| 2004 MLB season | |
| League: | Major League Baseball |
| Sport: | Baseball |
| Duration: | March 30 – October 27, 2004 |
| No Of Games: | 162 |
| No Of Teams: | 30 |
| Tv: | Fox, ESPN |
| Draft: | Draft |
| Draft Link: | 2004 Major League Baseball draft |
| Top Pick: | Matt Bush |
| Top Pick Link: | List of first overall MLB draft picks |
| Picked By: | San Diego Padres |
| Season: | Regular Season |
| Mvp: | AL |
| Mvp Link: | Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award |
| Playoffs: | Postseason |
| Playoffs Link: | 2004 Major League Baseball postseason |
| Conf1: | AL |
| Conf1 Link: | 2004 American League Championship Series |
| Conf1 Champ: | Boston Red Sox |
| Conf1 Runner-Up: | New York Yankees |
| Conf2: | NL |
| Conf2 Link: | 2004 National League Championship Series |
| Conf2 Champ: | St. Louis Cardinals |
| Conf2 Runner-Up: | Houston Astros |
| Finals: | World Series |
| Finals Link: | 2004 World Series |
| Finals Champ: | Boston Red Sox |
| Finals Runner-Up: | St. Louis Cardinals |
| World Series Mvp: | Manny Ramirez (BOS) |
| World Series Mvp Link: | World Series MVP Award |
| Seasonslist: | List of Major League Baseball seasons |
| Seasonslistnames: | MLB |
| Prevseason Link: | 2003 Major League Baseball season |
| Prevseason Year: | 2003 |
| Nextseason Link: | 2005 Major League Baseball season |
| Nextseason Year: | 2005 |
The 2004 Major League Baseball season ended when the Boston Red Sox defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in a four-game World Series sweep. The Red Sox championship ended an 86-year-long drought known as the Curse of the Bambino. The Red Sox were also the first team in MLB history and the third team from a major North American professional sports league ever to come back from a 3–0 postseason series deficit and win. This happened in the ALCS against the New York Yankees.
The Montreal Expos would play their last season in Montreal, before relocating to Washington DC, becoming the Washington Nationals in 2005.
| Statistic | National League | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ichiro Suzuki SEA | .372 | Barry Bonds SF | .362 | ||
| Manny Ramírez BOS | 43 | Adrián Beltré LA | 48 | ||
| Miguel Tejada BAL | 150 | Vinny Castilla COL | 131 | ||
| Curt Schilling BOS | 21 | Roy Oswalt HOU | 20 | ||
| Johan Santana MIN | 2.61 | Jake Peavy SD | 2.27 | ||
| Johan Santana MIN | 265 | Randy Johnson AZ | 290 | ||
| Mariano Rivera NYY | 53 | Armando Benítez FLA Jason Isringhausen STL | 47 | ||
| Carl Crawford TB | 59 | Scott Podsednik MIL | 70 | ||
See main article: article and 2004 MLB Postseason. 2004 was the last postseason until 2020 where both LCS went to 7 games.
| Team | Manager | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona Diamondbacks | Bob Brenly | Replaced during the season by Al Pedrique | |
| Atlanta Braves | Bobby Cox | ||
| Chicago Cubs | Dusty Baker | ||
| Cincinnati Reds | Dave Miley | ||
| Colorado Rockies | Clint Hurdle | ||
| Florida Marlins | Jack McKeon | ||
| Houston Astros± | Jimy Williams | Replaced during the season by Phil Garner | |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | Jim Tracy | ||
| Milwaukee Brewers | Ned Yost | ||
| Montreal Expos | Frank Robinson | ||
| New York Mets | Art Howe | ||
| Philadelphia Phillies | Larry Bowa | ||
| Pittsburgh Pirates | Lloyd McClendon | ||
| St. Louis Cardinals | Tony La Russa | Won the National League pennant | |
| San Diego Padres | Bruce Bochy | ||
| San Francisco Giants | Felipe Alou |
The following players reached major milestones in 2004:
Randy Johnson pitched the 17th perfect game in MLB history on May 18, 2004.
Randy Johnson struck out Jeff Cirillo on June 29, 2004, for his 4000th strikeout.
Ken Griffey Jr. – June 20
Greg Maddux – August 7, 2004
Ichiro Suzuki – 262 hits (broke George Sisler's 84-year-old record of 257)
There were a total of 80 walk-off home runs, which was then the MLB single-season record until 2018.[1]
Manny Ramirez (BOS, American); Barry Bonds (SF, National).
Mariano Rivera (NYY, American); Éric Gagné (LA, National).
| Month | American League | National League | |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | Barry Bonds | ||
| May | Lance Berkman | ||
| June | Jim Thome | ||
| July | Jim Edmonds | ||
| August | Barry Bonds | ||
| September | Adrián Beltré |
| Month | American League | National League | |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | Roger Clemens | ||
| May | Jason Schmidt | ||
| June | Carl Pavano | ||
| July | Russ Ortiz | ||
| August | Jake Peavy | ||
| September | Carlos Zambrano |
| Month | American League | National League | |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | Khalil Greene | ||
| May | Terrmel Sledge | ||
| June | Jason Bay | ||
| July | Jason Bay | ||
| August | Khalil Greene | ||
| September | Jason Bay |
| Team name | Wins | Home attendance | Est. payroll | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Yankees[2] | 101 | 0.0% | 3,775,292 | 8.9% | 46,609 | $184,193,950 | 20.6% | |
| Los Angeles Dodgers[3] | 93 | 9.4% | 3,488,283 | 11.1% | 43,065 | $92,902,001 | −12.3% | |
| Anaheim Angels[4] | 92 | 19.5% | 3,375,677 | 10.3% | 41,675 | $100,534,667 | 27.2% | |
| San Francisco Giants[5] | 91 | −9.0% | 3,256,854 | −0.2% | 39,718 | $82,019,166 | −1.0% | |
| Philadelphia Phillies[6] | 86 | 0.0% | 3,250,092 | 43.8% | 40,125 | $93,219,167 | 31.7% | |
| Chicago Cubs[7] | 89 | 1.1% | 3,170,154 | 7.0% | 38,660 | $90,560,000 | 13.4% | |
| Houston Astros[8] | 92 | 5.7% | 3,087,872 | 25.8% | 38,122 | $75,397,000 | 6.1% | |
| St. Louis Cardinals[9] | 105 | 23.5% | 3,048,427 | 4.7% | 37,635 | $84,340,333 | 0.7% | |
| San Diego Padres[10] | 87 | 35.9% | 3,016,752 | 48.6% | 37,244 | $55,384,833 | 22.5% | |
| Seattle Mariners[11] | 63 | −32.3% | 2,940,731 | −10.0% | 35,863 | $81,515,834 | −6.3% | |
| Boston Red Sox[12] | 98 | 3.2% | 2,837,294 | 4.2% | 35,028 | $127,298,500 | 27.4% | |
| Baltimore Orioles[13] | 78 | 9.9% | 2,744,018 | 11.8% | 33,877 | $51,623,333 | −30.1% | |
| Arizona Diamondbacks[14] | 51 | −39.3% | 2,519,560 | −10.2% | 31,106 | $69,780,750 | −13.5% | |
| Texas Rangers[15] | 89 | 25.4% | 2,513,685 | 20.0% | 31,033 | $55,050,417 | −46.8% | |
| Colorado Rockies[16] | 68 | −8.1% | 2,338,069 | 0.2% | 28,865 | $65,445,167 | −2.6% | |
| Atlanta Braves[17] | 96 | −5.0% | 2,327,565 | −3.1% | 28,735 | $90,182,500 | −15.1% | |
| New York Mets[18] | 71 | 7.6% | 2,318,951 | 8.3% | 28,629 | $102,035,970 | −12.9% | |
| Cincinnati Reds[19] | 76 | 10.1% | 2,287,250 | −2.9% | 28,238 | $46,915,250 | −21.0% | |
| Oakland Athletics[20] | 91 | −5.2% | 2,201,516 | −0.7% | 27,179 | $59,425,667 | 18.2% | |
| Milwaukee Brewers[21] | 67 | −1.5% | 2,062,382 | 21.3% | 25,462 | $27,528,500 | −32.2% | |
| Chicago White Sox[22] | 83 | −3.5% | 1,930,537 | −0.5% | 23,834 | $65,212,500 | 27.8% | |
| Detroit Tigers[23] | 72 | 67.4% | 1,917,004 | 40.1% | 23,667 | $46,832,000 | −4.8% | |
| Minnesota Twins[24] | 92 | 2.2% | 1,911,490 | −1.8% | 23,599 | $53,890,000 | −2.9% | |
| Toronto Blue Jays[25] | 67 | −22.1% | 1,900,041 | 5.6% | 23,457 | $50,017,000 | −2.4% | |
| Cleveland Indians[26] | 80 | 17.6% | 1,814,401 | 4.9% | 22,400 | $34,319,300 | −29.4% | |
| Florida Marlins[27] | 83 | −8.8% | 1,723,105 | 32.2% | 21,539 | $42,143,042 | −14.8% | |
| Kansas City Royals[28] | 58 | −30.1% | 1,661,478 | −6.7% | 20,768 | $47,609,000 | 17.5% | |
| Pittsburgh Pirates[29] | 72 | −4.0% | 1,580,031 | −3.5% | 19,750 | $32,227,929 | −41.2% | |
| Tampa Bay Devil Rays[30] | 70 | 11.1% | 1,274,911 | 20.4% | 15,936 | $29,856,667 | 52.1% | |
| Montreal Expos[31] | 67 | −19.3% | 749,550 | −26.9% | 9,369 | $41,197,500 | −20.7% |
This was the fourth season that national TV coverage was split between ESPN and Fox Sports. 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.