The1948 major league baseball season began on April 19, 1948. The regular season ended on October 4, with theBoston Braves andCleveland Indians as the regular season champions of theNational League andAmerican League, respectively. The Indians won the American League title via atie-breaker game victory over theBoston Red Sox, after both teams finished their 154-game schedules with identical 96–58 records. This was the second regular season tie-breaker, and saw a change from theprevious three-game format to that of a single-game,Game 163. The postseason began with Game 1 of the45th World Series on October 6 and ended with Game 6 on October 11. The Indians defeated the Braves, four games to two, capturing their second championship in franchise history, since their previous in1920. Going into the season, the defendingWorld Series champions were theNew York Yankees from the1947 season.
The 1948 season is notable as being the final season of anyNegro League holding major-league status, as per MLB's 2020 designation of Negro Leagues. It would be the final season of theNegro National League, while theNegro American League would continue as a minor-league until it ceased play after the1962 season.
The 1948 schedule consisted of 154 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had eight teams. Each team was scheduled to play 22 games against the other seven teams of their respective league. This continued the format put in place since the1904 season (except for1919) and would be used until1961 in the American League and1962 in the National League.
Opening Day took place on April 19, featuring six teams. The final day of the scheduled regular season was on October 3, which saw all sixteen teams play, continuing the trend from1946. Due to theBoston Red Sox andCleveland Indians finishing with the same record of 96–58, atie-breaker game was scheduled, to be considered an extension of the regular season. The Indians won theGame 163 tie-breaker on October 4. TheWorld Series took place between October 6 and October 11.
7 tie games (3 in AL, 4 in NL), which are not factored intowinning percentage orgames behind (and were often replayed again) occurred throughout the season.
