Major Leagues

By Patrick Mondout

Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in professional baseball in the world. More specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the entity that operates North American professional baseball's two major leagues, the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure which has existed between them since 1903. On an organizational level, MLB effectively operates as a single "league", and as such it constitutes one of the major professional sports leagues. The term "Major League" can also refer to some now-defunct leagues that either preceded or existed alongside the current AL and NL (see below).

Major League Baseball is governed by the Major League Baseball Constitution, an agreement that has undergone several incarnations since 1876 then called the NL Constitution, with the most recent revisions being made in 2005. Major League Baseball, under the direction of its Commissioner, Bud Selig, 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 demotion of teams into the Major League by virtue of their performance.

MLB also 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 declared baseball is not considered interstate commerce (and therefore not subject to federal antitrust law), despite baseball's own references to itself as an "industry" rather than a "sport." No other interstate commerce besides baseball is allowed to operate above the law. That football and basketball do not share such protection (Congress  has threatened on occasion to introduce legislation removing the exemption only to be showered with campaign funds from Major League owners) gives some idea how much money MLB has spent on Capital Hill.

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.

Current Major Leagues

The Major League regular season runs from late March or early April to late September or early October. Players and teams prepare for the season in spring training, primarily in Arizona and Florida, during February and March. Three rounds of playoffs follow the regular season, culminating in the World Series in late October or early November.

At the time of writing the Commissioner of Baseball, Bud Selig, has often floated the idea of international expansion and realignment of the major leagues. At the moment, however, the major leagues are each split into three divisions, and structured as listed below.

National League West

• Arizona Diamondbacks enfranchised 1998
• Colorado Rockies enfranchised 1993
• Los Angeles Dodgers enfranchised 1884 as the Brooklyn Atlantics in American Association, joined National League (1890), moved to Los Angeles (1958)
• San Diego Padres enfranchised 1969
• San Francisco Giants enfranchised 1883 in New York, moved to San Francisco (1958)

National League Central

• Chicago Cubs enfranchised 1874 in National Association, joined National League as Charter Member (1876)
• Cincinnati Reds enfranchised 1882 in American Association, joined National League (1890)
• Houston Astros enfranchised 1962
• Milwaukee Brewers enfranchised 1969 as the Seattle Pilots in American League, moved to Milwaukee (1970), joined N.L. (1998)
• Pittsburgh Pirates enfranchised 1882 in American Association, joined National League (1887)
• St. Louis Cardinals enfranchised 1882 in American Association, joined National League (1892)

National League East

• Atlanta Braves enfranchised 1871 as the Boston Red Stockings (or Red Caps) in National Association, joined National League as Charter Member (1876), moved to Milwaukee (1953) and to Atlanta (1966)
• Florida Marlins enfranchised 1993
• New York Mets enfranchised 1962
• Philadelphia Phillies enfranchised 1883
• Washington Nationals enfranchised 1969 as the Montreal Expos, moved to Washington (2005)

American League West

• Anaheim Angels enfranchised 1961
• Oakland Athletics enfranchised 1901 in Philadelphia, moved to Kansas City (1955) and to Oakland (1968)
• Seattle Mariners enfranchised 1977
• Texas Rangers enfranchised 1961 as the Washington Senators, moved to Dallas-Fort Worth (1972)

American League Central

• Chicago White Sox enfranchised 1894 as the Sioux City Cornhuskers, moved to St. Paul (1895) and to Chicago (1900)
• Cleveland Indians enfranchised 1894 as the Grand Rapids Rustlers, moved to Cleveland (1900)
• Detroit Tigers enfranchised 1894
• Kansas City Royals enfranchised 1969
• Minnesota Twins enfranchised 1901 as the Washington Senators, moved to Minneapolis-St. Paul (1961)

American League East

• Baltimore Orioles enfranchised 1894 as the Milwaukee Brewers, moved to St. Louis (1902) and to Baltimore (1954)
• Boston Red Sox enfranchised 1901
• New York Yankees enfranchised 1901 as the Baltimore Orioles, moved to New York (1903)
• Tampa Bay Devil Rays enfranchised 1998
• Toronto Blue Jays enfranchised 1977

In all there are 30 teams in the two leagues: 16 in the older National League ("NL") and 14 in the American League ("AL"). The leagues do not have the same number of teams because 15 teams in each league would force interleague play every day. Each has its teams split into three divisions grouped generally by geography. They are (number of teams in each division in parenthesis): NL East (5), NL Central (6), NL West (5), AL East (5), AL Central (5) and AL West (4).

Each team's regular season consists of 162 games, a duration established in 1961 in the American League and 1962 in the National League. From 1904 into the early 1960s, except for 1919, a 154-game schedule was played in both leagues (7 opponents X 22 games apiece). Expansion from 8 to 10 teams in each league in the early 1960s resulted in a revised schedule of 162 games (9 opponents X 18 games apiece, initially) in their expansion years, for the American in 1961 and the National in 1962. The number of games per opponent now varies depending on various factors, but the total number of games has been kept at 162. (Learn more about the history of MLB schedule lengths)

Unplanned shortened seasons were played in 1918 due to the United States entering World War I, and in 1972, 1981, 1994 and 1995 due to player strikes and lockouts. A 140 game schedule (7 X 20) was played in 1919, and the schedule before 1904 varied from year to year.

Games are played predominantly against teams within each league through an unbalanced schedule which heavily favors intra-divisional play. In 1997 Major League Baseball introduced interleague play, which was criticized by the sport's purists but has since proven popular with most fans. The interleague games are confined to the mid-summer months. Typically many intra-division games are scheduled toward the end of the season, anticipating the possibility of close divisional races and heightened fan interest.

Each year in June, Major League Baseball conducts a draft for first year players who have never signed a Major or Minor League contract. The MLB Draft is the least followed of the four main professional sports drafts.

For a detailed history of the length of the regular season, see Major League Baseball season.

Major League Race and Origin

At the start of the 2006 season, there were 744 players on opening rosters, of which were:
582 (78%) US-born (including Puerto Rico)
162 (22%) foreign-born
119 (24%) Latin American (76 from the Dominican Republic, 43 from Venezuela)
476 (64%) Caucasian
75 (10%) black
31 (4%) Latino
14 (2%) Asian

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. 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 (four of the seven games of that year's World Series taking place at their home park). The 2005 contest, played in Detroit, followed this format, and it is expected that it will remain that way until the MLB says otherwise, since it has become popular with fans but has upset purists over the previous format of the two leagues alternating home-field advantage every other year. Through the 2005 season, the AL has won all three contests with this rule. The Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox took full advantage of the rule, with both teams winning the World Series in a 4-0 sweep in 2004 and 2005, respectively.

Since the 1970s, the eight position players for each team who take the field initially have been voted into the game by fans. 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 managerafter consulting with the Commissioner's Office. 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.

Postseason

When the regular season ends after the first Sunday in October, eight teams enter the post-season playoffs. The first six teams are each league's three division champions. The remaining two "wild-card" spots are filled by each league's team that has the best regular season record and is not a division champion. 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 matchup for the first round of the playoffs is usually 1 seed vs. 4 seed, and 2 seed vs. 3 seed, unless this would result in a matchup of two teams from the same division, in which case the matchup is 1 seed vs. 3 seed and 2 seed vs. 4 seed. In the first and second round of the playoffs, the better seeded team has home-field advantage.

The team belonging to the league that won the mid-season All-Star game receives home-field advantage in the World Series. The 2006 All Star game will be played in Pittsburgh at PNC Park.

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 up to 10 game, a second positive test resulted in a suspension of 30 game, the third positive test resulted in a suspension of 60 game, 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 a many times per year. (See: List of Major League Baseball players suspended for steroids)

Historical Major Leagues

In 1969, the centennial of professional baseball, a commission chartered by Major League Baseball identified the following leagues as "major leagues". The list is sometimes disputed by baseball researchers. The MLB list included the following:

• 1876-present: National League of Professional Baseball Clubs (NL)
• 1882-1891: American Association (AA)
• 1884: Union Association (UA)
• 1890: Players League (PL)
• 1901-present: American League (AL)
• 1914-1915: Federal League (FL)

The other leagues that are most often cited as deserving "major league" status are:

• The National Association (NA, 1871-1875)
• The first year of the American League (1900)
• The Negro Leagues (primarily during the years from 1921-1946)
• The International Association (IA, 1877-1878)

More on the argument for and against can be found here.

References