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What is MLB?

MLB stands for Major League Baseball and is almost universally considered to be the highest level of professional baseball in the world.

MLB currently has 30 member clubs, or teams, 29 of which are located in the United States and one in Canada.

Major League Baseball is divided into two leagues – the National League (NL) which has 16 teams and the American League (AL) which has 14 teams. Each year the 30 teams compete for the Commissioner’s Trophy (sometimes referred to as the World Series Trophy), emblematic of the championship of MLB, with the NL Champion playing the AL Champion in a best-of-seven playoff series known as the World Series.

Major League Baseball’s roots lie in the founding of the National League in 1876, and the American League which was formed in 1901. The two “major” leagues operated independently of each other and were competitors for players and fans. In 1903 the two leagues, although independent, agreed to allow their respective champions to play each other in what was called “The World Series” for the right to be known as the “World’s Champion”. No World Series was held in 1904, but it began again in 1905 and remains to this day. The two major leagues effectively merged in 1905, but were actually independent legal entities until they officially merged in 2000.

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