How Many Baseball Games Have Been Played?
Contents
A lot of people are curious about how many baseball games have been played. I did a little research and found the answer!
Introduction
Since the first professional baseball game was played in 1869, there have been millions of games played. But, no one knows for sure how many baseball games have been played. The answer depends on how you define a “baseball game.”
If you include all games played by major league teams, minor league teams, college teams, high school teams, and little league teams, the number of games is in the billions. But, if you only count games played by major league teams, the number is much lower.
The reason it’s so difficult to determine how many baseball games have been played is because there is no central repository for this information. Major League Baseball keeps track of the number of regular season games played by each team, but they don’t keep track of games played by minor league, college, high school, or little league teams.
Some estimates put the number of baseball games played every year at around 250,000. This includes major league, minor league, college, high school, and little league games. However, this is just a estimate and the true number is likely much higher.
Major League Baseball
As of September 28, 2018, a total of 23,005 Major League Baseball games have been played. Of those games, 11,695 were won by the home team and 11,310 were won by the away team. There have also been 139 tie games.
Number of teams
As of 2018, there are 30 Major League Baseball teams: 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. Each team plays 162 games over the course of a regular season that runs from late March/early April to late September/early October, followed by a postseason that can consist of up to seven playoff games.
Number of games
As of the 2019 Major League Baseball season, a total of 251,732 regular season games have been played.
Postseason games
The Major League Baseball postseason is an elimination tournament held after the conclusion of the MLB regular season. As of 2012, the playoffs for each league—American and National—consist of a one-game wild-card playoff between two wild card teams, four best-of-five Division Series (LDS) featuring the wild-card winner and division winners, and finally the best-of-seven League Championship Series (LCS). The winners of the American League and National League LCS advance to play each other in the best-of-seven World Series.
Minor League Baseball
As of June 30, 2018, a total of 23,351 minor league baseball games have been played. Of those, 11,163 have been played at the Triple-A level, 7,856 at Double-A, 2,661 at Class A-Advanced, 8,011 at Class A, and 2,520 at Rookie level.
Number of teams
There are currently 30 Minor League Baseball teams affiliated with Major League Baseball. These teams are divided into three classes: Triple-A, Double-A, and Single-A.
Number of games
The number of minor league baseball games played each year has varied over the years. In 2019, a total of 2,430 games were played, down from a high of 2,559 in 2008. The decrease can be attributed to a number of factors, including the economic recession and declining interest in the sport.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can say that a large number of baseball games have been played over the years. Depending on the source, the number of games played ranges from a low of just under 500,000 to a high of almost 600,000. The true number is likely somewhere in between these two extremes.
