Professional baseball is organized
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in
leagues and associated
farm team
In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...
s throughout the world.
Modern professional leagues
Americas
United States and Canada
Major League Baseball in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
(founded in 1869) consists of the
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...
(founded in 1876) and the
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
(founded in 1901). Historically, teams in one league never played teams in the other until the
World Series, in which the champions of the two leagues played against each other. This changed in 1997 with the advent of
interleague play
Interleague play in Major League Baseball refers to regular-season baseball games played between an American League (AL) team and a National League (NL) team. Interleague play was first introduced during the 1997 Major League Baseball season. Pri ...
. As of 2022, the
Philadelphia Phillies, founded in 1883, are the oldest continuous same-name, same-city franchise in both Major League Baseball and all of American professional sports.
In addition to the major leagues, many North American cities and towns feature minor league teams. An organization officially styled
Minor League Baseball, formerly the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, oversees nearly all minor league baseball in the United States and Canada. The minor leagues are divided into classes AAA, AA, High A, Low A, Short-Season A, Advanced Rookie, and Rookie. These minor-league divisions are affiliated with major league teams, and serve to develop young players and rehabilitate injured major-leaguers. The
Mexican League
The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country.
The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...
is an independent league that is a member of Minor League Baseball and has no affiliations to any Major League Baseball teams. ''Organized Baseball'' is often applied as an umbrella term for all leagues — Major and minor — under the authority of the
Commissioner of Baseball
The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive officer of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the associated Minor League Baseball (MiLB) – a constellation of leagues and clubs known as "organized baseball". Under the direction of the Commiss ...
.
Operating outside the Minor League Baseball organization are many
independent minor leagues such as the
Atlantic League,
American Association,
Frontier League
The Frontier League is a professional independent baseball league with teams in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. Formed in 1993, it is the oldest currently running independent league in the United States. The le ...
,
and the feeder league to these the
Empire Professional Baseball League.
Caribbean countries
*
Dominican Professional Baseball League
Dominican may refer to:
* Someone or something from or related to the Dominican Republic ( , stress on the "mi"), on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles, in the Caribbean
** People of the Dominican Republic
** Demographics of the Domi ...
(1951–present)
*
Puerto Rico Baseball League
Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to:
Places
*El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain
*Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines
*Puerto Colombia, Colombia
*Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela
*Puerto Galera, Orient ...
(1938–present)
*
Cuban League
The Cuban League was one of the earliest and longest lasting professional baseball leagues outside the United States, operating in Cuba from 1878 to 1961. The schedule usually operated during the winter months, so the league was sometimes known a ...
(1878–1961)
Mexico
*
Mexican Pacific League (1945–present; winter league)
*
Mexican League
The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country.
The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...
(1925–present; summer league)
Central America
*
Panamanian Professional Baseball League
The Panamanian Professional Baseball League ( es, Béisbol Profesional de Panamá, links=no), currently known as Probeis, is a professional baseball winter league consisting of three teams based in Panama. Since 2019, the league's winner takes p ...
(1946–1972, 2001–present)
*
Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League
Liga de Beisbol Profesional Nacional (LBPN) is the professional baseball league of Nicaragua. The league consists of five teams with a 30 game regular season schedule that runs from November to December. Followed by a four team round robin, with ...
(1957–1967, 2004–present)
South America
*
Venezuelan Professional Baseball League
The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League or Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional (LVBP) is the professional baseball league in Venezuela. The league's champion takes part in the Caribbean Series each year.
History Early years
Baseball exp ...
(1946–present)
*
Colombian Professional Baseball League
The Colombian Professional Baseball League ( es, Liga Profesional de Béisbol Colombiano, links=no or LPB), is a professional baseball league based in Colombia. It is a five-team winter league that plays during the Major League Baseball offseason ...
(1948–1958, 1979–1988, 1994–present)
Asia
Japan
Japan has had professional baseball since the 1930s.
Nippon Professional Baseball consists of two leagues, the
Central League and the
Pacific League, each with six teams.
Korea
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
has had professional baseball since 1982. There are 10 teams in
KBO League.
Taiwan
Taiwan has had professional baseball since the 1990s. The
Chinese Professional Baseball League absorbed
Taiwan Major League
The Taiwan Major League Professional Baseball (TML; ) was a professional baseball league in Taiwan that operated from 1996 to 2003. It was established by TV tycoon Chiu Fu-sheng after a row over the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) b ...
in 2003.
Other Asian leagues
Other Asian leagues include three now defunct leagues, the
China National Baseball League
The China National Baseball League (, CNBL) is a professional baseball sports league, league founded in 2019.
History
The original Chinese Baseball League (CBL) was founded in 2002. The league suspended operations in 2012 due to financial tr ...
,
Israel Baseball League, and
Baseball Philippines.
Europe
*
Italian Baseball League
The Italian Baseball League (IBL; Italian: ') is a professional baseball league that is governed by FIBS (Italian Baseball & Softball Federation), which has its headquarters in Rome. The IBL is a wood bat league in which both composite and alumi ...
*
Honkbal Hoofdklasse
The Honkbal Hoofdklasse ( Dutch for ''Major League Baseball'') is the highest level of professional baseball in the Netherlands. It is an eight-team league that plays a 42-game schedule and is overseen by the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softba ...
(Dutch league)
*
Elitserien (Sweden)
*
Baseball Bundesliga (Germany)
Australia
*
Australian Baseball League
The Australian Baseball League (ABL) is a professional baseball league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition held during the 1990s, and though it ...
*
Greater Brisbane League
*
New South Wales Major League
Historic leagues
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
players were
barred from playing the major leagues, though several did manage to play by claiming to be
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
ns or
Indians. As a result, a number of parallel
Negro leagues were formed. However, after
Jackie Robinson began playing with the major-league
Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, the Negro leagues gradually faded. The process of integration did not go entirely smoothly; there were some ugly incidents, including pitchers who would try to throw directly at an African-American player's head. Now, however, baseball is fully integrated, and there is little to no racial tension between teammates.
Between 1943 and 1954, the
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League fielded teams in several
Midwestern towns.
See also
*
*
*
*
Professional sports
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Professional Baseball
Baseball leagues
Professional baseball