The 2018 Major League Baseball season began on March 29, 2018, and is scheduled to end on September 30. The postseason will begin on October 2. The 2018 World Series is set to begin on October 23, and a potential Game 7 is scheduled for October 31.
The 89th Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be held on July 17 at Nationals Park, the home of the Washington Nationals.
Video 2018 Major League Baseball season
Schedule
As has been the case since 2013, all teams will play their four division opponents 19 times each for a total of 76 games. They will play six or seven games against each of the other 10 same-league opponents for a total of 66 games, and 20 inter-league games. The primary inter-league match-ups are AL East vs NL East, AL Central vs NL Central, and AL West vs NL West. Since "natural rivalry" matchups are part of the three-year divisional rotation, the schedule format for interleague games will be different from previous years. The 20 interleague games each team will play will consist of two three-game series (one home, one away) against its natural rival (total of six games), two two-game series (one home, one away) against each team for two other opponents (total of eight games), and a single three-game series against each team for the last two (one home, one away; total of six games).
Under the new collective bargaining agreement reached in December 2016, the regular season has been extended to 187 days in order to add four additional off-days for all teams. All teams were scheduled to play Opening Day, March 29-the earliest domestic start of a regular season in MLB history. There will no longer be a Sunday-night game on the final Sunday before the All-Star Game. A single, nationally televised afternoon game will be played on the Thursday after the All-Star Game (which for 2018, will be played between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs), before all other teams return from break the next day.
The Minnesota Twins and the Cleveland Indians played a two-game series at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico on April 17 and 18, while the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres played a three-game series at Estadio de Béisbol Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico from May 4 to 6. The Little League Classic game at BB&T Ballpark in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, coinciding with the Little League World Series, will return to the schedule. It will be played between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets on August 19.
Maps 2018 Major League Baseball season
Rule changes
Beginning in the 2018 season, MLB implemented new pace of play rules, which include limiting the number of mound visits for each team to six per nine innings. Teams will receive an additional visit for every extra inning played.
Standings
Division
Managerial changes
General managers
Offseason
Field managers
Offseason
In-season
League leaders
Updated through June 7
American League
National League
Milestones
Batters
- George Springer (HOU):
- With his Opening Day lead-off home run on March 29 against the Texas Rangers, Springer became the first player in Major League history to lead off back-to-back seasons with a home run.
- Joe Panik (SF):
- Became the first player in Major League history to hit a home run in consecutive 1-0 victories by his team.
- Adrian Beltre (TEX):
- With a second-inning double on April 5 against the Oakland Athletics, Beltre became the all-time leader in hits by a player from Latin America. Beltre, from the Dominican Republic, passed Rod Carew of Panama with the 3,054th hit in his career.
- Joe Mauer (MIN):
- Recorded his 2,000th career hit with a single in the seventh inning against the Chicago White Sox on April 12. He became the 287th player to reach this mark.
- Miguel Cabrera (DET):
- Recorded his 550th career double in the seventh inning against the Baltimore Orioles on April 19. He became the 30th player to reach this mark.
- Ryan Braun (MIL):
- Recorded his 1,000th career RBI with a pinch-hit home run in the sixth inning against the Miami Marlins on April 19. He became the 285th player to reach this mark.
- Rajai Davis (CLE):
- Recorded his 400th career stolen base by stealing second base in the third inning against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 3. He became the 75th player to reach this mark.
- Albert Pujols (LAA):
- Recorded his 3,000th career hit with a single in the fifth inning against the Seattle Mariners on May 4. He became the 32nd player to reach this mark. Pujols also becomes the fourth player in Major League history to collect 3,000 hits and hit 600 home runs in his career, joining Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Alex Rodriguez.
- Gleyber Torres (NYY):
- On May 25 Torres became the youngest player ever in American League history with home runs in four consecutive games. He homered against the Texas Rangers in back-to-back games as well as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
- Shin-Soo Choo (TEX):
- Became the all-time leader in Major League history for most home runs hit by a player from Asia by hitting his 176th career home run in the 10th inning against the Kansas City Royals on May 26. He passed Hideki Matsui for the record.
Pitchers
No-hitters
- Sean Manaea (OAK):
- Threw his first career no-hitter by defeating the Boston Red Sox 3-0 on April 21. Manaea walked two and threw one wild pitch, throwing 108 pitches, 75 for strikes, and striking out ten. One other runner reached on an error. There was also a controversial call in which a runner was called out for exiting the base path near first base, after having originally been called safe.
- Walker Buehler/Tony Cingrani/Yimi Garcia/Adam Liberatore (LAD):
- Threw the first combined no-hitter in franchise history by defeating the San Diego Padres 4-0 on May 4. Buehler walked three, throwing 93 pitches (59 for strikes), and struck out eight over six innings of work. Cingrani walked two, throwing 24 pitches (13 for strikes), and struck out one over one inning. Garcia did not walk a batter, throwing 14 pitches (11 for strikes), and struck out two over one inning. Liberatore did not walk a batter, throwing 15 pitches (10 for strikes), and striking out two over one inning. This was the 12th combined no-hitter in Major League history and the 23rd no-hitter in franchise history
- James Paxton (SEA):
- Threw his first career no-hitter by defeating the Toronto Blue Jays 5-0 on May 8. Paxton walked three, throwing 99 pitches, 64 for strikes, and striking out seven. This was the sixth no-hitter in Seattle Mariners' franchise history. This was the second no-hitter ever thrown by a Canadian-born player, joining Dick Fowler of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1945.
Other pitching accomplishments
- Max Scherzer (WAS):
- Became the second pitcher in the live-ball era (since 1920) to pitch a shutout, strike out at least 10 batters and steal a base in the same game by accomplishing this feat on April 9 against the Atlanta Braves. He joins Nolan Ryan who did this against the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 16, 1984.
- Became the first pitcher in Major League history to finish with no more than 61/3 innings and strike out 15 batters in a 5-4 win against the Philadelphia Phillies on May 6. He did not factor into the decision.
- Recorded his 150th career win with a victory against the Baltimore Orioles on May 30. He became the 259th player to reach this mark
- Roberto Osuna (TOR):
- On April 10, at the age of 23 years and 62 days, Osuna became the youngest pitcher in Major League history to acquire his 100th career save. Osuna was over a year younger than the previous record holder Francisco Rodríguez. Rodríguez had accomplished the feat at the age of 24 years and 246 days.
- Josh Hader (MIL):
- Became the first pitcher in Major League history to strike out eight batters in an outing of less than three innings. Hader struck out eight Cincinnati Reds on April 30 in 22/3 innings.
- Craig Kimbrel (BOS):
- Recorded his 300th career save by closing out a 6-5 win over the Texas Rangers on May 5. He is the 29th player, and the fastest, to reach this mark.
- Justin Verlander (HOU):
- Recorded his 2,500th career strike out by fanning Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels on May 16. He became the 33rd player to reach this mark.
- Cole Hamels (TEX):
- Recorded his 150th career win with a victory against the New York Yankees on May 22. He became the 258th player to reach this mark
Miscellaneous
- For the first time in Major League history there were more strikeouts in a month than hits in a month. At the end of April, there were 7,335 strikeouts and 6,992 hits.
- The Houston Astros broke the record for the fewest runs allowed since 1920 (live ball era) in a 50-game span with 126 runs. The previous record was 128 set by the Cleveland Indians in 1968.
Awards and Honors
Monthly Awards
Uniforms
Wholesale changes
The Detroit Tigers modified the Olde English D on the home jersey to match the D on the cap. This is the first major change to the Tigers' home jersey since 1934 (not counting the hiatus in 1960).
The Cleveland Indians have confirmed this will be final season using the Chief Wahoo logo on its uniforms. It will be replaced at the start of the 2019 season.
Alternate changes
The Oakland Athletics added a kelly green alternate jersey to commemorate the franchise's 50th anniversary in Oakland. The uniforms are used during every Friday home game.
The Washington Nationals added a second navy blue jersey to commemorate the team's hosting of the 2018 All-Star Game. The uniform features the script "Nationals" in white with red trim and numerals in red with white trim.
Both the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates replaced their camouflage uniforms with new white alternate jerseys featuring olive and military green logos, letters and numbers.
Anniversaries and special events
The following teams will wear commemorative patches for special occasions:
Other uniforms
The Astros wore gold-lettered uniforms at their home opener April 2 and April 3 to mark them winning the 2017 World Series title.
Players, managers and coaches wore #42 on April 15, the 71st anniversary of Jackie Robinson's debut in the majors.
The Orioles wore special caps and green uniforms on April 22, Earth Day.
The Reds and Diamondbacks wore Spanish language "Los Rojos" and "Los D-backs" uniforms May 5, Cinco de Mayo.
The Royals will wear an alternate uniform with a crown atop the R, and a cap with a crown instead of the "KC", on June 30 in Seattle.
Throwbacks
The Phillies will wear their 1980s powder blue uniforms for select Thursday home games.
The Athletics and White Sox wore 1968 throwbacks April 17 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Athletics' first season in Oakland.
The Tigers and Royals wore Negro Leagues throwbacks May 6. The Tigers wore the uniforms of the Detroit Stars, and the Royals wore the uniforms of the Kansas City Monarchs.
The Padres wore 1998 throwbacks May 12 to mark the 20th anniversary of their 1998 NL title. They will wear them again at select Wednesday games.
The Royals wore 1969 throwbacks May 19 to mark the franchise's 50th season. The uniforms also had the MLB 100th anniversary patch, which all teams wore that season.
The White Sox and Brewers wore 1980s throwbacks June 2 and 3.
The Marlins will wear 1993 throwbacks June 8-10 to mark their 25th anniversary.
The Mariners will mark the 20th anniversary of their 1998 "Turn Ahead the Clock" promotion by wearing the uniforms from that game June 30 against Kansas City.
The Rays wore throwbacks from their inaugural season on March 31 against the Boston Red Sox. They will wear these throwbacks again on June 9 against the Seattle Mariners, June 23rd against the New York Yankees and on September 8th against the Baltimore Orioles.
Broadcast rights
Television
National
This is the fifth year of the current eight-year deals with Fox Sports, ESPN and TBS. Fox will air eight weeks of baseball on Saturday Nights leading up to the 2018 Major League Baseball All-Star Game which will also air on Fox. Fox will then televise Saturday afternoon games for the last four weeks of the regular season. FS1 will televise games on Tuesday and on Saturdays both during the afternoon and night. ESPN will televise games on its flagship telecast Sunday Night Baseball as well as Monday and Wednesday Nights. TBS will televise Sunday afternoon games for the last 13 weeks of the regular season. Fox and ESPN Sunday Night Baseball telecasts will be exclusive; all other national telecasts will be subject to local blackout.
TBS will televise the American League Wild Card Game, Division Series and Championship Series. ESPN will televise the National League Wild Card. FS1 and MLB Network will televise the National League Division Series. Fox and FS1 will televise the National League Championship Series. The World Series will air exclusively on Fox for the 19th consecutive year.
Radio
Local
- The Minnesota Twins returned to Entercom's WCCO/Minneapolis after twelve years on KSTP, followed by the Twins-owned FM station KQGO; WCCO has been the flagship for the Twins' network for 46 of the team's 58 years of existence. Entercom will also take over all existing play-by-play contracts from their newly acquired stations from CBS Radio after the two companies merged their radio assets on November 17, 2017.
- The Chicago White Sox took on a new flagship station in Tribune Broadcasting's WGN/Chicago, after Cumulus Media asked to void their agreement to carry the team's games on WLS as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, and Cumulus ending several high-profile talent and sports rights agreements due to their cost. The deal allows WGN to return to MLB play-by-play after a three-year hiatus after the end of their long association with the Chicago Cubs, who moved to WBBM in the 2015 season, then WSCR in 2016. WGN had previously carried White Sox broadcasts from 1927 until 1943.
- The San Diego Padres obtained a new flagship station after Entercom moved the team's broadcasts from KBZT to KEGY (both FM stations), which had flipped from a contemporary hit radio format to a short-lived hot talk format at the beginning of the season. After the team and fans reacted negatively to the schedule and personalities surrounding Padres games following a controversial social media post (to the point of consideration by the Padres to void the broadcast contract only three games into the season), Entercom switched KEGY within two weeks to a straight sports radio format and new calls in KWFN.
National
- ESPN Radio will air its 21st season of national coverage, including Sunday Night Baseball, Saturday games, Opening Day and holiday games, the All-Star Game, and Home Run Derby, and the entire Major League Baseball postseason.
Digital
Nine regular season games will be broadcast exclusively in the United States on Facebook Watch, beginning with the April 4 game between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies.
Retirements
- Kyle Lohse announced his retirement on May 10.
- Kris Medlen announced his retirement on May 27.
- Aaron Laffey announced his retirement on June 7 after allowing 14 runs (12 earned) in a minor league game.
Retired numbers
- Roy Halladay had his #32 retired posthumously by the Toronto Blue Jays on March 29.
- Barry Bonds will have his #25 retired by the San Francisco Giants on August 11.
- Jack Morris will have his #47 retired by the Detroit Tigers on August 12.
- Alan Trammell will have his #3 retired by the Detroit Tigers on August 26.
See also
- 2018 in baseball
- 2018 Nippon Professional Baseball season
References
External links
- 2018 Major League Baseball season schedule
Source of article : Wikipedia
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