2024 MLB Season

The 2024 Major League Baseball season (MLB) is scheduled to begin on March 20–21 with a two-game series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres held in Seoul, South Korea before the regular season proper runs from March 28 to September 29. The 94th All-Star Game is planned for July 16 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. The postseason is then scheduled to begin on October 1 with a potential World Series Game 7 set for November 2. Going into the season, the defending World Series champions are the Texas Rangers.

The Oakland Athletics were approved by MLB owners to relocate to Las Vegas. The timeline of the move is still under discussion.

Schedule

On July 13, 2023, Major League Baseball released its 2024 schedule. There are 162 games scheduled for all teams. As has been the case since 2023, each team will play 13 games against their division rivals, totaling 52 games. Each team will play six games against six opponents and seven games against four opponents in the same league for a total of 64 games. Each team will also play 46 interleague games, including a four-game home-and-home series against their designated interleague rival.

As part of the MLB World Tour, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres are scheduled to open the season at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul in Spring Training on March 20–21, in the first-ever MLB regular season games played in South Korea. Opening Day in North America is then planned for March 28, with all 30 clubs in action. Other MLB World Tour series include the Houston Astros and the Colorado Rockies at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú in Mexico City on April 27–28, the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies at London Stadium in London on June 8–9, and the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays in Spring Training at Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo on March 9–10.

The San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals are scheduled to play at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, on June 20, in a game honoring the Negro leagues and hall of fame outfielder Willie Mays. The 94th All-Star Game is planned for July 16, hosted by the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. The MLB Little League Classic at Bowman Field in Williamsport, Pennsylvania is scheduled for August 18 with the New York Yankees taking on the Detroit Tigers.

Rule changes

On December 21, 2023, MLB announced a set of rule changes that will take effect in 2024.
* Following a dead ball, the pitch clock will restart as soon as the pitcher receives a new ball from the umpire (previously the clock restarted once the pitcher entered the circle around the pitcher's mound). When runners are on base, the clock's starting time will decrease from 20 seconds to 18 seconds.
*Visits to the mound will be reduced from five to four. Teams will receive an extra mound visit in the ninth inning if they have used four prior to that point.
*The runner's lane will be widened to the cut of the infield grass in fair territory. The distance between the foul line and the infield grass will be between 18 to 24 inches in all ballparks, with a grace period for non-compliant parks to make modifications. The runner's actions are deemed legal if running in fair territory provided both feet are on or touching the dirt.
*A pitcher who warms up at the start of an inning must face at least one batter; they may not be replaced during or after warmups.

Managerial changes

General managers

Off-season

Field managers

Off-season

Uniforms

Wholesale changes

*Nike's new Vapor Premier template will be used across all Major League uniforms, replacing the previous Majestic Athletic FlexBase template that Nike inherited upon taking over MLB's uniform contract in 2020. The new template was first used in the uniforms worn during the 2023 All-Star Game.
*The Diamondbacks unveiled a new uniform set, adding teal as a full-time accent color. Cream returned as the base color on the home uniforms for the first time since 2006, as is the alternate "D-snake" logo. Sand was removed entirely from the uniforms, except for the "City Connect" uniform.
*Due to Nike's 4+1 Rule, the Phillies dropped their red alternate uniform in favor of the City Connect uniform. It had been used in the regular season for home games in 2016 and 2017, and again from 2021 to 2023 for road games.
*The Mets removed the white outline to their black alternate uniforms and caps.
*The Yankees made slight changes to their road uniform by removing the white outline and a stripe pattern on their sleeves. It was the first time since 1972 that the team had changed their road uniforms.
*The Nationals added a pullover alternate uniform and changed their road uniforms. It was the first time since the Cincinnati Reds uniforms from 1972-1992 to have a pullover jersey on a regular basis. The team also removed their red alternate uniform with a white curly "W".
*The Marlins modified their black alternate uniforms by featuring white accents to the team's name on the front and player's name and number on the back. The team also introduced and modified their teal alternate uniforms by featuring the team's name as well.

City Connect

Through the 2023 season, there are 20 teams participating in the City Connect alternate jersey program. The Mets, Phillies, Cardinals, and Blue Jays will reveal their City Connect uniforms and wear them for the first time during the 2024 season.

Anniversaries and special events

Venues

The Oakland Athletics lease with the Oakland Coliseum expires after the end of the season. On June 15, 2023, the team officially announced they would begin the relocation process to Las Vegas. The move was approved by the other MLB owners on November 16. The Athletics would move into a new 30,000-seat partially retractable ballpark by the 2028 season.

Broadcast rights

Television

National

This is the third year of the existing seven-year deals with ESPN, Fox, TBS, Apple TV+, and MLB Network.

Linear television

*Fox will continue to air their ''Baseball Night in America'' and ''Fox Saturday Baseball'' slate of exclusive games on select Saturday and select Thursday nights. The network will also air the 2024 MLB All-Star Game and the game at Rickwood Field. FS1 will also broadcast non-exclusive games. Following his retirement, Adam Wainwright joined Fox as a full time color commentator. He previously had done color commentary for Fox during select playoff games.
*TBS will continue to broadcast ''Tuesday Night Baseball''. Most games are blacked out in the home markets of the teams playing, however, TBS is allowed to co-exist once with a teams' local broadcast.
*ESPN will continue to broadcast ''Sunday Night Baseball'', with the option to show alternate broadcasts. ESPN will also exclusively air five other non-Sunday night games, including a primetime game on opening night and one game each from the MLB Mexico City Series and the MLB London Series. ESPN will also air both games from the MLB Seoul Series, though those games will be blacked out in local markets. The network also has the rights to the Home Run Derby. Select games may air on ABC and ESPN2.
*MLB Network will continue to broadcast games daily. While most games will be simulcasts of the home teams' regional sports network broadcasts, select games will be produced by the network under its ''MLB Network Showcase'' banner. All games are blacked out in the home markets of the teams playing.

Streaming

*This will be the first regular season that the streaming service Max will simulcast TBS' games on its Bleacher Report Sports Add-on tier.
*Apple TV+ continues to hold the rights to ''Friday Night Baseball''. Apple has the option to opt out of the ''Friday Night Baseball'' deal prior to this season, however if it does not opt out it will not be able to exit the agreement until it expires in 2028 season. If Apple continues to hold its deal, then this would also be the second year of DirecTV's sub-licensing agreement to show these games to commercial establishments.
*NBC Sports' deal for ''MLB Sunday Leadoff'' has not yet been renewed.

Postseason

During the postseason, the ESPN networks, including ABC (with Spanish–language simulcasts on ESPN Deportes) will air all four Wild Card Series. TBS (with Spanish-language simulcasts on MLB Network) will then broadcast the American League Division Series and the American League Championship Series, and Fox Sports (Fox and FS1, with Spanish-language simulcasts on Fox Deportes) will broadcast the National League Division Series, the National League Championship Series, and the World Series.

Local

*On October 31, the Minnesota Twins announced that television play-by-play announcer Dick Bremer would leave the booth to join the team's front office as its special assistant. On December 1, the Twins replaced Bremer with Cory Provus, and Kris Atteberry took Provus' place as the radio play-by-play announcer.
*On November 9, Jason Benetti left the Chicago White Sox to join the Detroit Tigers as its lead television play-by-play announcer. Benetti replaced Matt Shepard whose contract was not renewed by Bally Sports Detroit. Dan Dickerson, the team's lead radio play-by-play announcer, will call games when Benetti has assignments with Fox Sports.
*On December 18, C. J. Nitkowski left the Texas Rangers to join the Atlanta Braves as its primary television analyst. Jeff Francoeur, who served as the Braves' primary analyst the previous season, will continue to make occasional appearances.
*On January 25, the Chicago White Sox announced John Schriffen as their lead television play-by-play announcer, replacing Jason Benetti who departed to join the Detroit Tigers as their lead play-by-play television announcer.

AT&T SportsNet closure

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) wound down its AT&T SportsNet regional sports network (RSN) business prior to the start of the 2024 season. The move affected the Colorado Rockies on AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, the Houston Astros on AT&T SportsNet Southwest, and the Pittsburgh Pirates on AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh.

The Astros and the NBA's Houston Rockets took over AT&T SportsNet Southwest and rebranded it to the Space City Home Network after the end of the Astros' regular season on October 3, 2023. Fenway Sports Group, owners of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Red Sox, took over AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, rebranding it to just SportsNet Pittsburgh on October 2, 2023. On December 13, 2023, the Pittsburgh Pirates announced they would jointly own SportsNet Pittsburgh beginning on January 1, 2024. NESN, through Fenway Sports Group, will operate the network. The Colorado Rockies have yet to announce television coverage plans for the 2024 season.

WBD had owned a 29% share of Root Sports Northwest, the Mariners' RSN, through the end of the 2023 season, and had produced Mariners telecasts. Beginning on January 1, 2024, the Mariners will own 100% of Root Sports Northwest.

Diamond Sports bankruptcy

This would be the second season affected by the February 2023 bankruptcy of Diamond Sports Group, owners of the Bally Sports regional sports networks. Diamond Sports Group may cut ties with additional teams it previously had deals with. The rights of those teams that Major League Baseball took over from Diamond midway through the 2023 season, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres, could also change in 2024. Diamond's deal with the Minnesota Twins also expires before the season.

Retirements

The following players and coaches retired during the 2024 season and before the start of the 2025 campaign:
*Shin-Soo Choo – December 14, 2023 (announced); will retire at the end of the season

Retired numbers

*Dwight Gooden will have his No. 16 retired by the New York Mets on April 14. This will be the eighth number to be retired by the team.
*Darryl Strawberry will have his No. 18 retired by the New York Mets on June 1. This will be the ninth number to be retired by the team.

References

External links

2024 Major League Baseball Schedule

{{MLB seasons

2024 Major League Baseball season
Major League Baseball seasons
Major League Baseball season