<Dd> 1876: 70 games (Boston)--the first National League season (see text) </Dd> <P> The leading numbers of games played to a decision were 33, 54, 59, 71, 82, and 70 decisions; by the listed teams except the Mutuals in 1872 . </P> <P> Since 1998, there have been 30 major league teams with a single advance schedule for every season that comprises 2430 games . Each team plays 162 games, 81 as the "home" team, 81 as the "visitor". (This is true even on the rare occasion when a game is played at a ballpark not home to either team .) Occasionally, the advance schedule is subsequently altered due to a game postponement or a one - game tie - breaker to determine which team will play in the postseason . </P> <P> Before 2013 the schedule included 252 "interleague games" that matched one team from the American League and one from the National League; the other 2178 games matched a pair from within one league . About half of the latter matched teams from within one division and about half matched teams from different divisions in one league . In the Central Division of the National League, which alone had six teams, every pair of division rivals played 15 or 16 games . Within the other, smaller divisions every pair of teams played 18 or 19 games . </P>

Generally it was ok for the national league or american league to play sunday and evening games