{"id":52420,"date":"2026-05-19T00:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T07:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.ticketmaster.com\/?p=52420"},"modified":"2026-05-19T12:25:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T19:25:23","slug":"mlb-schedule-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.ticketmaster.com\/mlb-schedule-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look at the 2026 MLB Schedule and New Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

Major League Baseball<\/a> (MLB) has made a few changes ahead of the 2026 season. Following recent league overhauls like the balanced schedule format and the pitch clock, more innovations are taking the mound in 2026 like the Automated Ball\/Strike System.<\/p>\n

Spring Training<\/a> has come and gone, and the regular season is now in full swing. Before you head to the ballpark, catch up on all of the updates MLB has made that are continuing into the 2026 baseball season.<\/p>\n\n

\n
\n

Loading Events<\/p>\n <\/i>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

How Does the Balanced MLB Schedule Work?<\/h2>\n

To begin, there are 30 MLB teams between two leagues (American League and National League), and each league has 15 total teams. Each league has three divisions (East, Central and West) for a total of six MLB divisions, and each division has a total of five teams. The regular MLB season consists of each team playing a total of 162 games between the spring and the fall. Check out the full 162-game schedule for MLB on Ticketmaster<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With the balanced MLB schedule, introduced in 2023, there are fewer games played between divisional opponents and more games between interleague teams. As of 2025, each team now plays their divisional opponents in only 52 games, decreased from 76 games in the pre-2023 schedule format. This means each team will play their divisional opponents in 13 games across four series with seven games at home and six games away (or vice versa) for a total of 26 divisional games at home and 26 away.<\/p>\n