Major League Baseball is comprised of 2 leagues, American League and National League. Each league is divided into 3 divisions, an east division, a central division, and a west division. Each division has 5 teams which creates a perfect balance of 15 teams in the American League and 15 teams in the National League. Now that we understand how each league and division are balanced equally, let's get to the good stuff of how they make the schedules for each team, that is what brought you here anyway. right?
Each of the 30 MLB teams is scheduled to play a 162 regular-season game schedule every season.
The schedule is made with a predetermined amount of games for each team to compete against each other. This pre-determined formula is made of these components
Let's first start by understanding the same divisional scheduling. As stated above, there are 5 teams in each division. As you should already know, each team in every division will compete for as many wins as possible throughout any given season and the team with the most wins will "win" that division. So, since 5 teams are competing to "win" each division, MLB has decided that these divisions should play a large portion of their schedules competing against each other.
Each of the 5 teams in every MLB division will play the other 4 teams a total of 19 times each for a total of 76 games (4 x 19) every season. So of the 162 game schedule that every team plays, 76 of them will be played within their own division, leaving a total of 86 games that still need to be scheduled between teams in the same league and interleague games.
Now that we know that each of the 30 Major League Baseball teams plays 76 of their games scheduled against teams in their own division, the next step is to find out how the games are scheduled between teams in the same league. We know that there are 2 leagues in MLB Baseball, The American League and National League. We also know that there are 15 teams in each league divided into 3 divisions of 5 teams each. We already have accounted for each individual division of 5 teams scheduling so we can now find out how many times each team will play the other 10 teams that are in the other 2 divisions of their league.
Each of the 5 teams in any given division of Major League Baseball will play the other 10 teams from the other 2 divisions in their league a total of 66 times. Now simple math will tell you that 66 games against 10 teams come to playing each team 6.6 times, which is not possible. The actual way that the schedule is made up is that of the other 2 divisions in your league, you will play each division 33 times. This is done by playing 3 teams in each division 7 times (21 games) and the other 2 teams in each division 6 times (12 games).
So now that we know that each team plays 76 games within its own division and 66 games against the remaining opponents in their respective leagues, for a total of 142 games scheduled (76+66), that leaves us with 20 more games (162 -142) that still need to be scheduled each year with opponents from the other league (interleague).
The final piece of how Major League Baseball makes it's 162 game schedule for all 30 teams comes with scheduling interleague play. As you know, Major League Baseball is comprised of 2 leagues, American and National, and there are 15 teams in each league. So does that mean that each team will play all 15 teams from the other league every year? No, it does not. MLB has a different format for scheduling interleague games and it is divided into 3 categories:
Many of the 30 MLB teams are in close proximity to each other. Some of them are within the same city, some of them are in the same state and some of them are just a short distance over state borders away from each other. This creates what MLB considers "natural rivals". Because of their geographic proximity, fans of either of the teams are just a short drive away from attending the games regardless of which team venue it will be played in.
Of the 20 interleague games that 22 of The 30 MLB Teams must play each year, 4 of them are played against a natural/geographical rival.
Here are the MLB Interleague Natural Rivals that play each other 4 times every year, along with the nickname of the rivalry.
| Rivalry Teams | Rivalry Nickname |
| Chicago Cubs vs. Chicago White Sox | Crosstown Classic |
| Kansas City Royals vs St. Louis Cardinals | I-70 Series |
| Cincinnati Reds vs. Cleveland Indians | Ohio Cup |
| Oakland Athletics vs. San Francisco Giants | Bay Bridge Series |
| Minnesota Twins vs. Milwaukee Brewers | Border Series |
| Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Los Angeles Angels | Freeway Series |
| Tampa Bay Rays vs, Miami Marlins | Citrus Series |
| New York Mets vs. New York Yankees | Subway Series |
| Washington Nationals vs. Baltimore Orioles | Beltway Series |
| Arizona Diamondbacks vs Houston Astros | None |
| Detroit Tigers vs. Pittsburgh Pirates | None |
In case you didn't notice, only 22 of the 30 MLB teams play in Natural/Geographical rivalries. So what do the other 8 teams do? Well, that is easy, 4 teams from each league rotate playing each other 2 times every other year for a total of 4 games each. It is actually broken up as 2 National League East teams vs 2 American League East teams and 2 National League West teams vs 2 American League West Teams. This only changes when two of the divisions draw each other in a divisional rotation year, at which point they will play each other 6 times each, 3 home games, and 3 road games.
So now that we know that 4 of the 20 of the MLB baseball Interleague games are scheduled between natural/geographic and split rivals, let's find out out the remaining 16 games of the season are scheduled between interleague division rotations.
MLB interleague division rotations are just that, each division has a pre-determined division from each of the other league's divisions that they will play in rotating years. So of the 20 interleague baseball games that are played each year, 16 of them will be against a team from the other league from the same division, rotating divisions each year. So a real example is the NL East. You can see in the chart below that the NL East will play the AL West in 2020, they will play the AL East in 2021 and they will play AL Central in 2022, Then the rotation will start all over again and whoever the home team was in the previously scheduled series will now be the away team in the next.
Here is the MLB Interleague divisional rotation schedule through the 2024 season.
So now that we know that 4 of the 20 of the MLB baseball Interleague games are scheduled between natural/geographic and split rivals, let's find out out the remaining 16 games of the season are scheduled between interleague division rotations.
MLB interleague division rotations are just that, each division has a pre-determined division from each of the other league's divisions that they will play in rotating years. So of the 20 interleague baseball games that are played each year, 16 of them will be against a team from the other league from the same division, rotating divisions each year. So a real example is the NL East. You can see in the chart below that the NL East will play the AL West in 2020, they will play the AL East in 2021 and they will play AL Central in 2022, Then the rotation will start all over again and whoever the home team was in the previously scheduled series will now be the away team in the next.
Here is the MLB Interleague divisional rotation schedule through the 2022 season.
| Season | NL East vs. | NL Central vs. | NL West vs. | AL East vs. | AL Central vs. | AL West vs. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | AL East | AL Central | AL West | NL East | NL Central | NL West |
| 2022 | AL West | AL East | AL Central | NL Central | NL West | NL East |
| 2023 | AL Central | AL West | AL East | NL West | NL East | NL Central |
| 2024 | AL East | AL Central | AL West | NL East | NL Central | NL West |
So there you have it. Now you can see how Major League Baseball makes its schedule and determines who plays each other on each calendar year.
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