If you’ve ever looked at a baseball schedule and thought, "Wait, they're playing again?" you aren't alone. It’s a lot. Most professional sports leagues treat their season like a sprint or a weekly ritual. Baseball is more like breathing. It just happens every day for six months straight.
So, how many games do baseball teams play? In the Major Leagues (MLB), the magic number is 162.
That’s 162 games in roughly 185 days. It is a grueling, dirt-stained, sun-baked marathon that starts when the trees are bare in March and doesn't wrap up until the leaves are turning orange in late September. But that’s just the regular season. If you factor in the "meaningless" spring games and the high-stakes October chaos, a winning team might actually take the field nearly 200 times in a single calendar year.
The 162-Game Breakdown: Where Do They All Go?
You can't just play the same three teams over and over. People would get bored. MLB uses a balanced schedule now, which was a huge shift from the old "unbalanced" way where you basically lived in your own division.
Currently, every single team plays every other team at least once. It’s better for the fans, honestly. You get to see the stars from the other league without waiting for the World Series.
Here is the rough math of a modern 162-game slate:
- Division Rivals: Each team plays their four division foes 13 times each. That’s 52 games of "we really hate these guys."
- The Rest of the League: You play the other ten teams in your league (American or National) for a total of 64 games. Usually, it's a mix of six or seven games per opponent.
- Interleague Play: This is the fun part. Teams play 46 games against the "other" league. This includes a home-and-home series against a "natural rival" (like Mets vs. Yankees or Cubs vs. White Sox) and three games against every other team in the opposite league.
It’s a massive logistical puzzle. Travel directors for these teams are basically wizards. They’re moving 50+ people and tons of equipment across time zones every three days.
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Why 162? The Math of Expansion
It wasn't always this way. For the first half of the 20th century, the number was 154. Back then, there were only eight teams in each league. You played your seven opponents 22 times each ($7 \times 22 = 154$). Simple.
Then came 1961. The American League expanded to 10 teams. If they kept the 154-game count, the math got weird. They couldn't play nine opponents an equal number of times and hit 154. So, they bumped it to 18 games against nine opponents.
Boom. 162.
The National League followed suit in '62. We’ve been stuck with it ever since, mostly because team owners aren't about to give up the ticket revenue from those extra eight home games.
Life Before and After the Regular Season
The 162-game number is what shows up in the standings, but players are working way longer than that.
Spring Training (The Warm-up)
Before the first pitch that actually matters, teams head to Florida (Grapefruit League) or Arizona (Cactus League) for about six weeks. They play roughly 30 exhibition games. These don't count for anything other than deciding who gets the last spot on the bench and who gets sent down to the minors.
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The Postseason (The Sprint)
If a team is good—or lucky—the season stretches into October. With the current 12-team playoff format, the road to a ring is longer than ever.
A Wild Card team that goes all the way could play a staggering number of extra games. You’ve got the best-of-three Wild Card Series, the best-of-five Division Series (LDS), the best-of-seven League Championship Series (LCS), and the best-of-seven World Series.
If every series goes the distance, a team could play 22 postseason games.
Imagine playing 162 games just to qualify for a job where you might have to play 22 more under extreme pressure. It's why pitchers' arms occasionally feel like they're held together by tape and prayer by November.
Do Other Leagues Play This Much?
Not even close. If you look at the international stage, the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league in Japan plays 143 games. The KBO League in South Korea plays 144.
In the minor leagues, the grind is slightly different. Triple-A teams play 150 games, while the lower levels (Double-A and Single-A) usually play around 132 to 138.
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Even within the baseball world, MLB is the outlier. It is the ultimate test of depth. You don't win a World Series with just 26 guys; you win it because your 40th man on the roster stepped up in August when three starters were on the Injured List.
The Reality of the "Daily" Game
What most people don't realize about how many games baseball teams play is the lack of off-days.
In the NFL, you play once a week. In the NBA, you might have a "back-to-back" and then two days off. In MLB, it is common to play 13 days in a row, fly halfway across the country at 2:00 AM, and play again that afternoon.
Rainouts make it even worse. If a game gets canceled, they don't just say "oh well." They play a doubleheader. That’s two full nine-inning games in one day. Eighteen innings of baseball. It is exhausting just to watch, let alone play.
Making Sense of the Numbers
If you're trying to keep track of a season, remember that the 162-game schedule is a marathon of averages. A hitter can fail 70% of the time and be a Hall of Famer. A team can lose 60 games and still be the best in the world.
That’s the beauty of the volume. The "luck" eventually washes out, and you're left with the truth of who the best team actually is.
Next Steps for the Savvy Fan:
- Check the Strength of Schedule: Since the schedule is now balanced, look at which teams have their "Interleague Rival" games against bottom-tier teams—it's a massive advantage.
- Monitor the Pitching Log: Keep an eye on teams during those long 10-game road trips without an off-day; that's usually when the bullpen implodes and the betting odds get interesting.
- Track the Postseason Race: Remember that with 162 games, no lead is safe until September, but no team is truly "out of it" in May.