1962 MLB season | |
---|---|
League | American League (AL) National League (NL) |
Sport | Baseball |
Duration | Regular season:
|
Number of games | 162 |
Number of teams | 20 (10 per league) |
TV partner(s) | NBC, CBS |
Regular season | |
Season MVP | AL: Mickey Mantle (NYY) NL: Maury Wills (LAD) |
AL champions | New York Yankees |
AL runners-up | Minnesota Twins |
NL champions | San Francisco Giants |
NL runners-up | Los Angeles Dodgers |
World Series | |
Champions | New York Yankees |
Runners-up | San Francisco Giants |
World Series MVP | Ralph Terry (NYY) |
The 1962 major league baseball season began on April 9, 1962. The regular season ended on October 3, with the San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The Giants defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in a regular season best-of-three tiebreaker, for the National League title in three games, after both teams finished their 162-game schedules with identical 101–61 records. This was the fifth regular season tie-breaker. The postseason began with Game 1 of the 59th World Series on October 4 and ended with Game 7 on October 16. The Yankees defeated the Giants, capturing their 20th championship in franchise history.
For the fourth and final year, there were two separate All-Star Games played. The first, the 32nd Major League Baseball All-Star Game, was played on July 11, hosted by the Washington Senators in Washington, D.C., with the National League winning, 3–1. The second, the 33rd Major League Baseball All-Star Game, was played on July 31, hosted by the Chicago Cubs in Chicago, Illinois, with the American League winning, 9–4.
In response to the proposed Continental League, the National League announced expansion during the 1960 World Series, with a new team in Houston, Texas and a new team in New York, New York. The 1962 season would see the Houston Colt .45s and New York Mets enfranchised, the latter being the National League's return to New York City after a four-year absence.