2019 Major League Baseball season
The 2019 Major League Baseball season began on March 20, while the regular season ended on September 29. It was the 150th anniversary of professional baseball, dating back to the 1869 foundation of the Cincinnati Red Stockings. The postseason began on October 1. The World Series began October 22 and ended October 30 with the Washington Nationals defeating the Houston Astros in seven games to win their first World Series championship. The entire schedule was released on August 22, 2018. The 90th Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held on July 9 at Progressive  Field, home of the Cleveland Indians. The American League won, 4–3, for its seventh straight victory. This was the final season when anyone on the 40-man expanded roster could be used in games from September 1 through the end of the regular season (so-called September call-ups). Schedule. As has been the case since 2013, teams were scheduled to play 19 games against each division opponent for a total of 76 games, and six or seven games against each team from the other two divisions for a total of 66 games. The primary inter-league match-ups were  AL East vs NL West, AL Central vs NL East and AL West vs NL Central. The season began on March 20 and 21 with the Oakland Athletics and the Seattle Mariners playing in Tokyo, Japan, at the Tokyo Dome. Excluding international openers, March 28 was the earliest Opening Day in history. The previous earliest was March 29 of the 2018 season. The second annual Mexico Series of games featured four matchups during the season. The first featured the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds at Monterrey, Mexico's Estadio de Béisbol Monterrey on April 13 and 14. The  other series, also in Monterrey, featured two games between the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Angels on May 4 and 5. The Kansas City Royals faced the Detroit Tigers at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska, on June 13, two days before the College World Series. This was the first MLB game played in the state of Nebraska. The London Series featured the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox at London Stadium in London, on June 29 and 30 making it the first regular season series played in London, under a two-year commitment. The MLB Little League  Classic at BB&T Ballpark in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, coinciding with the Little League World Series, returned to the schedule for the third straight year. It was played between the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates on August 18. Postseason. Bracket. Awards and honors. All-MLB Team. On December 10, Major League Baseball announced its first-ever All-MLB team. Players were selected through fan votes (50%) and votes from a panel of experts (50%). The winners were selected based on merit, with no set number of nominees per position and no distinction between leagues. Uniforms. Changes. On November 16, 2018, the Miami  Marlins unveiled a new logo, team colors, and uniform for 2019, as part of changes instituted by the team's new CEO Derek Jeter. The new design replaces one used since their 2012 move to Marlins Park and rebranding from the Florida Marlins to the Miami Marlins, and utilizes shades of red, blue, black, and slate. On January 29, 2018, Major League Baseball stated that the Cleveland Indians had agreed to stop using their "Chief Wahoo" logo—which has attracted controversy as a stereotype of Native Americans—on their uniforms in 2019, as it was deemed to be "no longer  appropriate for on-field use". The block C cap insignia will officially become the team's main logo; on November 19, 2018, the team unveiled new uniforms excluding the Chief Wahoo logo, as well as new hats with red brims for home games, a new red-colored home alternate jersey (marking the team's first red jersey since the 1970s), and sleeve patches commemorating their hosting of the 2019 All-Star Game. In order to maintain trademarks and prevent it from falling into the public domain, the logo will continue to be used on a limited amount of team merchandise . All 30 teams wore patches this year on the right sleeve commemorating MLB's 150th anniversary. The patch was also featured on caps on Opening Day. Anniversaries and special events. The following teams will wear commemorative patches for special occasions Throwbacks. To honor the 150th anniversary of the Cincinnati Red Stockings becoming the first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Reds announced on November 5, 2018, that the team would wear fifteen throwback uniforms. They wore: The Pirates are continuing to wear 1979 "bumblebee" throwbacks on Sundays this season. The team wore mono-black uniforms July 20 as the 40th anniversary  of the 1979 World Series-winning team was honored. The Pirates and Brewers wore Negro leagues throwbacks June 1 and 7. The Pirates wore uniforms of the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Brewers wore the uniforms of the Milwaukee Bears. The Twins and Royals wore Negro leagues throwbacks June 23. The Twins wore 1908 uniforms of the St. Paul Colored Gophers, and the Royals wore 1942 uniforms of the Kansas City Monarchs. The Mariners and Astros wore 1980s–1990s throwbacks June 29. The Royals and Nationals wore 1969 throwbacks July 6. The Nationals wore the 1969 throwbacks of the Montreal Expos. The  Phillies wore mono-burgundy 1979 "Saturday Night Special" throwbacks July 27. They were only worn once, on May 27, 1979. The Braves wore 1979 throwbacks, as well. The Braves wore 1970's throwbacks August 1 to 4. The Mariners and Astros wore 1980s throwbacks August 2. The Orioles and Astros wore 1989 throwbacks August 9. The Angels wore 1970s California Angels throwbacks August 16. Venues. This was the Texas Rangers' final season at Globe Life Park in Arlington (formerly known as the Ballpark in Arlington and Ameriquest Field), where the team played its final regular season home game with a  6–1 win over the New York Yankees on September 29 before moving to Globe Life Field in 2020. The stadium of the Seattle Mariners was renamed T-Mobile Park for the mobile provider (including its magenta-pink logo color as part of the park's branding atmosphere), after Safeco's contract with the team to call the venue Safeco Field expired at the end of the 2018 season. The home field of the San Francisco Giants had its fourth name in its history since opening in 2000, but its first name outside the same company, as Oracle will pay an  unknown but significant amount for a twenty-year agreement to rename the former AT&T Park as Oracle Park. It also keeps Oracle's name on a Bay Area sports venue, as the Golden State Warriors left Oakland's Oracle Arena for the Chase Center south of Oracle Park at the end of the 2018–19 NBA season. Broadcast rights. Television. National. This was the sixth year of the current eight-year deals with Fox Sports, ESPN, and TBS. Fox aired eight weeks of baseball on Saturday Nights which led up to the 2019 Major League Baseball All-Star Game which also  aired on Fox. Fox then televised Saturday afternoon games for the final four weeks of the season. FS1 televised games on Tuesday and on Saturday both during the afternoon and night. ESPN televised games on its flagship telecast "Sunday Night Baseball" as well as Monday and Wednesday nights. TBS televised Sunday afternoon games for the last 13 weeks of the regular season. Fox and ESPN Sunday Night Baseball telecasts were exclusive; all other national telecasts were subject to local blackout. TBS televised the National League Wild Card Game, Division Series, and the Championship Series. ESPN televised the American League Wild  Card. FS1 and MLB Network televised the American League Division Series. Fox and FS1 televised the American League Championship Series. The World Series will air exclusively on Fox for the 20th consecutive year. Local. Under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice regarding Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox, the Fox Sports Regional Networks were required to be sold off to third parties by June 18, 2019. Fox also invoked a clause to give Yankee Global Enterprises the rights to buy their stake back in the YES Network. Including YES, the Fox Sports Regional Networks broadcast games for  15 of the 30 MLB teams. On March 8, YES was sold to a consortium including Yankee Global Enterprises, Amazon, and Sinclair Broadcast Group for $3.5 billion. Then on May 3, Sinclair and Entertainment Studios agreed to purchase the rest of the Fox Sports Regional Networks. The networks continued to use the Fox Sports branding for the rest of the regular season under a transitional license agreement. WGN-TV broadcasts of Chicago Cubs and White Sox games concluded at the end of the season. WGN held the local broadcast television rights of both teams since 1948. The network's  final telecasts took place on September 28 (Cubs) and September 29 (White Sox). Effective with the 2020 season, Cubs games will move exclusively to the new Marquee Sports Network, while White Sox games will air full-time on NBC Sports Chicago. Digital. MLB's contract with Facebook Watch has been further downsized, now only consisting of six games (reduced from 25). In addition, the games will no longer be exclusive to the service, and subject to blackout in-market. The league also reached a new digital partnership with the streaming service DAZN, who now airs a daily studio program, "ChangeUp