Headline Event of the Year The 2006 World Baseball Classic final 4 teams are Japan, Cuba, Korea and the Dominican Republic, with the United States at 3–3 failing to qualify for the semi-finals. Under the leadership of manager Sadaharu Oh and veterans Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka, Japan (5–3) wins the Classic, defeating Cuba (5–3) in the single championship game. Korea at 6–1 has the best overall Classic record.
Champions
Major League Baseball Regular Season Champions
League Eastern Division Champion Central Division Champion Western Division Champion Wild Card Qualifier American League New York Yankees Minnesota Twins Oakland Athletics Detroit Tigers National League New York Mets St. Louis Cardinals San Diego Padres Los Angeles Dodgers World Series Champion – St. Louis Cardinals Postseason – October 3 to October 27
Click on any series score to link to that series' page. Higher seed had home field advantage during Division Series and League Championship Series. The American League champion had home field advantage during the World Series as a result of the AL victory in the 2006 All-Star Game. Postseason MVPs World Series MVP – David Eckstein ALCS MVP – Plácido Polanco NLCS MVP – Jeff Suppan All-Star Game, July 11 at PNC Park – American League, 3–2; Michael Young, MVP Century 21 Home Run Derby, July 10 – Ryan Howard, Philadelphia Phillies
Other champions Minor League Baseball Triple-A Championship: Tucson Sidewinders (Diamondbacks) def. Toledo Mud Hens (Tigers) International League: Toledo Mud Hens (Tigers) def. Rochester Red Wings (Twins) Pacific Coast League: Tucson Sidewinders (Diamondbacks) def. Round Rock Express (Astros) Mexican League: Leones de Yucatán AA Eastern League: Portland Sea Dogs Southern League: Montgomery Biscuits Texas League: Corpus Christi Hooks A-Advanced California League: Inland Empire 66ers Carolina League: Kinston Indians Florida State League: St. Lucie Mets Class A Midwest League: West Michigan Whitecaps South Atlantic League: Lakewood BlueClaws Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League: Staten Island Yankees Northwest League: Salem-Keizer Volcanoes Rookie Appalachian League: Danville Braves Gulf Coast League: GCL Red Sox Pioneer League: Missoula Osprey Independent baseball leagues Alaska Baseball League: Peninsula Oilers American Association: Fort Worth Cats Atlantic League: Lancaster Barnstormers Canadian-American Association: Quebec Capitales Frontier League: Evansville Otters Golden Baseball League: Reno Silver Sox Northern League: Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks United League Baseball: Alexandria Aces Amateur College World Series Division I: Oregon State def. North Carolina Division II: Tampa def. Cal State Chico Division III: Marietta def. Wheaton (MA) NAIA: Lewis-Clark State def. Cumberland Youth Big League World Series: District 13 (Thousand Oaks, California) Junior League World Series: El Campo LL (El Campo, Texas) Little League World Series: Northern Little League (Columbus, Georgia) Senior League World Series: Paraguana LL (Punto Fijo, Venezuela) Cape Cod Baseball League: Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox def. Wareham Gatemen Valley Baseball League: Luray Wranglers Outside of the United States World Baseball Classic: Japan; Daisuke Matsuzaka, MVP Intercontinental Cup: Cuba Asian Games: Chinese Taipei Caribbean World Series: Leones del Caracas (Venezuela) European Cup: San Marino (San Marino/Italy) Konami Cup Asia Series: Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters (Japan) China Baseball League: Tianjin Lions Cuban National Series: Industriales def. Santiago de Cuba Dominican Winter League: Tigres del Licey def. Águilas Cibaeñas Holland Series: Corendon Kinheim Italian Serie A1 Scudetto: Telemarket Rimini Japan Series: Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters Korean Series: Samsung Lions Mexican Pacific League: Venados de Mazatlán Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League: Gigantes de Carolina Taiwan Series: La New Bears over Uni-President Lions (4–0) Venezuelan Professional Baseball League: Leones del Caracas
Awards and honors Baseball Hall of Fame inductions Bruce Sutter is selected by the BBWAA. In a special election by the Committee on African-American Baseball, seventeen Negro league figures are elected (all posthumously): Ray Brown, Willard Brown, Andy Cooper, Frank Grant, Pete Hill, Biz Mackey, Effa Manley, José Méndez, Alex Pompez, Cum Posey, Louis Santop, Mule Suttles, Ben Taylor, Cristóbal Torriente, Sol White, J. L. Wilkinson, and Jud Wilson. Manley is the first woman ever elected to the Hall. Including Sutter, the 18 inductees are the largest class in the Hall's history. Gene Elston is selected to receive the Ford C. Frick Award. During his 47 years in the broadcast booth, the former Astros announcer brought a no-nonsense approach to reporting the happenings on the diamond. Tracy Ringolsby, longtime columnist for the Rocky Mountain News, is awarded the J. G. Taylor Spink Award. Award National League American LeagueMost Valuable PlayerRyan Howard, PHIJustin Morneau, MINCy YoungBrandon Webb, AZJohan Santana, MINManager of the YearJoe Girardi, FLAJim Leyland, DETRookie of the YearHanley Ramírez, FLAJustin Verlander, DETBatting titleFreddy Sanchez, PITJoe Mauer, MIN Woman Executive of the Year (major or minor league): Ashley Forlini, Reading Phillies, Eastern League
Events
January–March February 2 – Ramón Hernández hits for the cycle and drives in five runs, leading the Leones del Caracas of Venezuela to a 17–1 rout of Mexico's Venados de Mazatlán in the Caribbean Series opener. Alex Cabrera adds a home run with four RBI, and starting pitcher Geremi González strikes out seven in seven innings. In the other Series opener, Anderson Hernández hits a tiebreaking single in the 11th inning to help the Dominican Republic's Tigres del Licey beat the Gigantes de Carolina of Puerto Rico, 5–4. Miguel Tejada drives in two runs in the third inning, giving the Dominicans a 2–0 lead. According to baseball historians, Hernández's feat is the first in Caribbean Series play dating back to the 1949 Series. February 7 – Venezuela, represented by Leones del Caracas, wins its first Caribbean Series championship since 1989 by rallying for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Tigres del Licey of the Dominican Republic's team, 5–4. Álex González singles in the tying run off Jorge Sosa and scores the game-winning run on Henry Blanco's pop-fly double. Series MVP Ramón Hernández also hits a home run for Venezuela, which finishes 6–0 in the Series. March 3 – In the first World Baseball Classic game, Jae Weong Seo pitches two-hit ball and Chan Ho Park works three effective innings for a save to lead South Korea past Taiwan 2–0. The first game of the 16-nation tournament starts at 11:30 a.m. local time and is played before a sparse crowd of 5,193 at Tokyo Dome. In the second game, playing before a crowd of 15,869, Tsuyoshi Nishioka and Kosuke Fukudome hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning to lead Japan to an 18–2 rout of China. March 10 – In the World Baseball Classic, Giants minor leaguer Shairon Martis pitches a no-hitter for the Netherlands in a 10–0 victory over Panama that ends after seven innings because of the mercy rule. March 14 – In the World Baseball Classic, Hee-Seop Choi hits a 3-run pinch hit home run to help Team Korea stun the United States. March 19 – After 19 seasons, two-time NL All-Star pitcher Al Leiter retires after his first 2006 spring training appearance for the Yankees. March 20 – Japan defeats Cuba 10–6 in the championship game of the 2006 World Baseball Classic. After falling behind 6–1 early in the game, Cuba pulls back to within one run entering the ninth inning before Japan closes the door. The championship game of the first international baseball tournament open to players from Major League Baseball features teams that, combined, have only two players on a Major League roster. March 28 – Marquis Grissom announces his retirement after a 17-year career. The MVP of the 1997 ALCS, a four-time Gold Glove winner and two-time All-Star, Grissom retires as one of seven players with 2,000 hits, 200 home runs and 400 stolen bases. March 30 – Commissioner Bud Selig appoints Red Sox director and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell to head a probe into the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in the major leagues. The investigation is initially limited to events since September 2002, when such drugs were banned in the majors, but Mitchell has the authority to expand its scope.
April–June April 6: In the Phillies' 4–2 loss to the Cardinals, Jimmy Rollins goes 0–4, ending his multi-season hitting streak at 38 games. R. A. Dickey of the Rangers ties a post-1900 major league record by giving up six home runs in 3 innings in Texas' 10–6 loss to the Tigers. Dickey had converted to throwing knuckleballs the previous season, and after this game he was sent to the Rangers' AAA team to work on it. Chris Shelton led the charge with two home runs. Magglio Ordóñez also hit two home runs, but only one off Dickey. April 9 – Cory Sullivan of the Rockies becomes only the eleventh player in major league history to triple twice in the same inning. It is the first time the feat had been accomplished in over fifty years. The two triples came against Padres pitchers Jake Peavy and Chan Ho Park. April 10 – The Cardinals play their first official game at the New Busch Stadium, a 6–4 victory over the Brewers. April 11 – Japanese outfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto sets a new world record for playing every inning in the most consecutive games, 904, breaking Cal Ripken Jr.'s mark of 903. April 13 – The first sellout in Seattle Mariners history occurs when 54,597 fans attend the season opener at Safeco Field. April 17 – Pedro Martínez of the Mets becomes the 103rd major league pitcher in the modern era (and the 131st overall, including the pre-1900 era) to win 200 games in his career with a 4–3 victory over the Braves at Shea Stadium. April 18 – A sellout crowd of 42,191 watch the Chicago White Sox play their first game at new Comiskey Park and sees the home team get crushed by the Detroit Tigers, 16–0. April 22 – The Brewers hit a record-tying five home runs in the fourth inning, scoring seven runs, as they defeat the Reds 11–0. Bill Hall, Damian Miller, Brady Clark and J. J. Hardy all hit their home runs off of Brandon Claussen before the first out is recorded in the inning. Prince Fielder hits the fifth homer off of Chris Hammond with two out. Miller's and Clark's are two-run homers, while the rest are solo. April 26 – Mike Piazza hits 400th career home run. April 28: In a 6–2 victory over the Brewers, Cubs pitcher Greg Maddux earns the victory with 6 strikeouts and 2 ER over 6.0 IP, earning the first 5–0 start of his career. Two home run records are tied or broken: Kevin Mench of the Rangers becomes the first right-handed batter in major league history to hit home runs in seven consecutive games, and Albert Pujols of the Cardinals ties a record with his 13th home run in the month of April. Mench failed to homer in his next game, falling short of tying the all-time record of eight consecutive games with a homer. Pujols would go on to break the record with 14 homers in April. May 3–4 – The Washington Nationals are bought by Theodore N. Lerner, who has agreed to pay Major League Baseball's price of $450 million for the franchise; the following day, they break ground on their new ballpark. May 13 – Major League Baseball introduces a new Mothers' Day tradition around the league. All players and umpires wore bright pink wristbands, and several players used bright pink bats, which were auctioned off following the day's play. $350,000 was raised for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer charity. May 15 – The annual Hall of Fame Game between the Reds and the Pirates is cancelled due to rain with the Reds leading 3–0 in the third inning; it is the fifth rainout in the game's history, and the first since 1993.