Every season MLB comes with a lot of action for the MLB fans. While there are some fantastic teams and there are some weaker ones too, the MLB schedule is designed to bring all at a competition in equal order. In this way, every team can feel the thrill of the MLB season and so can the fans.
What is MLB Schedule?
MLB is the league played among 2 different leagues. Those two leagues have 3 divisions with 5 teams each. In this way, the team division in MLB is easily done and it helps in setting matches up.
Now that the teams are divided a proper road map is needed so that each of the teams plays its matches without any type of conflicts with other teams.
For this, a Schedule is created that divides an equal number of games between every team.
How is the MLB Schedule created?
It is a tricky thing as every year a new schedule is created. Every team comes up for a new season with different team stats, so it is necessary that the Schedule made is fair enough.
So, the schedule has to be made for each of the MLB teams playing 162 games in the season.
There is a formula that contains the following components for designing the schedule:
- Same Division Scheduling
- Same League Scheduling
- Interleague Scheduling
By keeping these components in consideration, the schedule is created for a predetermined amount of games for every team to play against each other team.
MLB Schedule for the same division
So, the schedule-making process starts from making the schedule for the same division games. Here each of the teams has to play the other 4 teams in their division.
There are 19 games with each team which makes a total of 76 games for each team within the division. It means that out of those 162 total games per team, 76 will only be played with the teams with the same division.
MLB schedule for the same league
After the 76 games out of the 162 are scheduled for a team, the remaining 86 games are to be played within the league and interleague as well.
So, the next step includes finding scheduling the matches for the team with the teams from other divisions of the same league.
With 2 other divisions of 5 teams, each means that there will be 10 more teams to play with. However, the schedule is not made this way.
Here only 3 teams from the other divisions are selected to play 7 games each and 2 to play 6 games each meaning that there will be a total of 33 games with teams of one division making a total of 66 games with the teams of other divisions in the same league.
MLB interleague schedule
After the games above, 76 and 66 of the total 162 are done which means there are only 20 more games left to be scheduled
Teams playing in MLB
As there are 2 leagues in MLB and there are 3 divisions each in a league with 5 teams. Here are all the division-wise teams playing in MLB. As there are 15 teams and 20 games left, the following factors are taken into consideration:
- Geographical Rivals
- Split Rivals
- Division Rivals
The games between geographical rivals are only 4 out of 20. These are also among 22 out of 30 teams. On the other hand, the remaining 8 teams play 2 games(4 teams from each league).
However, these changes of the teams of two divisions draw each other.
In this case, there will be a total of 6 games between each of those teams. The remaining games are selected according to the division rotation done every year.
American League
The following are the teams per division in the American League.
East Division
The following are 5 teams of the East Division of the American League
- Baltimore Orioles: With 3 seasons won, their last win was in 1983
- Boston Red Sox: This team has an important historical presence in the MLB as they won their first season in the MLB.
- New York Yankees: it is the strongest team in the history of MLB with 27 wins.
- Tampa Bay Rays: Rays never won a season, but they were the finalists for the 2020 MLB.
- Toronto Blue Jays: Jays won 2 consecutive seasons in 1992 and 1993 but haven’t shown better performance after that.
Central Division
The following are 5 teams of the Central Division of the American League
- Chicago White Sox: The last win for White Sox was in 2005
- Cleveland Indians: The last time Indians appeared in the finals was in 2016.
- Detroit Tigers: Tigers were showing amazing performance in the late 1900s but their last final was in 2012.
- Kansas City Royals: it is the third strongest team in the history of MLB with 9 wins.
- Minnesota Twins: they only appeared 6 times in MLB finals out of which 3 times they won.
West Division
The following are 5 teams of the West Division of the American League
- Houston Astros: Astros have been showing improvement since 2017 as they won then and in 2019, they also made it to the finals.
- Los Angeles Angels: Angels have only been to finals once in 2002 and they won then.
- Oakland Athletics: They have won several titles and have a great historical MLB presence
- Seattle Mariners: It is a pretty weak team with no appearances in the finals yet.
- Texas Rangers: Rangers went to finals 2 times in 2010 and 2011 but they have not been able to make it to finals afterward.
National League
The following are the teams per division in the National League.
East Division
The following are 5 teams of the East Division of National League
- Atlanta Braves: Braves hold a great past in MLB, but the team is not that good now.
- Miami Marlins: Appeared in the finals 2 times and won.
- New York Mets: Mets have been to the finals 5 times and won 2 times.
- Philadelphia Phillies: Out of their 7 final appearances, they won 2 times with 2008 being the last.
- Washington Nationals: Nationals have their only victory and final appearance in 2019.
Central Division
The following are 5 teams of the Central Division of the National League
- Chicago Cubs: Cubs won their last final in 2016 and they have been the finalists 11 times out of which 3 times they won.
- Cincinnati Reds: It was a consistent team in the late 1900s but after 1990 they haven’t appeared for the finals a single time.
- Milwaukee Brewers: In the whole MLB career Brewers have only been to finals in 1982.
- Pittsburgh Pirates: A consistent team in the 1900’s but after 1979 they haven’t appeared for the finals a single time.
- St. Louis Cardinals: it is the second strongest team in the history of MLB with 11 wins.
West Division
The following are 5 teams of the West Division of the National League
- Arizona Diamondbacks: Established in 1998, they were stronger back then as they won in 2001 but haven’t shown the same great performance since then.
- Colorado Rockies: The Rockies made it to finals in 2007 for their only time.
- Los Angeles Dodgers: The winner of MLB 2020. It is one of the most consistent teams in MLB history.
- San Diego Padres: They have been finalists only 2 times. Other than that, their performance is only average.
- San Francisco Giants: with a seasonal win percentage of 0.4%, it is another consistent team with 8 wins. Their last win was in 2014
The following are all the teams playing in MLB this season.
How to check the MLB Schedule?
Checking the MLB schedule is not difficult at all. All you need to know is the team you need to know about, and the schedule will be available on several websites as well as on ours.
Moreover, if you are looking to see the overall schedule that will be available easily as well.
Conclusion
While the MLB matches are full of action, they could get even more interesting if you know all about those games. That you can keep track with the help of the MLB schedule.
You can know all that you need to know about this schedule with the facts shared here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which team won the MLB title last season?
The Los Angeles Dodgers won last season’s MLB title.
Who is the manager of Tampa Bay Rays?
Kelvin Cash is the manager of Tampa Bay Rays.
Has Tampa Bay Rays ever won the MLB title?
No, but they appeared as runners-up in the 2020 MLB Schedule final results.