2009 Major League Baseball season

League Division Series

American League

National League

League Championship Series

American League

National League

World Series

League leaders

American League

National League

Managing changes

General managers

Field managers

Off-season changes

In-season changes

Rule changes

• All "postseason games and games added to the regular season to determine qualifiers for the postseason" become suspended games if they are called before nine innings are played, regardless of whether the game would otherwise qualify as an official game, or the score at the time the game is called. The game is resumed when conditions permit at the same location from the point of suspension. This rule change codifies the controversial interpretation of the official rules made by MLB commissioner Bud Selig during Game 5 of the 2008 World Series.
• Coin tosses will no longer be used to determine home-field advantage for one-game tiebreakers held to determine division champions or wild card teams. Instead, "performance-based criteria"—including head-to-head record between the tied clubs—will be used to determine home-field advantage. This came into play for the first time when the Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins tied for the lead of the American League Central at the end of the regular season ; the one-game playoff was played on October 6 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome as the Twins won the season series, 11 games to 7. The game could not be played on October 5 because of a scheduling conflict with the Minnesota Vikings, who hosted the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football that night.

  Milestones

Reached

• Jody Gerut, then with the San Diego Padres, became the first player to open a new ballpark with a leadoff home run, as the Padres beat the New York Mets 6–5 at Citi Field on April 13.
• Chicago White Sox teammates Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko both hit their 300th career home runs in back-to-back plate appearances against the Detroit Tigers in the second inning at Comerica Park on April 13, the first time that historic home runs were hit consecutively.
• Gary Sheffield of the New York Mets became the 25th member of the 500 home run club on April 17 against the Milwaukee Brewers at Citi Field. The historic home run came in the bottom of the seventh inning as a pinch hitter, the first time a player has reached 500 home runs in this way.
• Liván Hernández, who at the time was with the New York Mets, wins his 150th game on May 10.
• Iván Rodríguez, then of the Houston Astros, hit his 300th career home run in a game against the Chicago Cubs on May 17 at Wrigley Field. On June 17, Rodríguez played in his 2,227th game as a catcher, breaking the record for all-time games caught previously held by Carlton Fisk. He finished the season as a member of the Texas Rangers.
• Jason Kendall of the Milwaukee Brewers accomplished his 2,000th career hit in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals on May 18 at Busch Stadium.
• Todd Helton of the Colorado Rockies got his 2,000th career hit and his 500th career double.
• Jason Giambi, then of the Oakland Athletics, recorded his 400th career home run. He finished the season as a member of the Colorado Rockies.
• Jamie Moyer of the Philadelphia Phillies notched his 250th career victory on May 31 against the Washington Nationals.
• Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees got his 2,600th hit and 1,500th run on June 2 against the Texas Rangers. The Yankees' captain would then pass Luis Aparicio for most hits by a shortstop on August 16. Jeter also became the all-time hit leader in Yankees history with a single in the third inning against the Baltimore Orioles on September 11. He broke the record of 2,721 hits that was held by Lou Gehrig.
• Randy Johnson of the San Francisco Giants became the 24th member of the 300 win club, defeating the Nationals on June 4 in the first game of a makeup doubleheader, earning the win in a 5–1 triumph. Johnson became the sixth southpaw to reach the milestone.
• Carlos Zambrano of the Chicago Cubs wins his 100th career game against the Cincinnati Reds defeating the Reds on June 5.
• Miguel Tejada and Bobby Abreu have reached 2,000 career hits as well.
• Jim Thome passed the 1,500 RBIs and the 400-double milestone as a member of the Chicago White Sox. He finished the season with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
• The Boston Red Sox celebrated their 500th consecutive sellout at Fenway Park on June 18. Sox pitcher Brad Penny also got his 100th career win.
• Cardinals manager Tony La Russa won his 2,500th game in his managerial career defeating the Kansas City Royals June 21 at Kaufmann Stadium, 12–5.
• Omar Vizquel passed Luis Aparicio for most hits by a native-born Venezuelan.
• Lance Berkman of the Houston Astros hit his 300th career home run and passed the 1,000 RBI mark.
• Kevin Millwood of the Texas Rangers wins his 150th game on June 26.
• Mariano Rivera becomes the second pitcher in MLB history to record 500 career saves on June 29 in a 4–2 victory against their crosstown rivals, the New York Mets. He also saved his major league record fourth All-Star Game.
• Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals reached the 1,000 RBI list and the 1,000-run list. On June 30 at Busch Stadium, Pujols became the 32nd player to hit 30 home runs before the All-Star break. He is also the seventh player to hit 30 home runs before the month of July. He would later become the second player in history to record at least 100 RBI in each of his first nine seasons on a 3-run double in the sixth inning at Pittsburgh on August 8, and also hit his 350th career home run after nine seasons.
• Adam Dunn hit his 300th career home run on July 3.
• Garret Anderson of the Atlanta Braves hit his 500th career double on June 27. He also got his 2,500th career hit with a single in the second inning against the Washington Nationals on October 1. He became the 90th player in major league history to reach this mark.
• David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox reached the 300 home run plateau on July 9. He also got his 1,000th career hit as a member of the team on July 11. On September 15, Ortiz set the record for most home runs for a designated hitter by hitting his 270th against the Los Angeles Angels.
• Jonathan Sánchez of the San Francisco Giants pitched baseball's first no-hitter of the season on July 10 as he defeated the San Diego Padres, 8–0 at AT&T Park. It was the first no-hitter hurled at "The Phone Booth".
• Ted Lilly of the Chicago Cubs won his 100th game on July 11.
• Josh Beckett of the Boston Red Sox won his 100th game on July 12.
• Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox pitched the 16th perfect game in baseball's modern era on July 23, beating the Tampa Bay Rays at U.S. Cellular Field, 5–0. Buehrle became the sixth pitcher to hurl both a no hitter and a perfect game in his career, joining Hall of Famers Addie Joss, Cy Young, Sandy Koufax and Jim Bunning, and also Randy Johnson. Buehrle did this in the midst of setting a Major League record by retiring 45 consecutive batters over three games.
• Josh Willingham of the Washington Nationals became the 13th player in history to hit two grand slams in one game on July 27 against the Milwaukee Brewers.
• Carlos Lee of the Houston Astros hits his 300th career home run in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers on August 8. He becomes the 125th person in major league baseball history to reach this mark.
• Vladimir Guerrero of the Los Angeles Angels hits his 400th career home run in a game against the Tampa Bay Rays on August 10. He becomes the 45th player in major league history to reach this mark. Guerrero would later single in the fifth inning against the Detroit Tigers on August 26, and by doing so, became the 13th player to get over 1,000 hits for more than one franchise.
• Also on August 10, Troy Tulowitzki hit for the cycle against the Chicago Cubs, and became the second player in baseball history to have hit for the cycle and have an unassisted triple play in their career. His unassisted triple play came on April 24, 2007, against the Atlanta Braves. John Valentin is the other player to have done both.
• Eric Bruntlett, a reserve second baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies, pulled off baseball's fifteenth unassisted triple play against the New York Mets at Citi Field on August 23, 2009. It ended a Major League Baseball game for the first time since 1927, as the Phils beat the Mets, 9–7. The only other player to turn an unassisted triple play to complete a game was Johnny Neun, who did it for the Detroit Tigers on May 31, 1927, against the Cleveland Indians. The game also featured an inside-the-park home run by Ángel Pagán, the second such game to see both an inside-the-park homer and a triple play since July 4, 1988, when the Red Sox played at Kansas City where Dwight Evans hit an inside-the-park homer and Jim Rice hit into a triple play. Bruntlett was playing second base for regular starter Chase Utley, who was given a day of rest by manager Charlie Manuel.
• John Lackey of the Los Angeles Angels won his 100th game on August 30.
• Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees collected his 2,500th hit with a single in the fifth inning against the Baltimore Orioles on September 2. He became the 89th player in MLB history to reach this mark. He also set a new American League record at seven, for most RBI in one inning by a single player by hitting a 3 run home run, and a grand slam later in the inning on October 4.
• Randy Wolf of the Los Angeles Dodgers won his 100th game on September 5.
• Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners collected his 2,000th hit with a double in the first inning against the Oakland Athletics on September 6. Ichiro reached this mark in 1,402 games, which is the second fastest in history. He then broke Willie Keeler's record of eight consecutive 200-hit seasons with a single in the second inning of the nightcap of a make-up doubleheader on September 13 against the Texas Rangers.
• The Pittsburgh Pirates reached a new low in futility on September 7, losing to the Chicago Cubs, 4–2 clinching their seventeenth consecutive losing season, breaking the all-time low set by the Philadelphia Phillies between 1933 and 1948.
• Brett Tomko of the Oakland Athletics won his 100th game on September 14.
• Mark Reynolds, the third baseman of the Arizona Diamondbacks, broke his own record for most strikeouts in a season by fanning for the 205th time against the San Francisco Giants on September 22 at Chase Field. He finished the season striking out 223 times.
• A. J. Burnett of the New York Yankees won his 100th game on October 4.
• Tony La Russa passed John McGraw for second-most games managed in baseball with his 4,770th game managed on October 1. La Russa gets three more games to extend his managed games to 4,773 by the end of 2009.
• Albert Pujols broke Bill Buckner's 1985 major-league record for assists by a first baseman, with his 185th on October 4.

  New stadiums

Awards

Player of the Month

Pitcher of the Month

Rookie of the Month

Other Awards

• Comeback Players of the Year: Aaron Hill ; Chris Carpenter.
• Hank Aaron Award: Derek Jeter ; Albert Pujols.
• Roberto Clemente Award : Derek Jeter, NYY.
• Delivery Man of the Year : Mariano Rivera, NYY.
• Clutch Performer of the Year: Andre Ethier, LAD.

  Broadcasting

Television

• FOX: Saturday afternoon Game of the Week on a regional basis; eight appearances per team. In addition, the network will broadcast the All-Star Game, ALCS, and World Series. The network started their telecasts on Saturdays at 4 PM US ET/1 PM US PT, except for three dates to adjust for NASCAR coverage, when those programs began at 3:30 PM ET/12:30 PM PT.
• ESPN/ESPN2: Sunday Night Baseball on a weekly basis; five appearances per team. In addition, there are games on Monday and Wednesday nights, Opening Day games on April 6, and the Home Run Derby on July 13.
• TBS: Sunday afternoon games starting on April 12; 13 appearances per team. In addition, the network carried the announcement of the All-Star Teams in the National and American Leagues on July 5 as well as the Division Series and the NLCS as per the alternating contract with FOX.
• MLB Network: The network carries a weekly Thursday Night Game of the Week and Saturday Night Game of the Week. Thursday Night games were produced in-house, while Saturday Night games usually came off the home team's video production. Blackouts applied here, as viewers in the competing team's markets were telecast an alternate game off the home team feed of selected teams.

Radio

Uniforms, patches, and caps

Patches

• On July 4, all teams remembered the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig's farewell speech with a patch representing 4♦ALS charities.
• The Cleveland Indians memorialized the life of former pitcher and announcer Herb Score by wearing a patch with his number, a microphone and the name "HERB" on the right sleeve of all uniforms.
• The Houston Astros wore patches commemorating the 10th season of baseball at Minute Maid Park.
• The Kansas City Royals wore patches commemorating the 40th anniversary of the founding of their team.
• The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim added patches to all jerseys which incorporates the words "Angels Baseball", the team logo, and 1961, the year the team was founded.
• *To honor long-time coach and scout Preston Gómez, who died in the offseason, a patch was added to the right sleeve of a black diamond with the word "Preston" on it.
• *After the death of Nick Adenhart, a rookie starting pitcher who was killed in a DUI hit-and-run following his first start of the season, a black patch with his name and number was added above the left breast of the team's uniform.
• The Twins also commemorated the passing of team owner Carl Pohlad, who died on January 5 with his signature on a black oval trimmed in silver.
• The Oakland Athletics paid tribute to the Oakland Police Department—which had four of its officers killed and another injured in a shootout on March 21, 2009—with black "OPD" patches on their home uniforms.
• The Philadelphia Phillies donned a black circular patch with the letters "HK" that was added to all uniforms over the player's heart as a tribute to Harry Kalas, who died on April 13 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. In addition, the team wore a patch commemorating their win in the 2008 World Series until August 7 on their home uniforms.
• The San Diego Padres wore patches commemorating the 40th anniversary of the founding of their team.
• After the death of principal owner Sue Burns, the San Francisco Giants began wearing patches with the name "BURNS" on the right sleeves of their uniforms.
• The Toronto Blue Jays remembered the passing of Ted Rogers, the communications magnate and former owner of the club who died in December, with a tribute on their uniforms consisting the name "TED" on a red box. In addition, the team added a Canadian maple leaf patch on all uniforms.

  Uniforms

• The Baltimore Orioles unveiled new uniforms, including the return of the city name on the road uniforms for the first time since 1972, a new patch which incorporates the Maryland state flag, and a new logo featuring a revamped version of the ornithologically correct Oriole.
• The Boston Red Sox went slightly retro, with the return of navy blue as the predominant road uniform lettering color, and the addition of an alternate hat featuring the modified "hanging socks" logo and navy blue road alternate jersey.
• The Chicago Cubs wore only a single version of their cap. They stopped wearing their road cap and wore their former home cap for all games. This change was also reflected on the batting helmets.
• The Minnesota Twins celebrated the final season of the Metrodome by wearing a modernized retro 1982 uniform with buttons and belts instead of the pullover and knit-in belts for Saturday games and their home opener April 6 against the Mariners, and retired their navy road alternate jerseys.
• The New York Mets retired their black alternate road jersey with "NEW YORK" printed across the front. The black alternate home jersey with "Mets" printed across the front is now worn on the road as well.
• The Philadelphia Phillies wore an additional gold trim on their Opening Night game April 5, and added an alternate batting helmet for their alternate home uniforms.
• The Pittsburgh Pirates made jerseys with sleeves on their primary uniforms both home and away, and added a new black alternate with a Pirates' "P" on the left upper chest. The team has also changed their cap to place white outer trim around the "P".
• The Tampa Bay Rays added an alternate jersey in navy with light blue soutache around the placket and sleeve ends.
• The Texas Rangers dropped the team name from all uniforms in favor of their state name, and added a red alternate jersey and cap. Also, the letters and numbers on the jersey backs have been changed to match the "TEXAS" lettering on the front.
• The Washington Nationals made some minor changes to their uniforms, and now use red as their predominant color. The home and primary alternate jerseys have been modified, a new navy alternate to be worn several times a year with a stars and stripes "DC" along with a new hat, changing the front of their red alternates from "DC" to the primary script "W", and the road uniform now bears a fancy script "Washington" akin to the style worn by the Senators in the 1950s and 1960s, and their old incarnation, the Montreal Expos.

  Turn Back The Clock

• For their series against the San Francisco Giants beginning on August 14, the New York Mets wore cream-colored jerseys featuring an oversized blue "NY" on the front and a Mr. Met patch on the right sleeve. The throwback uniforms are similar to the ones the Giants wore in the early 20th century when they played at the Polo Grounds, where the Mets played their first two seasons.
• On September 5 against the Rangers, the Orioles paid homage to the Baltimore Elite Giants by wearing replicas of their uniforms from 1949.

  Caps

• Once again during major American holidays and the September 11 weekend, all teams wore a cap with the cap logo in a stars and stripes motif. The Cleveland Indians stars and stripes cap features a "C" instead of Chief Wahoo, since the Native American caricature emblazoned in stars and stripes caused some controversy when it debuted in 2008. As was the case in 2008, the proceeds from the sales of authentic caps will go to the Welcome Back Vets fund. The 2009 models are red as opposed to the navy blue caps from the previous season.
• For the home opener for the Pirates vs the Astros, the Pirates wore the caps of the Pittsburgh Police Department which had lost three officers and had two injured in a shootout on April 4, 2009. The Astros had them on before the game.