National League (baseball) in the context of "Pitcher"

The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They are one of two major league clubs based in New York City alongside the American League (AL)'s New York Yankees. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed NL teams, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants. The team's colors evoke the blue of the Dodgers and the orange of the Giants.

For the 1962 and 1963 seasons, the Mets played home games at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan before moving to Queens. From 1964 to 2008, the Mets played their home games at Shea Stadium, named after William Shea, the founder of the Continental League, a proposed third major league, the announcement of which prompted their admission as an NL expansion team. Since 2009, the Mets have played their home games at Citi Field next to the site where Shea Stadium once stood.

Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league in North America composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered the premier professional baseball league in the world. Each team plays 162 games per season, with Opening Day held during the last week of March or the first week of April. Six teams in each league then advance to a four-round postseason tournament in October, culminating in the World Series, a best-of-seven championship series between the two league champions first played in 1903. MLB is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan.

Formed in 1876 and 1901, respectively, the NL and AL cemented their cooperation with the National Agreement in 1903, making MLB the oldest major professional sports league in the United States and Canada. They remained legally separate entities until 2000, when they merged into a single organization led by the commissioner of baseball. Baseball's first all-professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, was founded in 1869. The first few decades of professional baseball saw rivalries between leagues, and players often jumped from one team or league to another. These practices were essentially ended by the National Agreement of 1903, in which AL and NL agreed to respect each other's player contracts, including the contentious reserve clause, which bound players to their teams.

Throughout the history of baseball, the rules of the game have changed frequently as the game continues to evolve. A few typical rules that most professional leagues have in common are that four balls are a base on balls, three strikes are a strikeout, and three outs end a half-inning.

Baseball evolved out of bat-and-ball games in the mid-19th century, and its modern rules are based mainly on those first published in 1848. Most rule sets are generally based on the Official Baseball Rules (OBR) published by Major League Baseball (MLB), though various minor variations exist from league to league; the World Baseball Softball Confederation maintains its own official rule set for international competition.

The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. Founded in 1883 as the New York Gothams, the team was renamed the New York Giants three years later, eventually relocating from New York City to San Francisco in 1958. The Giants play their home games at Oracle Park in San Francisco.

The franchise is one of the oldest and most successful in professional baseball, with more wins than any other team in the history of major American sports. The team was the first major-league organization based in New York City, most memorably playing home games at several iterations of the Polo Grounds. The Giants have played in the World Series 20 times. In 2014, the Giants won their then-record 23rd National League pennant; this mark has since been equaled and then eclipsed by the rival Los Angeles Dodgers, who won their 26th NL crown in 2025. The Giants' eight World Series championships are the third-most in the NL, and are the sixth-most of any franchise.

William A. Shea Municipal Stadium (/ʃeɪ/ SHAY), typically shortened to Shea Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City. Opened in 1964, it was home to the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1964 to 2008, as well as the New York Jets of the American Football League (AFL) and the National Football League (NFL) from 1964 to 1983.

The stadium was named in honor of William Shea, who was most responsible for bringing National League baseball back to New York after the Dodgers and Giants left for California in 1957. It was demolished in 2009 following the opening of the adjacent Citi Field, the ballpark built to replace it and the current home of the Mets. The former footprint of Shea Stadium is part of Citi Field's parking lots.

The National League East is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. Along with the American League Central, it is one of two divisions to have every current member team win at least one World Series title; it is also the only division whose current members have all won the championship while playing there.

After having internal, informal divisions for scheduling purposes during the pre-expansion era, the division was formally created when the National League (NL) (along with the American League) added two expansion teams and divided into two divisions, East and West, effective for the 1969 season. The National League's geographical alignment was rather peculiar as its geographic partitioning was less east–west than north–south. Two teams in the Eastern Time Zone, the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds, were in the same division as teams on the Pacific coast. This was due to the demands of the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals, who refused to support expansion unless they were promised they would be kept together in the newly created East Division.