2024 Major League Baseball season
| 2024 MLB season | |
|---|---|
| League | Major League Baseball |
| Sport | Baseball |
| Duration | March 20 – October 30, 2024 |
| Games | 162 |
| Teams | 30 |
| TV partner(s) | Fox/FS1 TBS/TruTV ESPN/ABC MLB Network |
| Streaming partner(s) | Max Apple TV+ The Roku Channel ESPN+ |
| Draft | |
| Top draft pick | Travis Bazzana |
| Picked by | Cleveland Guardians |
| Regular season | |
| Season MVP | AL: Aaron Judge (NYY) NL: Shohei Ohtani (LAD) |
| Postseason | |
| AL champions | New York Yankees |
| AL runners-up | Cleveland Guardians |
| NL champions | Los Angeles Dodgers |
| NL runners-up | New York Mets |
| World Series | |
| Champions | Los Angeles Dodgers |
| Runners-up | New York Yankees |
| World Series MVP | Freddie Freeman (LAD) |
The 2024 Major League Baseball season (MLB) began on March 20–21 with a two-game series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres held in Seoul, South Korea, before the regular season proper run from March 28 to September 30.[1][2] The 94th All-Star Game was played on July 16 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas,[3] with the American League winning, 5–3.[4] The postseason then began on October 1 and concluded with Game 5 of the World Series on October 30.[5] Going into the season, the defending World Series champions were the Texas Rangers from the 2023 season. During the offseason, the Oakland Athletics were approved by MLB owners to relocate to Las Vegas in 2028.[6][7] It was also the team's final season in Oakland as they left the Oakland Coliseum to temporarily play at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento for three years.[8]
Only two teams were unable to complete the entire 162-game regular season schedule, as the game between the Houston Astros and the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field on September 29 was scrapped due to rain and never made up, owing to scheduling constraints and the game being inconsequential to the playoffs. It would be the first time since 2021 that a few teams played more regular season games than the others.[9] This cancellation led to a scenario where had the Astros and Mets both won their respective pennants, the Mets would have home field advantage by a half game. Since the Astros held the superior head to head record, this means that the cancellation could have potentially decided home field advantage in the World Series (as if the game was played and the Astros won, the Astros would have held the advantage). However, neither team would make the title series, making the potential moot.
It was also the first season since 2014 that no team won at least 100 games (not counting the shortened 2020 season).[10][11]
With their finish of 41–121, the Chicago White Sox achieved the record for most losses in the Modern Era (since 1901), surpassing the New York Mets of 1962.[12]
Schedule
[edit]On July 13, 2023, Major League Baseball released its 2024 schedule. There were 162 games scheduled for all teams. As has been the case since 2023, each team was scheduled to play 13 games against their division rivals, totaling 52 games. Each team would play six games against six opponents and seven games against four opponents in the same league for a total of 64 games. Each team would also play 46 interleague games, including a four-game home-and-home series against their designated interleague rival.[13][1]
As part of the MLB World Tour, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres opened the season at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on March 20–21, in the first-ever MLB regular season games played in South Korea. Opening Day in North America occurred on March 28, with all but four clubs in action with the