Major
Leagues
Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of professional
baseball in the United States and Canada. Specifically,
Major League
Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League
and the American League by a joint organizational structure that has
developed gradually between them since 1901.
In 2000, the two leagues ceased to be separate legal entities, with the
commissioner's office assuming all responsibilities for running MLB. MLB
effectively operates as a single league and as such it constitutes one
of the major professional sports leagues of the United States and
Canada. It is currently composed of 30 teams — twenty-nine in the United
States and one in Canada. In conjunction with the International Baseball
Federation, MLB also manages the World Baseball Classic. Start your
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Each season consists of 162 games per team, which typically begins on
the first Sunday in April and ends on the first Sunday in October, with
the postseason played in October and sometimes into 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. Use of the DH rule in inter-league play and
the World Series is determined by the home team's league rules. As of
2010, the All-Star Game uses the DH rule regardless of location.
Several other defunct leagues are officially considered to be major, and
their statistics and records are included with those of the two current
Major Leagues. These include the Union Association (1884), the Players
League (1890) and the Federal League (1914–1915). In the late 1950s, a
serious attempt was made to establish a third major league, the
Continental League, but that league never played. Several Negro League
players have been enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. However, the
Negro Leagues are not officially considered major, primarily because the
statistical record is incomplete.
Japanese professional baseball, divided into the Pacific League and the
Central League, are not officially considered major leagues. No Japanese
players have been inducted into the Hall of Fame; however, Sadaharu Oh
is famous on both sides of the Pacific for holding the all-time
unofficial world record for career home runs: 868.
The current MLB regular season is a 162-game schedule, organized
typically 3-game series, with occasional 2- or 4-game series, and the
rare 5-game series. Postponed games or continuations of suspended games
can result in an ad hoc 1-game or 5-game series. A team's series are
organized into homestands and road trips that group multiple series
together. Teams generally play games six days per week, commonly having
Monday or Thursday as an off day. Frequently, games are scheduled at
night, but during the vacation months of June, July, and August, more
day games are played.
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