1931 MLB season | |
---|---|
League | Major League Baseball |
Sport | Baseball |
Duration | April 14 – October 10, 1931 |
Number of games | 154 |
Number of teams | 16 |
Regular season | |
Season MVP | AL: Lefty Grove (PHA) NL: Frankie Frisch (SLC) |
AL champions | Philadelphia Athletics |
AL runners-up | New York Yankees |
NL champions | St. Louis Cardinals |
NL runners-up | New York Giants |
World Series | |
Champions | St. Louis Cardinals |
Runners-up | Philadelphia Athletics |
The 1931 Major League Baseball season began on April 14, 1931. The regular season ended on September 27, with the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Athletics as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the 28th World Series on October 1 and ended with Game 7 on October 10. In a rematch of the prior year's postseason, the Cardinals defeated the Athletics, four games to three.
This was the first season that the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) selected a Most Valuable Player in each league.
The 1931 schedule consisted of 154 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had eight teams. Each team was scheduled to play 22 games against the other seven teams of their respective league. This continued the format put in place since the 1904 season (except for 1919) and would be used until 1961 in the American League and 1962 in the National League.
Opening Day, April 14, featured all sixteen teams, the first time since the 1926 season. The final day of the regular season was on September 27, which also saw all sixteen teams play on the final day continuing the trend which began the previous season. This was the first time that both Opening Day and the final day of the season saw all sixteen teams play. The World Series took place between October 1 and October 10.
The 1931 season saw the following rule changes: [1]
American League
| National League
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World Series | ||||
AL | Philadelphia Athletics | 3 | ||
NL | St. Louis Cardinals | 4 |
American League
| National League
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1 American League Triple Crown pitching winner
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Team name | Wins | %± | Home attendance | %± | Per game |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chicago Cubs [6] | 84 | -6.7% | 1,086,422 | -25.8% | 14,109 |
New York Yankees [7] | 94 | 9.3% | 912,437 | -22.0% | 11,850 |
New York Giants [8] | 87 | 0.0% | 812,163 | -6.5% | 10,412 |
Brooklyn Robins [9] | 79 | -8.1% | 753,133 | -31.4% | 9,910 |
Philadelphia Athletics [10] | 107 | 4.9% | 627,464 | -13.1% | 8,366 |
St. Louis Cardinals [11] | 101 | 9.8% | 608,535 | 19.7% | 7,802 |
Boston Braves [12] | 64 | -8.6% | 515,005 | 10.8% | 6,603 |
Washington Senators [13] | 92 | -2.1% | 492,657 | -19.8% | 6,236 |
Cleveland Indians [14] | 78 | -3.7% | 483,027 | -8.6% | 6,356 |
Detroit Tigers [15] | 61 | -18.7% | 434,056 | -33.2% | 5,637 |
Chicago White Sox [16] | 56 | -9.7% | 403,550 | -0.6% | 5,241 |
Boston Red Sox [17] | 62 | 19.2% | 350,975 | -21.0% | 4,387 |
Philadelphia Phillies [18] | 66 | 26.9% | 284,849 | -4.7% | 3,748 |
Cincinnati Reds [19] | 58 | -1.7% | 263,316 | -31.9% | 3,420 |
Pittsburgh Pirates [20] | 75 | -6.3% | 260,392 | -27.2% | 3,338 |
St. Louis Browns [21] | 63 | -1.6% | 179,126 | 17.8% | 2,326 |
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