Baseball Major League is the highest grade of play in North American professional baseball. Baseball Major League also denotes the organization that regulates the American League and the National League by means of joint organizational structure from 1901. From 2000, both leagues got divided with all the operations and rights in the commissioner’s office. Currently, Baseball Major League functions as a separate league and it consists of 30 teams with 29 in the United States and one in Canada.
All the operations and rules of the World Baseball Classic are also controlled by the Baseball Major League. Every season 162 games are conducted, and additionally, extra games are played if there is any tie breaker required to decide the participation. The matches start on the first Sunday in the month of April and finishes on the first Sunday in the month of October, and postseason are normally held during October or in early November. The rules and regulations followed for both league is the similar except the American League functions using the Designated Hitter Rule.
The Baseball Major League is managed by the Major League Baseball, which has gone through many incarnations since 1876 with the latest changes in 2005. The Commissioner of baseball guides the Baseball Major League in employing and supervising the umpiring crews, labor, negotiating markets, and all television contracts. The multimedia and production extension of the Baseball Major League is a New York- based advanced media, which also take care of all the individual websites of the 30 teams. The baseball uniforms worn by all the teams indicate the role of an individual in the team such as players, coaches, and managers.
The only team to display player’s number on the sleeve, other than the back of their uniforms is the Phillies. The Baseball Major League follows a strict drug policy and first positive drug test on any player makes 50 games abeyance, 100 games abeyance for second positive drug test, and life-time ban for third positive drug test. The Baseball Major League follows several blackout rules and one such is only local broadcasters are given first priority to televise games. At present, three broadcasters hold the contract to broadcast games namely ESPN, FOX, and TBS, and league is in the state of transition to the new contracts. The radio broadcasting contract is given to ESPN to broadcast nationally and rights to World Series are exclusive for ESPN. With the growing popularity of baseball, there is much possibility of international expansion in countries such as Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Monterrey, and San Juan.
