| 1938 MLB season | |
| League: | American League (AL) National League (NL) |
| Sport: | Baseball |
| Duration: | Regular season:World Series: |
| No Of Games: | 154 |
| No Of Teams: | 16 (8 per league) |
| Season: | Regular season |
| Mvp: | AL |
| Mvp Link: | Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award |
| Conf1: | AL |
| Conf1 Champ: | New York Yankees |
| Conf1 Runner-Up: | Boston Red Sox |
| Conf2: | NL |
| Conf2 Champ: | Chicago Cubs |
| Conf2 Runner-Up: | Pittsburgh Pirates |
| Finals: | World Series |
| Finals Link: | 1938 World Series |
| Seasonslist: | List of MLB seasons |
| Seasonslistnames: | MLB |
| Prevseason Link: | 1937 Major League Baseball season |
| Prevseason Year: | 1937 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1939 Major League Baseball season |
| Nextseason Year: | 1939 |
The 1938 major league baseball season began on April 18, 1938. The regular season ended on October 2, with the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the 35th World Series on October 5 and ended with Game 4 on October 9. The Yankees swept the Cubs in four games.
The sixth Major League Baseball All-Star Game was played on July 6, hosted by the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the National League winning, 4–1.
See also: Major League Baseball schedule. The 1938 schedule consisted of 154 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had eight teams. Each team was scheduled to play 22 games against the other seven teams of their respective league. This continued the format put in place since the season (except for) and would be used until in the American League and in the National League.
American League Opening Day took place on April 18 with four teams playing, while National League Opening Day took place the following day, featuring all eight teams. This was the first season since that both leagues opened on different days. The final day of the regular season was on October 2 and featured all sixteen teams, continuing the trend since the previous season. The World Series took place between October 5 and October 9.
An asterisk (*) denotes the ballpark a team played the minority of their home games at
| Total | |||
| Jimmie Foxx (BRS) | .349 | ||
| Hank Greenberg (DET) | 58 | ||
| Jimmie Foxx (BRS) | 175 | ||
| Hank Greenberg (DET) | 143 | ||
| Joe Vosmik (BRS) | 201 | ||
| Frankie Crosetti (NYY) | 27 |
| Total | |||
| Red Ruffing (NYY) | 21 | ||
| George Caster (PHA) | 20 | ||
| Lefty Grove (BRS) | 3.08 | ||
| Bob Feller (CLE) | 240 | ||
| Bobo Newsom (SLB) | 329.2 | ||
| Johnny Murphy (NYY) | 11 |
| Total | |||
| Ernie Lombardi (CIN) | .342 | ||
| Mel Ott (NYG) | 36 | ||
| Joe Medwick (SLC) | 122 | ||
| Mel Ott (NYG) | 116 | ||
| Frank McCormick (CIN) | 237 | ||
| Stan Hack (CHC) | 16 |
| Total | |||
| Bill Lee (CHC) | 22 | ||
| Hugh Mulcahy (PHP) | 20 | ||
| Bill Lee (CHC) | 2.66 | ||
| Clay Bryant (CHC) | 135 | ||
| Paul Derringer (CIN) | 307.0 | ||
| Dick Coffman (NYG) | 12 |
| Team name | Wins | Home attendance | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Yankees[1] | 99 | -2.9% | 970,916 | -2.7% | 12,290 | |
| Chicago Cubs[2] | 89 | -4.3% | 951,640 | 6.3% | 12,359 | |
| New York Giants[3] | 83 | -12.6% | 799,633 | -13.7% | 10,954 | |
| Detroit Tigers[4] | 84 | -5.6% | 799,557 | -25.4% | 10,121 | |
| Cincinnati Reds[5] | 82 | 46.4% | 706,756 | 71.9% | 9,179 | |
| Brooklyn Dodgers[6] | 69 | 11.3% | 663,087 | 37.4% | 8,961 | |
| Cleveland Indians[7] | 86 | 3.6% | 652,006 | 15.4% | 8,579 | |
| Boston Red Sox[8] | 88 | 10.0% | 646,459 | 15.5% | 8,619 | |
| Pittsburgh Pirates[9] | 86 | 0.0% | 641,033 | 39.5% | 8,218 | |
| Washington Senators[10] | 75 | 2.7% | 522,694 | 31.4% | 6,701 | |
| Philadelphia Athletics[11] | 53 | -1.9% | 385,357 | -10.5% | 5,070 | |
| Boston Bees[12] | 77 | -2.5% | 341,149 | -11.5% | 4,549 | |
| Chicago White Sox[13] | 65 | -24.4% | 338,278 | -42.6% | 4,634 | |
| St. Louis Cardinals[14] | 71 | -12.3% | 291,418 | -32.4% | 3,598 | |
| Philadelphia Phillies[15] | 45 | -26.2% | 166,111 | -21.9% | 2,215 | |
| St. Louis Browns[16] | 55 | 19.6% | 130,417 | 5.9% | 1,694 |