<P> The Major League Baseball (MLB) season schedule consists of 162 games for each of the 30 teams in the American League (AL) and National League (NL), played over approximately six months--a total of 2,430 games, plus the postseason . The regular season runs from late March / early April to late September / early October, followed by the postseason which can run to early November . The season begins with the official Opening Day, and, as of 2018, runs 261⁄2 weeks through the last Sunday of September or first Sunday of October . One or more International Opener games may be scheduled outside the United States before the official Opening Day . It is possible for a given team to play a maximum of 20 games in the postseason in a given year, provided the team is a wild card and advances to each of the Division Series, Championship Series, and World Series with each series going the distance (5 games in the Division Series, 7 games each in the League Championship Series / World Series). </P> <P> The regular season is constructed from series . Due to travel concerns and the sheer number of games, pairs of teams are never scheduled to play single games against each other (except in the instance of making up a postponed game); instead they play games on several consecutive days in the same ballpark . Most often the series are of three or four games, but two - game series are also scheduled . Teams play one mid-week series and one weekend series per week . Depending on the length of the series, mid-week series games are usually scheduled between Monday and Thursday, while weekend games are scheduled between Thursday and Monday . Beginning in 2018, teams start and end their season on a weekend for a total of 261⁄2 weeks . Due to the mid-week all - star break in July, teams are scheduled to play 27 weekend series and 25 mid-week series for a total of 52 series (24 divisional series, 20 inter-divisional series, 8 inter-league series). A team's road games are usually grouped into a multi-series road trip; home series are grouped into homestands . </P> <P> Note that rainouts and other cancellations are often rescheduled ad hoc during the season, sometimes as doubleheaders . However, if two teams are scheduled to meet for the final time in the last two weeks of the season, and the game is cancelled, it may not be rescheduled if there is no impact on the divisional or wild card races . For example, in 2016, the September 29 game between the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers was cancelled due to rain because the teams were unable to reschedule a make - up date before the end of the season on October 2, and it did not affect the divisional race . In contrast, a 2008 AL Central division game between Detroit and the Chicago White Sox needed to be made up following the last day of the regular season because it affected a division race involving the White Sox and the Minnesota Twins . </P> <P> This account gives the length of the major league "championship season" schedule by league and year . It does not cover the curtailment of play by war (1918) or by strikes and lockouts (1972, 1981, 1994). The schedules for 1995 were revised and shortened from 162 to 144 games, after late resolution of the strike that had begun in 1994 required a delay in the season to accommodate limited spring training . </P>

Can a mlb team play less than 162 games