1968 Major League Baseball season
| 1968 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 |
| Draft | |
| Top draft pick | Tim Foli |
| Picked by | New York Mets |
| Regular season | |
| Season MVP | AL: Denny McLain (DET) NL: Bob Gibson (STL) |
| AL champions | Detroit Tigers |
| AL runners-up | Baltimore Orioles |
| NL champions | St. Louis Cardinals |
| NL runners-up | San Francisco Giants |
| World Series | |
| Champions | Detroit Tigers |
| Runners-up | St. Louis Cardinals |
| World Series MVP | Mickey Lolich (DET) |
The 1968 major league baseball season began on April 10, 1968. The regular season ended on September 29, with the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the 65th World Series on October 2 and ended with Game 7 on October 10. In the second iteration of this World Series matchup, the Tigers defeated the Cardinals, four games to three, capturing their third championship in franchise history, since their previous in 1945. Going into the season, the defending World Series champions were the St. Louis Cardinals from the 1967 season.
The 39th Major League Baseball All-Star Game, was held on July 9 at the Houston Astrodome in Houston, Texas, home of the Houston Astros. The National League won, 1–0.
The 1968 season was the final year of baseball's pre-division era, in which the teams that finished in first place in each league went directly to the World Series to face each other for the "World Championship."
The Kansas City Athletics moved to Oakland, California as the Oakland Athletics, being the eighth team since 1953 to relocate, and the fourth of American League teams since them. Kansas City would be without a major league team for the 1968 season. Legal pressure from the city moved the originally planned 1971 American League expansion up to 1969, which saw the enfranchisement of the Kansas City Royals.