2021 in baseball


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Major League Baseball

January

  • January 26: For the first time since 2013, the Baseball Writers' Association of America fails to select a player for induction into the Hall of Fame. Curt Schilling, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, all in their ninth year on the ballot, receive 71.1, 61.8 and 61.6 percent of the ballot respectively. Scott Rolen, in his fourth year on the ballot, is the only other player named on half of the ballots at 52.9%.

    February

  • February 12: Major League Baseball announced its new league structure for minor league play, a structure that excluded and effectively disbanded the historic leagues between class A and AAA.
  • February 25: Spring Training Begins for all 30 teams including Pitchers and catchers

    March

  • March 17: St Patricks Day

    April

  • April 1: 2021 Major League Baseball season begins
  • April 9:
  • *After 52 seasons and 8,205 games, the San Diego Padres record their first no-hitter with Joe Musgrove performing the deed, blanking the Texas Rangers 3–0 at Globe Life Field. He throws 77 of 112 pitches for strikes and strikes out 10 batters; a fourth-inning hit by pitch to Joey Gallo is the only blemish in an otherwise perfect game. The Padres had been the last of the 30 Major League teams to record a no-hitter. Previously, they had had four no-hit bids broken up in the ninth, with Steve Arlin having come the closest, losing his bid on July 18, with two out and one strike to go.
  • *Alessandro Ercolani signs an amateur free agent contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates, becoming the first player born in San Marino and the first player developed in San Marino to sign a professional baseball contract outside of the Italian Baseball League.
  • April 14: At Guaranteed Rate Field, Carlos Rodón of the Chicago White Sox no-hits the Cleveland Indians 8–0, the 20th no-hitter in franchise history. After retiring the first 25 batters, he loses his bid for a perfect game on a hit by pitch to Roberto Pérez. Rodón, who strikes out seven and throws 75 of 114 pitches for strikes, then retires the next two batters. Rodón becomes the fourth pitcher to record a no-hitter after losing a perfect game bid in the ninth, joining Jack Kralick in, Milt Pappas in and Max Scherzer in the first of his two no-hitters. The no-hitter also ties Eddie Cicotte's 104-year record for the earliest no-hitter calendar-wise by a White Sox pitcher.
  • April 15: Jackie Robinson Day
  • April 18: At Great American Ball Park, Shane Bieber of the Cleveland Indians becomes the first pitcher to strike out at least 10 batters in his first four starts of a season, dating back to when the mound was moved to its current distance in. He records 13 strikeouts in eight innings in the Indians' 6–3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. With 48 strikeouts in these four starts, Bieber also ties Nolan Ryan's 43-year record for most strikeouts in his first four starts of a season.
  • April 23:
  • *At Citi Field, Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets shuts out the Washington Nationals 6–0, striking out 15 batters along the way. With 50 strikeouts on season, he breaks the record of 48 for most by a pitcher in his first four starts of a season, Nolan Ryan having set the record in and Shane Bieber having tied it only five days earlier. deGrom also becomes the third pitcher, after Pedro Martínez in and Gerrit Cole in, to strike out at least 14 batters in three consecutive starts.
  • *At Dodger Stadium, Fernando Tatís Jr. hits two home runs off Clayton Kershaw, in the third and fifth innings, to help the San Diego Padres defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6–1. Tatís' performance comes 22 years to the day that his father, Fernando Sr., while playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, became the only player, to date, to hit two grand slams in the same inning of a Major League game, that feat also having occurred at Dodger Stadium. Like the son's first home run, the father's two had also come in the third inning; the Cardinals defeated the Dodgers 12–5.
  • April 24: For the second consecutive game, Fernando Tatís Jr. records a two-home run game at Dodger Stadium, this time with both home runs coming off defending National League Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer in the San Diego Padres' 5–4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. According to STATS, Tatís, having hit two home runs off three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw the day before, becomes the first player to hit multiple home runs against former Cy Young Award winners in consecutive games, as well as the first visiting player to record consecutive multi-home run games at Dodger Stadium since Barry Bonds in.
  • April 25: Madison Bumgarner of the Arizona Diamondbacks no-hits the Atlanta Braves 7–0 at Truist Park in the second game of a doubleheader. However, Bumgarner's feat is an unofficial no-hitter, as for the 2021 season, both games of a doubleheader last only seven innings.
  • April 26: At Globe Life Field, Justin Upton and Albert Pujols hit back-to-back home runs, the 312th and 667th respectively of their careers, in the third inning of the Los Angeles Angels' 9–4 victory over the Texas Rangers. The 979 homers are the third-most combined between teammates hitting back-to-back homers in the same game. The top two marks are by New York Yankee teammates: 1,099 between Alex Rodriguez and Carlos Beltrán on June 3,, and 1,005 between Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig on May 28,.
  • April 30: Hall-of-Famer Roberto Alomar is fired by the Toronto Blue Jays and placed on Major League Baseball's ineligible list following an independent investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct from. Alomar will remain enshrined in the Hall of Fame; however, the Blue Jays announce that they will sever all ties with him, removing his retired number 12 jersey from the Rogers Centre and his name from the stadium's "Level of Excellence", as well as taking down his Hall of Fame banner.

    May

  • May 4: Minor League season begins
  • May 5: At T-Mobile Park, John Means of the Baltimore Orioles no-hits the Seattle Mariners 6–0. He strikes out 12 and faces the minimum 27 batters, Sam Haggerty's reaching base on a dropped third strike in the third inning being the only blemish in an otherwise perfect game; Haggerty is subsequently caught stealing. The no-hitter is the Orioles' first since Bob Milacki, Mike Flanagan, Mark Williamson and Gregg Olson combined for one on July 13,, and their first solo no-hitter since Jim Palmer's on August 13,.
  • May 7: At Progressive Field, Wade Miley of the Cincinnati Reds no-hits the Cleveland Indians 3–0. He strikes out eight and throws 72 of 114 pitches for strikes. The only blemishes are in the sixth inning: a double error by Nick Senzel with Amed Rosario batting, first on a fielding error, then on a throwing error that advances Rosario to second base, then a walk to César Hernández. The no-hitter is the 17th in Reds history, the most recent having been Homer Bailey's second on July 2,.
  • May 13: In his Milwaukee Brewers' 2–0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at American Family Field, Corbin Burnes sets a Major League record for most strikeouts without a base on balls. Entering the game with 49 strikeouts, he strikes out nine before walking Tommy Edman in the fifth inning, the first walk Burnes issues this season. The 58 strikeouts without a walk is the most at any stretch of the season, Curt Schilling having set the old record of 56 in and Gerrit Cole having tied it one day earlier. Burnes also sets a record for strikeouts without a walk to begin a season, Kenley Jansen having set the old record of 51 in
  • May 18: At T-Mobile Park, Spencer Turnbull of the Detroit Tigers no-hits the Seattle Mariners 5–0. He strikes out nine batters and throws 77 of 117 pitches for strikes in throwing the eighth no-hitter in Tiger history, and the first since the second of Justin Verlander's three no-hitters on May 7,. The no-hitter is the fifth in the Major Leagues this season, marking the first time since that five no-hitters had been pitched in one season as of May 18. With John Means of the Baltimore Orioles having no-hit the Mariners on May 5, the Mariners become the first team since the Los Angeles Dodgers in August to be no-hit twice in the same month.
  • May 19: The sixth no-hitter on the season is pitched, with the New York Yankees' Corey Kluber performing the feat, a 2-0 gem against his former team, the Texas Rangers, at Globe Life Field. Kluber strikes out nine batters, throws 71 of 101 pitches for strikes and yields only one baserunner, a third-inning walk to Charlie Culberson, in throwing the 12th no-hitter in Yankee history and the first since David Cone's perfect game in. With this no-hitter, this season sets a record for most no-hitters before the month of June; the no-hitter also places this season one short of the joint modern-day record of seven pitched in both and.