The 2006 Major League Baseball season ended with the National League's St. Louis Cardinals winning the World Series with the lowest regular-season victory total (83) in a fully-played season in major league history. The Atlanta Braves failed to qualify for the postseason for the first time since 1991 (1994 there was no postseason due to the players strike). Individual achievements included Barry Bonds who, despite questions surrounding his alleged steroid use and involvement in the BALCO scandal, surpassed Babe Ruth for second place on the career home runs list. The American League continued its domination at the All-Star Game by winning its fourth straight game, and ninth of the prior 10 contests (the 2002 game was a tie).
2006 MLB season | |
---|---|
League | Major League Baseball |
Sport | Baseball |
Duration | April 2 – October 27, 2006 |
Number of games | 162 |
Number of teams | 30 |
TV partner(s) | Fox, ESPN |
Draft | |
Top draft pick | Luke Hochevar |
Picked by | Kansas City Royals |
Regular Season | |
Season MVP | AL: Justin Morneau (MIN) NL: Ryan Howard (PHI) |
Postseason | |
AL champions | Detroit Tigers |
AL runners-up | Oakland Athletics |
NL champions | St. Louis Cardinals |
NL runners-up | New York Mets |
World Series | |
Champions | St. Louis Cardinals |
Runners-up | Detroit Tigers |
World Series MVP | David Eckstein (STL) |
American League edit
|
National League edit
|
Division Series (ALDS, NLDS) | League Championship Series (NLCS, ALCS) | World Series | ||||||||||||
1 | NY Yankees | 1 | ||||||||||||
4 | Detroit | 3 | ||||||||||||
4 | Detroit | 4 | ||||||||||||
American League | ||||||||||||||
3 | Oakland | 0 | ||||||||||||
2 | Minnesota | 0 | ||||||||||||
3 | Oakland | 3 | ||||||||||||
AL4 | Detroit | 1 | ||||||||||||
NL3 | St. Louis | 4 | ||||||||||||
1 | NY Mets | 3 | ||||||||||||
4 | LA Dodgers | 0 | ||||||||||||
1 | NY Mets | 3 | ||||||||||||
National League | ||||||||||||||
3 | St. Louis | 4 | ||||||||||||
2 | San Diego | 1 | ||||||||||||
3 | St. Louis | 3 |
Month | American League | National League |
---|---|---|
April | Jason Giambi | Albert Pujols |
May | Alex Rodriguez | Jason Bay |
June | Joe Mauer | David Wright |
July | David Ortiz | Chase Utley |
August | Travis Hafner | Ryan Howard |
September | Robinson Canó | Ryan Howard |
Month | American League | National League |
---|---|---|
April | José Contreras | Greg Maddux |
May | CC Sabathia | Jason Schmidt |
June | Johan Santana | Chris Young |
July | John Lackey | Carlos Zambrano |
August | Esteban Loaiza | Derek Lowe |
September | Johan Santana | Roy Oswalt |
Month | American League | National League |
---|---|---|
April | Jonathan Papelbon | Prince Fielder |
May | Justin Verlander | Josh Johnson |
June | Francisco Liriano | Josh Johnson Dan Uggla |
July | Francisco Liriano | Josh Barfield |
August | Nick Markakis | Chris Duncan |
September | Boof Bonser | Aníbal Sánchez |
Statistic | American League | National League | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
AVG | Joe Mauer, MIN | .347 | Freddy Sanchez, PIT | .344 |
HR | David Ortiz, BOS | 54 | Ryan Howard, PHI | 58 |
RBI | David Ortiz, BOS | 137 | Ryan Howard, PHI | 149 |
Wins | Johan Santana, MIN Chien-Ming Wang, NYY |
19 | Aaron Harang, CIN Derek Lowe, LAD Brad Penny, LAD John Smoltz, ATL Brandon Webb, AZ Carlos Zambrano, CHC |
16 |
ERA | Johan Santana, MIN | 2.77 | Roy Oswalt, HOU | 2.98 |
SO | Johan Santana, MIN | 245 | Aaron Harang, CIN | 216 |
SV | Francisco Rodríguez, LAA | 47 | Trevor Hoffman, SD | 46 |
SB | Carl Crawford, TB | 58 | José Reyes, NYM | 64 |
Team | Manager | Comments |
---|---|---|
Baltimore Orioles | Sam Perlozzo | |
Boston Red Sox | Terry Francona | |
Chicago White Sox | Ozzie Guillén | |
Cleveland Indians | Eric Wedge | |
Detroit Tigers | Jim Leyland | Won the ALCS, replacing Alan Trammell |
Kansas City Royals | Buddy Bell | |
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim | Mike Scioscia | |
Minnesota Twins | Ron Gardenhire | |
New York Yankees | Joe Torre | |
Oakland Athletics | Ken Macha (Macha was replaced by Bob Geren) | |
Seattle Mariners | Mike Hargrove | |
Tampa Bay Devil Rays | Joe Maddon | |
Texas Rangers | Buck Showalter (Showalter was replaced with Ron Washington) | |
Toronto Blue Jays | John Gibbons |
Team | Manager | Comments |
---|---|---|
Arizona Diamondbacks | Bob Melvin | |
Atlanta Braves | Bobby Cox | |
Chicago Cubs | Dusty Baker (Baker was replaced by Lou Piniella) | |
Cincinnati Reds | Jerry Narron | |
Colorado Rockies | Clint Hurdle | |
Florida Marlins | Joe Girardi (Girardi was replaced by Fredi González) | |
Houston Astros | Phil Garner | |
Los Angeles Dodgers | Grady Little | |
Milwaukee Brewers | Ned Yost | |
New York Mets | Willie Randolph | |
Philadelphia Phillies | Charlie Manuel | |
Pittsburgh Pirates± | Jim Tracy | |
St. Louis Cardinals | Tony La Russa | Won the World Series |
San Diego Padres | Bruce Bochy (Bochy was replaced by Bud Black) | |
San Francisco Giants | Felipe Alou (Alou was replaced by Bruce Bochy) | |
Washington Nationals | Frank Robinson (Robinson was replaced by Manny Acta) |
±hosted the MLB All Star Game
The following players reached major home run milestones in 2006:
Team name | Wins | %± | Home attendance | %± | Per game | Est. payroll | %± |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New York Yankees[2] | 97 | 2.1% | 4,248,067 | 3.8% | 52,445 | $194,663,079 | -6.5% |
Los Angeles Dodgers[3] | 88 | 23.9% | 3,758,545 | 4.3% | 46,402 | $98,447,187 | 18.6% |
St. Louis Cardinals[4] | 83 | -17.0% | 3,407,104 | -3.7% | 42,589 | $88,891,371 | -3.5% |
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim[5] | 89 | -6.3% | 3,406,790 | 0.1% | 42,059 | $103,472,000 | 9.1% |
New York Mets[6] | 97 | 16.9% | 3,379,535 | 19.4% | 41,723 | $101,584,963 | 0.3% |
San Francisco Giants[7] | 76 | 1.3% | 3,130,313 | -1.6% | 38,646 | $90,056,419 | -0.2% |
Chicago Cubs[8] | 66 | -16.5% | 3,123,215 | 0.7% | 38,558 | $94,424,499 | 8.5% |
Houston Astros[9] | 82 | -7.9% | 3,022,763 | 7.8% | 37,318 | $100,894,435 | 31.4% |
Chicago White Sox[10] | 90 | -9.1% | 2,957,414 | 26.2% | 36,511 | $102,750,667 | 36.7% |
Boston Red Sox[11] | 86 | -9.5% | 2,930,588 | 2.9% | 36,180 | $120,099,824 | -2.8% |
Philadelphia Phillies[12] | 85 | -3.4% | 2,701,815 | 1.4% | 33,356 | $88,273,333 | -7.6% |
San Diego Padres[13] | 88 | 7.3% | 2,659,757 | -7.3% | 32,837 | $69,896,141 | 10.4% |
Detroit Tigers[14] | 95 | 33.8% | 2,595,937 | 28.2% | 32,049 | $82,612,866 | 19.6% |
Atlanta Braves[15] | 79 | -12.2% | 2,550,524 | 1.2% | 31,488 | $90,156,876 | 4.3% |
Seattle Mariners[16] | 78 | 13.0% | 2,481,165 | -9.0% | 30,632 | $87,959,833 | 0.2% |
Texas Rangers[17] | 80 | 1.3% | 2,388,757 | -5.4% | 29,491 | $68,228,662 | 22.2% |
Milwaukee Brewers[18] | 75 | -7.4% | 2,335,643 | 5.6% | 28,835 | $57,970,333 | 45.2% |
Toronto Blue Jays[19] | 87 | 8.8% | 2,302,212 | 14.3% | 28,422 | $71,365,000 | 56.1% |
Minnesota Twins[20] | 96 | 15.7% | 2,285,018 | 12.3% | 28,210 | $63,396,006 | 12.8% |
Baltimore Orioles[21] | 70 | -5.4% | 2,153,139 | -18.0% | 26,582 | $72,585,582 | -1.8% |
Washington Nationals[22] | 71 | -12.3% | 2,153,056 | -21.2% | 26,581 | $63,143,000 | 30.0% |
Cincinnati Reds[23] | 80 | 9.6% | 2,134,607 | 9.9% | 26,353 | $60,909,519 | -1.6% |
Colorado Rockies[24] | 76 | 13.4% | 2,104,362 | 9.9% | 25,980 | $41,233,000 | -13.8% |
Arizona Diamondbacks[25] | 76 | -1.3% | 2,091,685 | 1.6% | 25,823 | $59,984,226 | -4.2% |
Cleveland Indians[26] | 78 | -16.1% | 1,997,995 | -0.8% | 24,667 | $56,031,500 | 35.0% |
Oakland Athletics[27] | 93 | 5.7% | 1,976,625 | -6.3% | 24,403 | $64,843,079 | 17.0% |
Pittsburgh Pirates[28] | 67 | 0.0% | 1,861,549 | 2.4% | 22,982 | $46,717,750 | 22.5% |
Kansas City Royals[29] | 62 | 10.7% | 1,372,638 | 0.1% | 16,946 | $47,694,000 | 29.3% |
Tampa Bay Devil Rays[30] | 61 | -9.0% | 1,368,950 | 19.9% | 16,901 | $34,917,967 | 17.7% |
Florida Marlins[31] | 78 | -6.0% | 1,164,134 | -37.2% | 14,372 | $14,671,500 | -75.7% |
This was the sixth and final season that national TV coverage was split between ESPN and Fox Sports (TBS would then be added to televising national coverage in 2007). ESPN and ESPN2 aired selected weeknight and Sunday night games, and selected Division Series playoff games. Fox televised Saturday baseball, the All-Star Game, selected Division Series games, both League Championship Series, and the World Series.