with the winner choosing their designation first, the loser of the draw picking their designation second and the final team being assigned the remaining designation.

-If each team has a winning record against one other team in the three team group, and a losing record against the other team in the three team group, the priority for choosing designations shall be chosen based on overall winning percentage within the three team group, any ties in winning percentage within the three team group will be broken by drawing lots.

On day 1, "Team A" plays "Team B" at the ballpark of "Team A", the next day, the winner of the first game plays "Team C," with "Team C" on the road. The winner of the game on the second day advances to the playoffs

  • Three teams are tied, with two teams from the same division, tied for the lead, and another team from another division, with that team not having the best record in their division, but having a better record than all of the other non-division winners.

-The two teams in the same division play a one game playoff, with the winner declared the division champion, the next day, the loser of the first game, and the other team from the other division play each other, with the winner declared the wildcard.

  • A four-way tie for the division or the wildcard.

-The four teams draw lots, as "Team A," "Team B," "Team C," and "Team D." On the one day, "Team B" plays at "Team A," and "Team D" plays at "Team C." The next day the winners of these games play each other at the ballpark of the winner of the "Team A" vs "Team B" game.

  • The first and second seed have the same record, and one of the teams is in the division with the wildcard, and tie breakers are needed to determine seeding:

-The first seed goes to the team without the wildcard, because teams in the same division cannot play each other in the division series anyway (however, if these teams meet again in the LCS, they would be re-seeded based upon the two way intra-division tie-breaker).

  • The first and second seed have the same record, and neither team is in the division with the wildcard:

-Intradivision tiebreaker at the top of this section is used.

  • Three way tie among all division champions:

-The team with the best record against both of the other division champion is given the top seed with the remaining teams seeded as follows:

1.Best record in games against own division.
2.Best overall record in the regular season ignoring interleague play.
3. The team with the best record in the final 81 games of the season, ignoring interleague play.
4. The team with the best record in the final 82 games of the season, extending backward until the tie is broken (since teams in the same division play each other as much as 19 teams, this step guaranteed to break the tie, with interleague games skipped and ignored in this process.)

If neither team has a better record against the other teams, immediately go to above tie-breaker.[50]


MLB steroid policy

Over most of the course of Major League Baseball, steroid testing was never a major issue. However, after the BALCO steroid scandal, which involved allegations that top baseball players had used illegal performance-enhancing drugs, Major League Baseball finally decided to issue harsher penalties for steroid users. The policy, which was accepted by Major League Baseball players and owners, was issued at the start of the 2005 season and went as follows:

A first positive test resulted in a suspension of 10 games, a second positive test resulted in a suspension of 30 games, the third positive test resulted in a suspension of 60 games, the fourth positive test resulted in a suspension of one full year, and a fifth positive test resulted in a penalty at the commissioner’s discretion. Players were tested at least once per year, with the chance that several players could be tested many times per year.[51]

See: List of Major League Baseball players suspended for steroids

This program replaced the previous steroid testing program under which, for example, no player was even suspended in 2004. Under the old policy, which was established in 2002, a first-time offense would only result in treatment for the player, and the player would not even be named. The 2005 agreement changed this rule so that first-time offenders were named and suspended.[52]

In November 2005, MLB owners and players approved even tougher penalties for positive tests than the ones in place during the 2005 season. Under the new rules, a first positive test would result in a 50-game suspension, a second positive test would result in a 100-game suspension, and a third positive test would result in a lifetime suspension from MLB.[53]

These new penalties are much harsher than the previous ones. The new steroid policy brings MLB closer in line with international rules, as well as with the NFL, which has long taken a tough stance on those caught using steroids.

MLB's previous reluctance to take a hard line on drugs (as many other sports featured far stricter testing and penalties) was widely seen as one of the main reasons why baseball has been dropped from the Olympics, effective in 2012.

On March 30, 2006, Bud Selig launched an investigation on the alleged steroid use by players such as Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Mark McGwire and Gary Sheffield as the weight of books like Game of Shadows emerged. The inquiry into steroids' use in baseball is expected to go back no further than 2002, when MLB started testing players for performance-enhancing drugs. On December 13, 2007, former Sen. George Mitchell, who investigated this issue, released his report that has names of MLB Players that could, or have taken, performance-enhancing drugs such as steroids.

Major League Baseball ethnic demographics

At the start of the 2005 season, there were 750 players on opening day rosters including 204 Latin American Players, accounting for nearly 25 percent of the overall player base. The Dominican Republic had 91 players, followed by Venezuela with 46 and Puerto Rico with 34.[54]

MLB blackout policy

Main article: Major League Baseball blackout policy
MLB Blackout map
MLB Blackout map

Major League Baseball has several blackout rules.

A local broadcaster has priority to televise games of the team in their market over national broadcasters. For example, at one time TBS showed many Atlanta Braves games nationally and internationally in Canada. Fox Sports Net (FSN) also shows many games in other areas. If the Braves played a team that FSN or another local broadcaster showed, the local station will have the broadcast rights for its own local market, while TBS would have been blacked out in the same market for the duration of the game. A market that has a local team playing in a weekday ESPN or ESPN2 game and is shown on a local station will see ESPNEWS, or, in the past, another game scheduled on ESPN or ESPN2 at the same time (if ESPN or ESPN2 operates a regional coverage broadcasting and operates a game choice), or will be subject to an alternative programming feed. MLB's streaming Internet video service is also subject to the same blackout rules.

For example, Oregon residents reported about their situation. They're in the Oakland Athletics broadcast territory, but their cable systems don't carry the Athletics' games. And they're subject to blackouts of the games on Extra Innings and MLBTV.com, two sources of watching baseball games.[55] The original policy was created so local teams could protect their rights. However, reports like the ones in Oregon have grown resentment by the fans. Some outraged fans have sent a letter to Dish Network, demanding the blackout policy be removed.

Major League Baseball on television

Main article: Major League Baseball television contracts

Major League Baseball is in the transition to a new set of television contracts. The league has three current broadcast partners: FOX, ESPN and TBS.

It was announced on July 11, 2006 that FOX Sports will remain with MLB through 2013 and broadcast FOX Saturday Baseball throughout the entire season, rather than the previous May to September format.[56] FOX will also hold rights to the All-Star Game each season. FOX will also alternate League Championship Series broadcasts, broadcasting the American League Championship Series in odd-numbered years and the National League Championship Series in even-numbered years as part of the new contract. FOX will continue to broadcast all games of the World Series, which will begin on a Tuesday evening rather than the current Saturday evening format.

ESPN will continue to broadcast Major League Baseball through 2013 as well, beginning with national Opening Day coverage.[57] ESPN will continue to broadcast Sunday Night Baseball, Monday Night Baseball, Wednesday Night Baseball, and Baseball Tonight. ESPN also has rights to the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game each July.

TBS will air Sunday afternoon regular season games (non-exclusive) nationally from 2008 to 2013. In 2007, TBS began its exclusive rights to any tiebreaker games that determine division or wild card champions at the end of each regular season in the event of a tie with one playoff spot remaining, as well as exclusive coverage of the Division Series round of the playoffs.[58] TBS carries the League Championship Series that are not included under FOX's television agreement; TBS shows the National League Championship Series in odd-numbered years and the American League Championship Series in even-numbered years as part of the new contract through 2013.[59]

In January 2009, MLB plans to launch the MLB Network which will air 16 live games that year.[60]


International Broadcasting of Major League Baseball

See also

Further information: Category:Years in baseball

Players, ownership, ballparks and officials

Statistics, milestones and records

Post-season awards

In-season awards

Exhibition and playoffs

References

 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007)
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