| 1946 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 Ted Williams (BSR) |
| Mvp Link: | Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award |
| Conf1: | AL |
| Conf1 Champ: | Boston Red Sox |
| Conf1 Runner-Up: | Detroit Tigers |
| Conf2: | NL |
| Conf2 Champ: | St. Louis Cardinals |
| Conf2 Runner-Up: | Brooklyn Dodgers |
| Finals: | World Series |
| Finals Link: | 1946 World Series |
| Finals Champ: | St. Louis Cardinals |
| Finals Runner-Up: | Boston Red Sox |
| Seasonslist: | List of MLB seasons |
| Seasonslistnames: | MLB |
| Prevseason Link: | 1945 Major League Baseball season |
| Prevseason Year: | 1945 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1947 Major League Baseball season |
| Nextseason Year: | 1947 |
The 1946 major league baseball season began on April 16, 1946. The regular season ended on October 3, with the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The Cardinals defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in a regular season best-of-three tiebreaker, for the National League title. It was Major League Baseball's first-ever regular season tie-breaker. The postseason began with Game 1 of the 43rd World Series on October 6 and ended with Game 7 on October 15. The Cardinals defeated the Red Sox, four games to three.
The 13th Major League Baseball All-Star Game was played on July 9, hosted by the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, with the American League winning, 12–0.
Many notable ballplayers returned from their military service this season, following the end of World War II, such as Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, and Ted Williams.
This was the last MLB season to be played under the color barrier, as Jackie Robinson would make his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers to start the following baseball season.
See also: Major League Baseball schedule. The 1946 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.
Opening Day took place on April 16, featuring all sixteen teams, continuing the trend from the previous season. The final day of the scheduled regular season was on September 29, which saw all sixteen teams play, the first time since . Due to the Brooklyn Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals finishing with the same record of 96–58, a best-of-three tie-breaker was scheduled, to be considered an extension of the regular season. The Cardinals swept the series in two games, on October 1 & 3. The World Series took place between October 6 and October 15.
An asterisk (*) denotes the ballpark a team played the minority of their home games at
| Team | Former Manager | New Manager | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Braves | Del Bissonette | Billy Southworth | |
| St. Louis Cardinals | Billy Southworth | Eddie Dyer |
| Total | |||
| Mickey Vernon (WSH) | .353 | ||
| Hank Greenberg (DET) | 44 | ||
| Hank Greenberg (DET) | 127 | ||
| Ted Williams (BRS) | 142 | ||
| Johnny Pesky (BRS) | 208 | ||
| George Case (CLE) | 28 |
| Total | |||
| Bob Feller (CLE) Hal Newhouser (DET) | 26 | ||
| Dick Fowler (PHA) Lou Knerr (PHA) Phil Marchildon (PHA) | 16 | ||
| Hal Newhouser (DET) | 1.94 | ||
| Bob Feller (CLE) | 348 | ||
| Bob Feller (CLE) | 371.1 | ||
| Bob Klinger (BRS) | 9 |
| Total | |||
| Stan Musial (SLC) | .365 | ||
| Ralph Kiner (PIT) | 23 | ||
| Enos Slaughter (SLC) | 130 | ||
| Stan Musial (SLC) | 124 | ||
| Stan Musial (SLC) | 228 | ||
| Pete Reiser (BKN) | 34 |
| Total | |||
| Howie Pollet (SLC) | 21 | ||
| Dave Koslo (NYG) | 19 | ||
| Howie Pollet (SLC) | 2.10 | ||
| Johnny Schmitz (CHC) | 135 | ||
| Howie Pollet (SLC) | 266.0 | ||
| Ken Raffensberger (PHP) | 6 |
| Team name | Wins | Home attendance | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Yankees[1] | 87 | 7.4% | 2,265,512 | 156.9% | 29,422 | |
| Brooklyn Dodgers[2] | 96 | 10.3% | 1,796,824 | 69.6% | 22,745 | |
| Detroit Tigers[3] | 92 | 4.5% | 1,722,590 | 34.5% | 21,805 | |
| Boston Red Sox[4] | 104 | 46.5% | 1,416,944 | 134.7% | 18,166 | |
| Chicago Cubs[5] | 82 | −16.3% | 1,342,970 | 29.6% | 17,441 | |
| New York Giants[6] | 61 | −21.8% | 1,219,873 | 20.0% | 15,843 | |
| St. Louis Cardinals[7] | 98 | 3.2% | 1,061,807 | 78.6% | 13,613 | |
| Cleveland Indians[8] | 68 | −6.8% | 1,057,289 | 89.4% | 13,731 | |
| Philadelphia Phillies[9] | 69 | 50.0% | 1,045,247 | 266.7% | 13,401 | |
| Washington Senators[10] | 76 | −12.6% | 1,027,216 | 57.4% | 13,516 | |
| Chicago White Sox[11] | 74 | 4.2% | 983,403 | 49.5% | 12,448 | |
| Boston Braves[12] | 81 | 20.9% | 969,673 | 159.1% | 12,593 | |
| Pittsburgh Pirates[13] | 63 | −23.2% | 749,962 | 24.0% | 9,615 | |
| Cincinnati Reds[14] | 67 | 9.8% | 715,751 | 146.8% | 9,295 | |
| Philadelphia Athletics[15] | 49 | −5.8% | 621,793 | 34.4% | 7,972 | |
| St. Louis Browns[16] | 66 | −18.5% | 526,435 | 9.0% | 6,837 |