Why does Major League Baseball operate on a 162 game season?

zbeckabee

Each team's regular season consists of 162 games, a duration established in 1961 in the American League and 1962 in the National League. From 1904 into the early 1960s, except for 1919, a 154-game schedule was played in both leagues (in which each team played its seven opponents 22 times apiece). Expansion from eight to ten teams in each league in the early 1960s resulted in a revised schedule of 162 games (in which each team played its nine opponents 18 times) in their expansion years, for the American League in 1961 and the National League in 1962. Although the schedule remains at 162 games to this day, the layout of games played was changed when Divisional play began in 1969, so that teams played more games against opponents within their own division than against the other divisions or (beginning in 1997) the other league. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_league_baseball Jul 01 08, 3:15 PM