The 1886 major league baseball season began on April 17, 1886. The regular season ended on October 15, with the Chicago White Stockings and the St. Louis Browns as regular season champions of the National League and American Association, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the third World's Championship Series on October 18 and ended with Game 6 on October 23, in what was a best-of-seven-playoff. The Browns defeated the White Stockings, four games to two, capturing their first World's Championship Series.
Over the offseason, the National League's Buffalo Bisons transfer into the minor league International League and Providence Grays fold. The two open spots are filled by the newly enfranchised Kansas City Cowboys and Washington Nationals.
The 1886 schedule consisted of 140 games for all American Association teams and 126 games for all National League, each of which had eight teams. Each AA team was scheduled to play 20 games against the other seven teams, while each NL team was scheduled to play 18 games against the other seven teams. Both the AA's 140-game format and NL's 126-game format were newly-implementation for the 1886 season, each replacing the 112-game, 16 games against the other seven teams format that both leagues had from 1884 and 1885. The NL would adopt the AA's format in 1888, and each league would use this 140-game format until 1892.
American Association Opening Day took place on April 17 featuring six teams, while National League Opening Day took place on April 29, also featuring six teams. The American Association would see its final day of the regular season on October 15 with a doubleheader between the New York Metropolitans and Philadelphia Athletics, while the National League would see its final day of the season on October 11 with a game between the Kansas City Cowboys and Washington Nationals.[1] The 1886 World's Championship Series took place between October 18 and October 23.
The 1886 season saw the following rule changes:
Blue laws restricted Sunday activities in several localities, causing the Brooklyn Grays of the American Association (which was informally referred to as the "Beer & Whiskey League" due to its openness on alcohol, compared to the National League) to play at ballparks in a different locality.
*Denotes walk-off
Any team shown in small text indicates a previous team a player was on during the season.
1 All-time single-season strikeouts record
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