2009 Major League Baseball season

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 to decide the American League Central Division champion. 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. 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.
Postseason.
Bracket.
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Note: Two teams in the same division could not meet in the division series.
Managing changes.
General managers.
The Seattle Mariners named Milwaukee Brewers scouting director Jack Zduriencik its new general manager on October 22, replacing interim GM Lee Pelekoudas.
Washington Nationals GM Jim Bowden resigned on March 1 amid allegations that he was skimming bonus money from Latin American players. Team president Stan Kasten first took over the bulk of his duties before transferring them to assistant GM Mike Rizzo, who had served as acting GM, and was named as the full-time general manager on August 20.
During the last days of the regular season, two teams fired their general managers, effective at the end of the season. On October 3, the Toronto Blue Jays fired J. P. Ricciardi after eight seasons. The following day, the San Diego Padres axed Kevin Towers, who had been the longest-tenured GM in Major League Baseball at 14 seasons.
Field managers.
Off-season changes.
Two teams announced new managers in the offseason:
Cito Gaston and Jerry Manuel both entered their first full season as managers of the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Mets, respectively, after taking over for managers dismissed in the middle of the 2008 season. Gaston had previously been the Blue Jays' manager from 1989 until 1997.
Rule changes.
On January 15, the owners of the 30 Major League Baseball clubs approved two rule changes governing the playing of postseason and one-game playoff games.
New stadiums.
The 2009 season marked the opening of two new stadiums, both in New York City; Citi Field for the Mets and the new Yankee Stadium for the Yankees. They respectively replaced Shea Stadium (which was dismantled during the 2008–09 offseason) and the original Yankee Stadium (which became a public park after its demolition). Because of the smaller seating capacities in these new parks, Dodger Stadium is now the largest capacity park in use with 56,000 seats, and is also the third oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball behind Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. Citi Field opened with a night game on April 13 as the Mets hosted the San Diego Padres losing 6–5. In that game, Jody Gerut of the Padres became the first player in major league history to open a new ballpark with a leadoff homer. Three days later, the Cleveland Indians inaugurated New Yankee Stadium against the Bronx Bombers. The Indians won 10–2. On Jackie Robinson Day (April 15), a rotunda at Citi Field was named in honor of Jackie Robinson and was dedicated prior to the Mets–Padres game that day.
The 2009 season also marked the final season of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome as the home for the Minnesota Twins, where they had played since 1982. In 2010, the team moved to Target Field, their new baseball-only stadium located a short distance across town. Previously, since moving from in 1961, the franchise has shared, first Metropolitan Stadium, and then the Metrodome with the NFL's Minnesota Vikings; they also shared tenant rights at the Metrodome with the University of Minnesota's football team. The Golden Gophers started to play on-campus at TCF Bank Stadium in 2009. The Metrodome's last scheduled regular season game was to be played on Sunday, October 4, 2009, but the Twins tied the Detroit Tigers necessitating a one-game playoff between the two teams on October 6.
While not a new stadium, Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium completed a two-year renovation. The first year saw a new video board dubbed "Crown Vision" and refitting of several sections. Improvements for 2009 include a new glass and brick facade to the exterior of the ballpark, newly expanded team Hall of Fame, a new sports bar/restaurant, improved sightlines, new luxury suites and refurbished press and radio/TV facilities to name a few.
In late March, the Florida Marlins had their funding for a new stadium at the former site of the Miami Orange Bowl approved by Miami-Dade County commissioners. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held on July 18, with an opening by 2012, at which time the team will be renamed the Miami Marlins.
Broadcasting.
Television.
This would have marked the first full season in the US for baseball games to be telecast as the transition from analog to digital television that was to have been made on February 17. However, the transition took place June 12.
A new entrant in the baseball television rights marketplace debuted on January 1 when the MLB Network, owned by Major League Baseball, joined Fox, ESPN and TBS not only televising games, but also other baseball-related programming from their studio in Secaucus, New Jersey, formerly the studios of MSNBC. MLB was the last of the four major team sports to start its own television channel. The national telecast breakdown, along with the maximum number of appearances per team, is:
In Canada, Toronto Blue Jays games will be televised on Rogers Sportsnet and TSN. RSN also holds the Canadian rights to air the Fox and ESPN/ESPN2 games if they do not conflict with Blue Jays games, as well as the All-Star Game and the entire postseason.
In Australia free to air channel One HD shows up to 5 games live per week, and European channel ESPN America broadcasts games as well.
Radio.
ESPN Radio served as MLB's national radio network, broadcasting "Sunday Night Baseball" as well as selected Saturday and holiday games during the regular season, the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game, and all postseason series.
Uniforms, patches, and caps.
Patches.
As stated earlier, the Mets and Yankees wore patches commemorating the inaugural seasons of their new parks, the Twins wore patches commemorating their final season at the Metrodome, and the Cardinals, hosting the All-Star Game, wore a patch to celebrate that event.
Other teams' memorials and accomplishments on their sleeves:
Uniforms.
Turn Back The Clock.
The Pittsburgh Pirates, Detroit Tigers, Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox led the Majors in wearing throwback uniforms. On May 2 at Safeco Field, the Athletics and Seattle Mariners honored 1939 by wearing special uniforms. The Mariners honored the Seattle Rainiers and the Oakland Athletics honored the Oakland Oaks from that season. Both teams played in the Pacific Coast League that season. The A's then wore a 1980s styled uniform in St. Petersburg on July 11 against the Tampa Bay Rays, who wore uniforms from their inaugural season of 1998 when they were known as the "Devil Rays". Finally, On August 16, the Athletics and White Sox used vintage throwbacks. The A's wore uniforms from their Philadelphia period, with blue caps and a large A on the front of their jerseys. The White Sox wore their jerseys with a large S with a lowercase O in the top loop and a lowercase X in the bottom loop.
On June 14, the Tigers and Pirates wore throwback uniforms to commemorate the 100th anniversary of both Forbes Field and the 1909 World Series between the two teams. That game also featured a throwback atmosphere: no music or flashy graphics, no mascots (meaning no Jolly Roger or Pirate Parrot), and a hand-operated scoreboard. One modern item occurred in the pre-game: The Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins made a surprise visit and brought the trophy with them. The Pirates and the Kansas City Royals also honored the Negro leagues on June 26 and 27 with the Pirates wearing the Homestead Grays uniforms and the Royals donning Kansas City Monarchs replicas. The Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds recreated their 1979 National League Championship Series uniforms on August 21 as part of the Buccos' 30th anniversary celebration of their World Series championship. The Bucs wore their gold pillbox hat with a gold jersey and black pants, a faux pas from the uniforms that season as a black cap was worn that year with the gold jersey.
In addition to the aforementioned Civil Rights Game and game in Oakland, the White Sox, originators of the genre of replica throwback uniforms, commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of their 1959 American League Championship on June 25 against the team that they played in that World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers, who opted to wear their regular uniforms instead, as manager Joe Torre did not want to create hype of a World Series that was 50 years ago.
The Tigers and the Cleveland Indians played in Negro league replicas twice, with the Tigers in Detroit Stars uniforms, and the Indians outfitted in Cleveland Buckeyes replicas. In a "home-and-home" style series, the Tigers hosting the Tribe July 11 at Comerica Park, with the Tigers in 1920 Stars uniforms and the Indians in the 1948 Buckeyes road grays, while the Indians played host August 1 at Progressive Field seeing Cleveland wearing Buckeyes home whites and the Tigers in the gray Stars uniform.