As it currently stands, there are five major league teams that have never played at a specific ballpark. The Pittsburgh Pirates will close that circle in 2024.
Major League Baseball’s changes to the schedule ensure that every team faces each other at least once. These changes also ensure that those teams alternate ballparks every other year. This leaves five teams – the Guardians, Reds, Cubs, Pirates, and Mets – who have not been at a particular ballpark.
Pittsburgh Pirates bringing MLB back to 1900
The Guardians will play in Truist Park, the new home of the Braves, for the first time next year. Globe Life Park will see four teams make their first trek there with the Cubs, Reds, and Mets heading to Texas in that order. Then, on August 19, the Pirates will take the field at Globe Life for the first time. In that moment, every major league team will have played in every current major league stadium.
This was commonplace in the 19th century. The National League was the only major league in town from 1892 through 1900. Every team played in the other’s ballpark at the time. Then, with the introduction of the American League, that changed. Interleague play allowed teams to visit periodically, but the spate of new stadiums and the Expansion Era, those days had been buried in history.
But those times are coming back. Even when expansion comes to the majors once again, the current scheduling format will ensure that those new teams visit every ballpark. That 124 year run may not occur again.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are bringing the majors back to 1900. On August 19, 2024, every major league team will have visited every active ballpark.
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