How does baseball season work

The pre-season, or spring training , is really not much more than practice. The players report to a warm climate Florida or Arizona to get in shape for the coming season. Since pitchers have the bulk of the duty during a game, they also need a little longer to prepare. And since a pitcher is not much good without someone to catch the ball, pitchers and catchers report to spring training a week or so before the rest of the players do.

In early February, you'll hear die-hard baseball fans counting down the days until "pitchers and catchers. Each of the leagues is also broken into three divisions: East, Central and West. A much more immediate way to improve the Major League team is via Free Agency. When a player has been playing Major League baseball for a number of seasons five usually and reaches the end of his contract, he is able to "file for free agency" and effectively sign for whichever team offers him the most money assuming that's his priority, and it usually is!

The winter "off season" free agent signing period is often the most important time for determining a club's potential for success the following season. Free agency has only existed since the mid 's - before then a "reserve clause" existed which allowed clubs sole rights to a player, preventing him negotiating with other clubs.

Since the abolition of the reserve clause player salaries have leapt, and the current restriction on free-agency is only by agreement between team owners and the Players' Union.. The most common way a team can improve its roster during the season is via a trade, in which the rights to one or more players are traded to another team for the rights to one or more of their players and sometimes for cash. This becomes particularly frantic as the "Trading Deadline" approaches at the end of July.

A very common occurrence at the Trading Deadline is for a struggling team to "trade for prospects". With two thirds of the season gone, if a team isn't in the playoff race, then it may trade one or more of its "star players" who will probably be ageing, possibly heading for free agency, and possibly overpaid to a "contender" in exchange for "prospects" younger players, often at AA or AAA level who won't be useful now, but may be in a year or two.

They'll probably be cheaper as well - "salary dumping" is often a priority for a struggling team! The Trading Deadline is one of the key times of the season. A contender has to decide whether to mortgage some of the future to add one or two key players now, whilst a struggling team get the chance to accelerate their building for the future.

For a team on the margins of a playoff race they have big decisions to make - do they go for it or play safe? A veteran with more than ten years experience in the Major Leagues will normally have a "no-trade" clause in his contract, allowing him to veto such trades, though quite commonly he'll "waive" it given the trade is probably moving him to a more successful club with a chance of playing in the post-season.

This season they went back to the usual team format. As a reminder, the three division winners in each league advanced directly to the League Division Series.

The non-division winners with the two best records met in the Wild Card Game, with the winner advancing to face the team with the league's best record in the LDS. TB 5, BOS 0. BOS 14, TB 6. SF 4, LAD 0. LAD 9, SF 2. BOS 6, TB 4 They then embarked upon an expanded postseason. Nearly a year later, the pandemic persists, although ongoing vaccinations -- including many at Major League ballparks -- are providing hope.

That extends to both fans in terms of how many are allowed to attend games and players who once again have to abide by health and safety protocols. As vaccinations continue, though, restrictions are loosening. That will be true once again in , with the league sticking to its previously released schedule, which runs from April 1 through October 3. Unlike during the abbreviated campaign, clubs are not limited to playing opponents from the same region West, Central, East.

Each of the 30 teams is announcing plans regarding attendance as the season progresses, something that depends on evolving local policies and restrictions.

Therefore, some markets are able to have higher capacities than others. Stay tuned to MLB.