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Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in professional baseball in North America. More specifically, Major League Baseball ("MLB") refers to the entity that operates North America's two top leagues, the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure which has existed between them since 1920. Major League Baseball is governed by the Major League Constitution , an agreement that has undergone several incarnations since 1920, with the most recent revisions being made in 2001. Major League Baseball, under the direction of its Commissioner, hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts. The 'closed shop' aspect of MLB effectively prevents the yearly promotion and demotion of teams into the Major League by virute of their performance (as, for example, in the English football league system, where the bottom three teams in the highest league are demoted to a lower league, and the top three from the second highest league move into the top league).
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 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."
1 Current Major Leagues
The Major League season generally runs from early April through the end of September. Players and teams prepare for the season in spring trainingBaseball Spring training in Major League Baseball is a series of exhibition games which precedes the regular season. It serves the purpose of both auditioning players for final roster/position spots and giving players practice prior to competitive play., primarily in FloridaFlorida is a southern state in the United States. It is known as the Sunshine State. Florida" is a Spanish adjective which means "flowery". It was discovered by Spanish explorers during the Easter season, which is called Pascua Florida in Spanish. Postal and ArizonaArizona was the 48th state admitted to the United States and is part of the Southwest United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, south and east of the Colorado River, bordering New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California and Mexico. Its major cities ar, during February and March.
1.1 Teams and schedule
In all there are 30 teams in the two leagues: 16 in the elder National League ("NL") and 14 in the American League ("AL"). Each has its teams split into three divisions grouped generally by geography and styled "East," "Central," and "West," respectively.
Each team's regular season consists of 162 games, a duration established in 19611961 (As MAD Magazine pointed out on its first cover for the year) was the first "upside-down" year i. one that looked the same upside down since 1881, and the last until 6009. Events January January 1 The farthing coin, used since the 13th century, cease. From 1898Events January 1 New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island. January 13 Emile Zola's J'accus to 1960Events January-February January 1 Independence of Cameroon January 9 Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt January 11 Chad declares its independence. January 14 Ralph Chubb, the gay poet and printer, dies at Fair Oak Cottage in Hampshire. January 23, a 154-game schedule was played. Games are played predominantly against teams within each league through an unbalanced schedule which heavily favors divisional play. In 1997 Major League Baseball introduced interleague play, which was criticized by the sport's purists but has since maintained popularity with casual fans.
