2006 Major League Baseball season

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 in a fully-played season in major league history. The Atlanta Braves failed to qualify for the postseason for the first time since 1990. 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.

Postseason

Bracket

All-Star game

All-Star Game, July 11 at PNC Park – American League, 3–2; Michael Young, MVP
*Century 21 Home Run Derby, July 10 – Ryan Howard, Philadelphia Phillies

Awards

Other awards

Player of the Month

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

Pitcher of the Month

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

Rookie of the Month

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

Managers

National League

±hosted the MLB All Star Game

Milestones

300–300 Club members

Reggie Sanders – June 10
Steve Finley – June 14

Home runs

The following players reached major home run milestones in 2006:

[Barry Bonds]' countdown to 715

May 21 – reached 714 career homers, tying Babe Ruth for second all time
May 28 – reached 715 career homers, passing Ruth for second all time

400 career homers

Mike Piazza – April 26
Carlos Delgado – August 22

300 career homers

Jeromy Burnitz – April 4
Moisés Alou – April 13
Reggie Sanders – June 10
Steve Finley – June 14

200 career homers

Jeff Conine – April 16
Magglio Ordóñez – April 29
Eric Chavez – May 2
Jermaine Dye – May 14
Carlos Lee – May 24
Phil Nevin – June 19
Lance Berkman – June 21
Carl Everett – June 21
Nomar Garciaparra – June 25
David Ortiz – June 29
Alfonso Soriano – August 13
Bobby Abreu – August 22
Carlos Beltrán – August 26

Entry into the top 500

Trot Nixon on April 5 with his 126th career homer
Jason Varitek on June 13 with his 126th career homer
Vernon Wells on June 14 with his 126th career homer
Aubrey Huff on July 1 with his 126th career homer
Raúl Ibañez on July 15 with his 126th career homer
Mark Teixeira on August 19 with his 127th career homer

Pitching

Trevor Hoffman of the San Diego Padres broke Lee Smith's record of 478 Saves on September 24, 2006, at Petco Park.

Hitting

Alfonso Soriano of the Washington Nationals become only the fourth player to join the 40–40 club, joining José Canseco, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez when he stole his 40th base of the season on September 16. Six days later he became the first person to reach 40 home runs, 40 stolen bases and 40 doubles in one season.

Other achievements

Matt Holliday hit the longest home run of the season in MLB against the San Francisco Giants on September 19 with an official distance of ; HitTracker estimated it at.

Television coverage

This was the sixth and final season that national television 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.

Events

April 3 – The Florida Marlins set a modern major-league record by starting six rookies in their opening day 1-0 loss to the Houston Astros.