Major League Baseball schedule

This account gives the length of the major league "championship season" schedule by league and year. During this era, there were a number of different leagues that would be deemed Major League. Prior to the first league schedule in 1877, member clubs scheduled their own matches by mutual arrangement, including championship games necessarily with member clubs, other games with members, and games with non-member clubs. Some may have practically dictated their arrangements with some others, but there was no central control or coordination. The listed years are those in which the league revised its schedule. For example, the National League (NL) scheduled 84 games during 1879, 1880, 1881, and 1882 – that is, four seasons from 1879, ending before 1883, the next listing. 1876 is listed here for convenience although the NL did not schedule games (see 1871 to 1876, below). National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (1871–1875) 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 though it happened, it was mainly due to clubs going out of business. This list shows the clubs that played the highest number of games in each season. The teams with the most games played often had higher attendance rates. :1871: 33 games (Mutual, New York) :1872: 58 games (Lord Baltimore) :1873: 60 games (Boston) :1874: 71 games (Boston) :1875: 86 games (Hartford) The leading numbers of games played to a decision were 33, 54, 59, 71, and 70 decisions; by the listed teams except the Mutuals in 1872. National League (first 25 years of 1876–present) The National League organized for 1876 on a different basis than the NAPBBP, 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 in its first season in 1876, 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. The others achieved 56 to 68 decisions with 64 to 66 for the four western teams as the teams from New York and Philadelphia (eastern) abandoned their schedule-concluding road trips. American Association (1882–1891) The AA expanded its schedule to 140 games two years before the National League did so. After 1891 this incarnation of the AA dissolved with four teams bought out and four others joining the NL, nominally creating one big league, the "National League and American Association" of 12 clubs. Union Association (1884) :1884: 112 games = 16 games × 7 opponents Players' League (1890) :1890: 140 games = 20 games × 7 opponents ==20th & 21st centuries ==

This account gives the originally announced length of the major league "championship season" schedule by league and year. This does not include later announced curtailments of play by war (1918) or by strikes and lockouts (1972, 1981, 1994). The schedules for 1995 were revised and shortened from 162 to 144 games, after late resolution of the strike that had begun in 1994 required a delay in the season to accommodate limited spring training. National League American League ==Recent season schedules==

Since 1998, there have been 30 major league teams with a single advance schedule for every season that comprises 2,430 games. Each team plays 162 games, 81 as the "home" team, 81 as the "visitor". (This is true even on the rare occasion when a game is played at a ballpark not home to either team.) Occasionally, the advance schedule is subsequently altered due to a game postponement or a one-game tie-breaker to determine which team will play in the postseason. 1998 to 2012 Before 2013, the schedule included 252 "interleague games" (224 games in 1998) that matched one team from the American League and one from the National League; the other 2,178 games (2,206 games in 1998) matched a pair from within one league. About half of the latter matched teams from within one division and about half matched teams from different divisions in one league. These interleague games were played from mid-to-late May to late June or early July. 1998 to 2004 There were different formats nearly every year between 1998 and 2004. From 1998 to 2000, every pair of division rivals across all six divisions saw 11 or 12 games. From 2001 to 2004, every pair of division rivals from the divisions with five teams (AL East, AL Central, NL East, and NL West) saw 19 games. The AL West, which had four teams, saw 19 or 20 games, while the NL Central, which had six teams, would vary between 16 and 19 games, depending on the season. 2005 to 2012 From 2005 to 2012, the NL Central, which still had six teams, saw every pair of division rivals play and where from 14 to 19 games. Within the other, smaller divisions of four or five, every pair of teams played 18 or 19 games. This period also saw MLB lax on having a formulaic, stringent numbers of games for teams playing other divisions with the same league (as they did from 1998 to 2004), resulting in a wide variety of pairings. For example, in 2012, against each of their 10 interdivision opponents, Pittsburgh Pirates had 2 pairings of 5 games, 3 pairings of 6 games, and 5 pairings of 7 games, while their division rival St. Louis Cardinals had 4 pairings of 6 games, 5 pairings of 7 games, and 1 pairing of 11 games. Every season in this period had various different combinations of pairings from season to season for the entire league. For example, the 2005 season saw the following pairings: Division games (1,091). There were 61 pairs of teams from within one division. • 25 pairings played 19 games each (475 games) • 21 pairings played 18 games each (378 games) • 13 pairings played 16 games each (208 games) – most NL Central pairings • 2 pairings played 15 games each (30 games) – two NL Central pairings • Total: 1,091 games. Other intraleague games (1,087). There were 150 pairs of teams from two different divisions within one league. • 23 pairings played 10 games each (230 games) • 15 pairings played 9 games each (135 games) • 8 pairings played 8 games each (64 games) • 34 pairings played 7 games each (238 games) • 70 pairings played 6 games each (420 games) • Total: 1,087 games. Interleague play The season saw the introduction of regular season interleague play, consisting of 50 three-game series in the East and Central divisions and 16 four-game series in the West divisions. The season saw 56 three-game series and 28 two-game series across all divisions, 18 of said two-game series were home-and-home (only in the East and West divisions). From the season to the season, the schedule for interleague play comprised 84 three-game series, divided as six series (18 games) for each of fourteen AL teams and between four and six for each of sixteen NL teams. Among the 224 interleague pairs of teams, there were several matchups that were scheduled in two three-game series "home-and-home", or one at each home ballpark. While some of these were one-off for scheduling purposes, many of these were held nearly every season. Many of these special "home-and-home" series found their purpose because the teams were either in the same city or metro area, neighboring cities, teams which wholly or partially shared territorial rights, or, in the case of Canada, were between the country's only two teams. Some repeating matchups were based on greater distances and existed for scheduling reasons (such as Seattle vs. San Diego). These special local and regional series accounted for anywhere from 9 to 14 matchups for a total of 54 to 84 interleague games each season (36 interleague games in 1998 resulting from 9 "home-and-home" 2-game-each matchups), The other 168 to 198 interleague games (188 in 1998) were largely determined by rotation. From the onset of interleague play in 1997 through , play was restricted to corresponding divisions (ex. AL East division vs NL East). saw the relaxing of this restriction, and saw the first season in which non-corresponding divisions played. From through saw a consistent cycle where divisions from opposing leagues would play each other every three years. Due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic), the , , and seasons would break the pattern of this cycle. would see the first season that every team played every other team, regardless of league. Divisional pairings before 2023 were: 9/11 rescheduling The 2001 season was suspended for one week due to the September 11 terrorist attacks and resulting disruptions in travel, resulting in games scheduled for September 11–16 being rescheduled to the first week of October and the playoffs and World Series being rescheduled one week later than their originally planned dates. This resulted in the World Series continuing into early November for the first time. 2013–2017 Schedule changes for 2013, precipitated by realignment that created two equal-sized leagues of 15 teams each, gave every team 20 interleague games. 2020 Due to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic the start of the season was delayed until July 23. Each team would only play 60 games this season and every game will be against the teams in their division and teams in the corresponding division of the other league. In the shortened 2020 season, the Central divisions' usual rivalry matchups were altered. The Pittsburgh Pirates played six games against the Cleveland Indians and the Cincinnati Reds played six games against the Detroit Tigers instead of facing off in their usual rivalries, though the Pirates and Tigers still played a 3-game set and the Reds and Indians played a 4-game set. This was done to reduce travel in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 2023 Under the collective bargaining agreement reached in March 2022, every team plays every other team regardless of league under the new balanced schedule. A team plays 13 games against each of the 4 opponents within its division (52 games), as well as 6 games each against 6 of the other 10 opponents within its own league and 7 games each against 4 of the other 10 opponents within its own league (64 games). Interleague play consisted of a four-game home and away series against the geographic rival and a single three-game series against the other 14 interleague opponents (46 games), with location to rotate every year. 2025–2026 Starting in 2025, yearly matchups against interleague rivals were expanded from four games to six, with two sets of matchups against intraleague opponents being reduced from seven games to six to accommodate. Additionally, a new "MLB Rivalry Weekend" was revealed, with the inaugural edition taking place in the third weekend in May featuring all 30 teams playing a designated rival. Most of the rivalries were carried over from the 2023 & 2024 set of "natural rivalries", with the exception of four (). • Atlanta Braves v. Boston Red Sox • Baltimore Orioles v. Washington Nationals (Beltway Series) • New York Mets v. New York Yankees (Subway Series) • Miami Marlins v. Tampa Bay Rays (Citrus Series) • Detroit Tigers v. Toronto Blue Jays • Philadelphia Phillies v. Pittsburgh Pirates (Phillies–Pirates rivalry) • Chicago Cubs v. Chicago White Sox (Crosstown Series) • Cincinnati Reds v. Cleveland Guardians (Ohio Cup) • Kansas City Royals v. St. Louis Cardinals (I-70 Series) • Milwaukee Brewers v. Minnesota Twins (Border Battle) • Athletics v. San Francisco Giants (Bay Bridge Series) • Arizona Diamondbacks v. Colorado Rockies • Houston Astros v. Texas Rangers (Lone Star Series) • Los Angeles Angels v. Los Angeles Dodgers (Freeway Series) • San Diego Padres v. Seattle Mariners (Vedder Cup) ==Time of first pitch==

Start of Major League Baseball games depends on days of the week, game number in series, holidays, and other factors. As of 2021, most games start at 6:30 p.m., 7 p.m., or 7:30 p.m. in the local time zone, so there are more night games than day games even though baseball is traditionally played during the day. The reason why there are more night baseball games is to attract more fans to ballparks as well as viewers from home because most fans would be at work or school during the day. On Mondays (excluding Opening Day and holidays), Tuesdays, and Fridays, games are almost exclusively played at night except for Cubs home games. The last game of the series before departing for another series in another city the next day, are often day games, mainly Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, with more day games on the Pacific time zone, especially with teams in the Eastern or Central time zone. On Sundays, usually all but one are day games, with the final game reserved for ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. As of 2022, most Sunday afternoon games start at 1 p.m. or 1:30 p.m. in the local time zone. About half of Saturday games are day games (1, 2 or 4 p.m. ET). In some markets, Saturday night games start an hour earlier than usual night start times, but other cities start Saturday night games at the same time as weeknight games. In conclusion, weekday games are only played at night except for final games of series while many weekend games are played during the day. First pitch typically occurs between 5 and 10 minutes past the hour, in order to allow time for pre-game ceremonies. Since 2021, MLB has implemented NFL-style flexible scheduling procedures for the final four weeks of each season for ESPN Sunday night and Fox Thursday or Saturday games on national television. Networks release their schedules without September games listed so to ensure games with playoff implications are broadcast on national television. Washington Nationals home games played on the Fourth of July and Boston Red Sox home games played on the local Patriots' Day holiday start at 11 a.m. in order to coincide with the events of the two cities that are scheduled to take place on the two respective days. These games, and starting in 2022, MLB Sunday Leadoff games are usually the only games to start before noon local time during the season. (Sunday Leadoff games are only in Eastern time zone, with the Central time zone being added in 2023.) Since 2015, the 162nd game of the regular season is usually scheduled on the final Sunday of September or first Sunday of October, and each game always starts at 3 p.m. ET regardless of time zone. MLB hoped that this would add excitement and drama during the final day, and also limit teams' ability to rest starters at the last minute based on early game results. ==Explanatory notes==