The 2004 Major League Baseball season ended when the Boston Red Sox defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in a four-game World Series sweep. The Red Sox championship ended an 86-year-long drought known as the Curse of the Bambino. The Red Sox were also the first team in MLB history and the third team from a major North American professional sports league ever to come back from a 3–0 postseason series deficit and win. This happened in the ALCS against the New York Yankees.
The 2003 Major League Baseball season ended when the Florida Marlins defeated the New York Yankees in a six-game World Series. The Detroit Tigers set the American League record for losses in a season, with 119, and the Marlins became the first team to win the championship twice as a wild card.
The 2006 Major League Baseball season ended with the National League's St. Louis Cardinals winning the World Series with the lowest regular-season victory total (83) in a fully-played season in major league history. The Atlanta Braves failed to qualify for the postseason for the first time since 1990. Individual achievements included Barry Bonds who, despite questions surrounding his alleged steroid use and involvement in the BALCO scandal, surpassed Babe Ruth for second place on the career home runs list. The American League continued its domination at the All-Star Game by winning its fourth straight game, and ninth of the prior 10 contests.
The 1985 Major League Baseball season ended with the Kansas City Royals defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in the seventh game of the I-70 World Series. Bret Saberhagen, the regular season Cy Young Award winner, was named MVP of the Series. The National League won the All-Star Game for the second straight year.
The 2007 Major League Baseball season began on April 1 with a rematch of the 2006 National League Championship Series; the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets played the first game of the season at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, which was won by the Mets, 6–1. The regular season concluded with seven teams entering the postseason who had failed to reach the 2006 playoffs including all National League teams, with only the New York Yankees returning; a dramatic one-game playoff between the Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres; and the largest September collapse for a leading team in baseball history, with the Mets squandering a 7-game lead with 17 to play, losing on the final day of the regular season, and the Philadelphia Phillies capturing the National League East for the first time since 1993. The season ended on October 28, with the Boston Red Sox sweeping the World Series over the Rockies, four games to zero.
The 2001 Major League Baseball season finished with the Arizona Diamondbacks defeating the New York Yankees in seven games for the World Series championship. The September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. pushed the end of the regular season from September 30 to October 7. Because of the attacks, the World Series was not completed until November 4. The 2001 World Series was the first World Series to end in November.
The 2002 Major League Baseball season finished with two wild-card teams contesting the World Series; the Anaheim Angels defeated the San Francisco Giants in seven games for the World Series championship. It was the first title in Angels team history. This was the first season for MLB.tv.
The 1998 Major League Baseball season ended with the New York Yankees sweeping the San Diego Padres in the World Series, after they had won a then AL record 114 regular season games. The Yankees finished with 125 wins for the season, which remains the MLB record.
The 1996 Major League Baseball season was the final season of league-only play before the beginning of interleague play the following season. The season ended with the New York Yankees defeating the defending champion Atlanta Braves in six games for the World Series title, the Yankees' first championship since 1978. The record for most home runs hit in an MLB regular season, set at 4,458 in 1987, was broken, as the AL and NL combined to hit 4,962 home runs. Only 196 shutouts were recorded in the 2,266 MLB regular-season games. This was the first season in the Divisional Series era to be played to the full 162 games, as the 1994–95 player's strike caused the first two seasons of the era to be abbreviated.
The 2008 Major League Baseball season began on March 25, 2008, in Tokyo, Japan with the 2007 World Series champion Boston Red Sox defeating the Oakland Athletics at the Tokyo Dome 6–5 in the first game of a two-game series, and ended on September 30 with the host Chicago White Sox defeating the Minnesota Twins in a one-game playoff to win the AL Central. The Civil Rights Game, an exhibition, in Memphis, Tennessee, took place March 29 when the New York Mets beat the Chicago White Sox, 3–2.
The 1993 Major League Baseball season was the final season of two-division play in each league, before the Central Division was added the following season, giving both the NL and AL three divisions each.
The 1986 Major League Baseball season saw the New York Mets win their second World Series title, their first since 1969.
The 1987 Major League Baseball season ended with the American League Champion Minnesota Twins winning the World Series over the National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals, four games to three, as all seven games were won by the home team.
The 1984 Major League Baseball season started with a 9-game winning streak by the eventual World Series champions Detroit Tigers who started the season with 35 wins and 5 losses and never relinquished the first place lead.
In the 1978 Major League Baseball season, the New York Yankees defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers to win their second consecutive World Series, and 22nd overall, in a rematch of the prior season's Fall Classic. The Yankees overcame clubhouse turmoil, a mid-season managerial change, and a 14-game mid-July deficit in the American League East en route to the championship. All four teams that made the playoffs in 1977 returned for this postseason; none of the four returned to the postseason in 1979.
The 1976 Major League Baseball season ended with the Cincinnati Reds winning their second consecutive World Series championship.
The 2009 Major League Baseball season began on April 5, 2009; the regular season was extended two days for a one-game playoff between the Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins for the American League Central title. The postseason began the next day with the Division Series. The World Series began on October 28, and ended on November 4, with the New York Yankees defeating the Philadelphia Phillies in six games. This was the second time the season was completed in November. The only other occasion was the 2001 World Series, because of the delaying of the end of that season due to the September 11 attacks as November baseball would be guaranteed when Game 4 was played on Sunday, November 1. Had the 2009 World Series gone the full seven games, Game 7 would've been played on November 5, the latest date ever scheduled for a World Series game. It became the latest date for a World Series game in 2022. The American League champion had home field advantage for the World Series by virtue of winning the All-Star Game on July 14 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, 4–3. In addition, the annual Civil Rights Game became a regular season game, and was played June 20 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, when the host Cincinnati Reds lost to the Chicago White Sox in an interleague game, 10–8. Both teams wore replicas of their 1965 uniforms in the contest.
The 2010 Major League Baseball season began April 4, with the regular season ending on October 3. The 2010 All-Star Game was played on July 13 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim in Anaheim, California. The National League ended a 13-game winless streak with a 3–1 victory. Due to this result, the World Series began October 27 in the city of the National League Champion, the San Francisco Giants, and ended November 1 when the Giants defeated the American League Champion Texas Rangers, four games to one.
The 2014 Major League Baseball season began on March 22 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney, Australia, between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. The North American part of the season started on March 30 and ended on September 28.
The 2017 Major League Baseball season began on April 2 with three games, including the 2016 World Series champions Chicago Cubs facing off against the St. Louis Cardinals, the regular season ended in late September. The postseason began on October 3. The World Series began October 24 and Game 7 was played on November 1, in which the Houston Astros defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games, to capture their first World Series championship in franchise history.
