Question:
Please explain the baseball season to me? I don't know how it works.. plz answer?
ryan
2010-05-31 13:54:55 UTC
well I have heard things like wildcard and post season, playoffs and stuff like that but I don't know which order those go in, what it is, and pretty much I don't know how the season itself works.. can someone explain it to me help would be much appreciated thanks!!!
Six answers:
Rich W
2010-05-31 14:37:06 UTC
Here you go ryan. This is in chronological order.



Spring Training:

This goes from beginning of February to the end of March. This is basically just practice for 2 months to get back in shape. The game during this time have no meaning on the actual regular season.



Regular Season:

There are 2 Leagues: the American League and the National League

There are 3 Division in each League: East, Central, and West

This means that there are 6 total divisions.



Major League Baseball Teams play 162 games a season usually starting in the first week of April and last through the last week of September, maybe even into the first week of October...81 games are played in a teams own stadium and 81 games are "on the road" which just means at other teams stadiums.



There is no real structure to the regular season schedule except that the teams compete in mostly 3 and 4 game series with an occasional 2 game series mixed in. When I say series I mean that the same 2 teams play games against each other in that series at one stadium. For example a 3 game series that has the Phillies play at the Braves means the two team will play 3 games over 3 days in the Braves stadium. When looking at a season schedule the "away" team is listed first and the "home" team is listed second. So using the example above you would see Phillies @ Braves on a schedule. Also most games are played within your own League....meaning that National League teams play mostly National League teams and American Leagues play mostly American League teams, but there are some "Inter-League" games mixed into the schedule which means that certain National and American League teams will play each other.



During the regular season teams compile Wins and Losses for the games they play. At the end of the season the the teams with the most wins in each of the 6 Divisions I mentioned above are declared "Division Champs" and are moved on to the "Post Season" or "Playoffs". Those 2 words mean exactly the same thing.



There are also 2 "Wildcard" teams, one from the National and one from the American League. These 2 teams are basically the next best team behind the Division Winners and usually have the 4 most wins in their league. Each Wildcard team also qualifies for the Playoffs making 4 team from each league able to play in the Playoffs or a total of 8 teams.



Playoffs/Postseason:

This is the part of the season that every team wants to make it for, but only 8 qualify. In each league there are 2 playoff series going on to start. I believe in the first round this is a 5 game series, which means that in order to advance to the next round a team must win 3 out of the 5 games. This is called the Divisional Round.



After the Divisional Round your have the American Leagues Championship Series and the National League Championship Series...commonly referred to as the ALCS and the NLCS. This puts the top 2 team from the American League against each other and the top 2 teams from the National League against each other in a 7 game series. This means that the winning team must win 4 games to advance to the next round.



After the ALCS and NLCS you have the grand daddy series of them all called the "World Series."

This is also a 7 game series that puts the winner of the ALCS against the winner of the NLCS meaning again that the World Series Champion (the best team in baseball) must win 4 games. Last years World Series (2009) had the Yankees from the American League against the Phillies from the National League play, with the Yankees winning the 7 games series, 4-2 making them "World Champs"



I know it's a lot to read, but I love teaching about baseball and I could go on forever. Hopefully it's more helpful than confusing. thanks
2010-05-31 21:02:18 UTC
162 games are played over a stretch from April til the first week of October after a good month or so of training in Arizona or Florida. The teams are broken down into 2 leagues...grape fruit or cactus. Pitchers go in Febuary and the rest of the team reports a week or so later. There they get practice, see who makes the team, and plays games against other teams. Season starts the first week of April. After an All Star Game, home run derby and trade deadline, they finish the second half of the season. 3 teams get in to playoffs by being first and the fourth team gets in as the Wild Card team..or the team with the best record who isn't in first. The playoffs are pretty much process of elimination to get to two teams in the World Series - one NL and AL team who compete for the championship.
mm117
2010-05-31 21:00:50 UTC
ok so there are divisions. Nl west, Al west, Nl east, Al east, Nl central and Al central. to make a spot in the playoffs, you have to have the best record of all the teams in your division after 162 regular season games. (there are anywhere from 4-6 different teams in each division...see link below for the divisions) Now, if you don't have the best record in your league, the next way to make the playoffs is to win the wildcard. basically what the wildcard is, is the best record among the 2nd place teams(in the NL and AL). so you have the have the best record in the league (excluding all 1st place teams since they already are going to the playoffs) there are two wildcards...one in the AL and one in the NL. therefore there are a total of 8 playoff spots.



here is how the divisions are

http://espn.go.com/mlb/standings
?
2010-06-01 01:28:56 UTC
Pre season- aka spring training. Means nothing to anyone, most teams put in their new players to se how they work with other players. The pre-season record means nothing to how the regular season will turn out. Not very long either

Regular season- 162 games played. Who ever has the best record in their division moves on to post season. There are 3 divisions in both the national league(NL) and the american league(AL).

Post season-After the divisoin champs are decided, then the wild card is chosen from both leagues. The wild card is basically the best second place record.
2010-05-31 20:59:13 UTC
pre season is called spring training, wilcard is all the americanteams or all thenational league in one division, in other divisions there are Al east, west and Nl east and west, there are also other divisions, towards the end of the season the top of the division team with the most wins will go onto the playoffs hoping to compete in the world series.
2010-05-31 23:59:25 UTC
All you need to know is that the Cubs play 162 games and they lose them all because they are the worst team in the history of the MLB.


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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