7. the 2004 boston red sox accomplished this in the alcs against the new york yankees and won game 7. however, the astros were not able to duplicate the red sox. awards and honors regular season baseball writers' association of america awards bbwaa awardnational leagueamerican league rookie of the yeardevin williams (mil)kyle lewis (sea) cy young awardtrevor bauer (cin)shane bieber (cle) manager of the yeardon mattingly (mia)kevin cash (tb) most valuable playerfreddie freeman (atl)josé abreu (cws) gold glove awards positionnational leagueamerican league pitchermax fried (atl)griffin canning (laa) catchertucker barnhart (cin)roberto pérez (cle) 1st baseanthony rizzo (chc)evan white (sea) 2nd basekolten wong (stl)césar hernández (cle) 3rd basenolan arenado (col)isiah kiner-falefa (tex) shortstopjavier báez (chc)j. p. crawford (sea) left fieldtyler o'neill (stl)alex gordon (kc) center fieldtrent grisham (sd)luis robert (cws) right fieldmookie betts (lad)joey gallo (tex) silver slugger awards designated hittermarcell ozuna (atl)nelson cruz (min) catchertravis d'arnaud (atl)salvador pérez (kc) 1st basefreddie freeman (atl)jose abreu (cws) 2nd basedonovan solano (sf)dj lemahieu (nyy) 3rd basemanny machado (sd)josé ramírez (cle) shortstopfernando tatís jr. (sd)tim anderson (cws) outfieldronald acuña jr. (atl)mookie betts (lad)juan soto (was)teoscar hernández (tor)eloy jiménez (cws)mike trout (laa) all-mlb team players are selected through fan votes (50%) and votes from a panel of experts (50%). the winners are selected based on merit, with no set number of nominees per position and no distinction between leagues. all-mlb team positionfirst teamsecond team starting pitchertrevor bauer (cin)gerrit cole (nyy) shane bieber (cle)clayton kershaw (lad) yu darvish (chc)dinelson lamet (sd) jacob degrom (nym)kenta maeda (min) max fried (atl)hyun-jin ryu (tor) relief pitchernick anderson (tb)brad hand (cle) liam hendriks (oak)devin williams (mil) designated hittermarcell ozuna (atl)nelson cruz (min) catchersalvador pérez (kc)j. t. realmuto (phi) 1st basefreddie freeman (atl)josé abreu (cws) 2nd basedj lemahieu (nyy)brandon lowe (tb) 3rd basemanny machado (sd)josé ramírez (cle) shortstopfernando tatís jr. (sd)corey seager (lad) outfieldmookie betts (lad)ronald acuña jr. (atl) juan soto (was)michael conforto (nym) mike trout (laa)mike yastrzemski (sf) other awards the sporting news player of the year award: josé abreu (cws) comeback players of the year: salvador pérez (kc, american); daniel bard (col, national) edgar martínez award (best designated hitter): marcell ozuna (atl) hank aaron award: josé abreu (cws, american); freddie freeman (atl, national) roberto clemente award (humanitarian): adam wainwright (stl) mariano rivera al reliever of the year award (best al reliever): liam hendriks (oak) trevor hoffman nl reliever of the year award (best nl reliever): devin williams (mil) warren spahn award (best left-handed pitcher): hyun-jin ryu (tor) fielding bible awards positionplayer pitchermax fried catcherroberto pérez 1st basematt olson 2nd basekolten wong 3rd basenolan arenado shortstopjavier báez left fieldtyler o'neill center fieldkevin kiermaier right fieldmookie betts multi-positionkiké hernández monthly awards player of the month monthamerican leaguenational league july/august josé abreufernando tatis jr. september josé ramírezfreddie freeman pitcher of the month monthamerican leaguenational league july/august shane bieberyu darvish september chris bassitttrevor bauer rookie of the month monthamerican leaguenational league july/august luis robertjake cronenworth september jared walshke'bryan hayes reliever of the month monthamerican leaguenational league july/august liam hendrikskenley jansen september mike mayersdevin williams uniforms on january 25, 2019, mlb announced that nike would become the new exclusive uniform supplier for all mlb teams, under a 10-year deal beginning in 2020. under armour backed out of its existing supply agreement as a cost-cutting measure. anniversaries and special events team special occasion all teams #42 patch for jackie robinson day (scheduled for april 15; tribute converted to virtual experience on mlb.com/mlb network; held august 28) 100th anniversary of the negro leagues (august 16) gold ribbons for childhood cancer (august 28) patches for black lives matter (opening day) chicago white sox "farmio" patch in memory of radio broadcaster and former pitcher ed farmer detroit #6 patch in memory of al kaline kansas city "dg" patch in memory of former owner david glass milwaukee 50th anniversary in milwaukee minnesota 60th season in the twin cities "rc" patch in memory of minor league player ryan costello (july 24) new york mets #41 patch in memory of tom seaver new york yankees "hgs" patch in memory of hank steinbrenner #16 patch in memory of whitey ford (october 9) st. louis #20 patch in memory of lou brock san francisco "20 at 24" 20th anniversary of oracle park (24 refers to the address of the park, 24 willie mays plaza) texas first season at globe life field toronto #1 patch in memory of tony fernández washington 2019 world series championship (july 23, initially scheduled for april 2) wholesale changes arizona tweaked their uniforms, including removing the darker away uniforms and the diamond pattern on the uniforms. cincinnati added a new alternate jersey and a new spring training jersey. milwaukee introduced new uniforms, including a return to the ball-in-glove logo used as their primary logo from 1978 to 1993. they also switched out their gold color to yellow. minnesota added a new alternate uniform, utilizing its powder blue 1973–1986 road uniform design. pittsburgh brought back the script "pittsburgh" from the 1990s on new alternate and road uniforms, along with a gold outlined "p" on their caps. texas introduced a new powder blue jersey along with a powder blue hat. it also changed the "texas" wordmark to "rangers" wordmark on the white jersey and revealed a new red hat with the state of texas on it with "tx." toronto added a new alternate based on its 1979–1988 powder blue road jerseys. washington added two new alternate hats and one alternate white jersey. san diego changed its primary colors from navy blue to brown and gold, the team's primary colors from 1969 to 1984. st. louis made changes to its logo as it appears on the caps. throwbacks the cardinals and royals wore negro leagues throwbacks september 22. the cardinals wore 1930 st. louis stars uniforms, and the royals wore 1945 kansas city monarchs uniforms. venues this is the texas rangers' first season at globe life field, replacing globe life park in arlington where they played from 1994 to 2019. their first game was july 24 against the colorado rockies. the miami marlins converted marlins park from a natural grass surface to shaw sports b1k artificial turf and the field's fences will be moved in closer. the atlanta braves' suntrust park was renamed truist park after suntrust banks merged with bb&t bank to make truist financial. temporary relocation of the toronto blue jays on july 18, the canadian federal government denied the toronto blue jays exceptions to the quarantine act to play regular season home games at rogers centre this season. although they were allowed to conduct training camp with stricter protocols than those mandated by mlb, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship marco mendicino cited that repeated cross-border travel by players would carry a major risk due to the higher number of covid-19 cases in the u.s. mendicino did not rule out the permission being granted for postseason games, depending on the status of the pandemic in the u.s. by then, however the blue jays would not have any home postseason games. on july 20, the pittsburgh pirates offered the use of pnc park as a site for blue jays home games. however, health officials in pennsylvania denied permission for this arrangement, citing concerns over additional travel to and from pittsburgh amid an increase in local cases. on july 24, the blue jays announced that they would play the majority of their home games at sahlen field in buffalo, new york, home of the jays' aaa affiliate, the buffalo bisons. the jays' first game in buffalo was august 11 against the miami marlins. the jays' first two home series against the washington nationals and philadelphia phillies were relocated to the visiting teams' venues, nationals park and citizens bank park, respectively, with the jays as designated home team. however, the phillies series was postponed and made up in buffalo. broadcast rights national this is the seventh year of the current eight-year deals with fox, espn, and tbs. fox was to televise the mlb at field of dreams game on august 13. fs1 televised games on tuesday nights and on saturdays both during the afternoon and night. espn televised games on its flagship telecast sunday night baseball as well as monday and wednesday nights. fox and espn sunday night baseball telecasts were exclusive; all other national telecasts were subject to local blackout. tbs televised one al wild card series, both american league division series matchups and the american league championship series. espn televised seven of the eight wild card series with live look-ins and alternate broadcasts on espn+. on september 28, it was announced that abc would broadcast at least four of espn's wild card series games, marking the first time a national mlb game had aired on the network since 1995 (via the ill-fated the baseball network arrangement). fs1 and mlb network will televise both national league division series matchups. fox and fs1 televised the national league championship series, and the world series was be on fox for the 21st straight year. local in chicago, new television deals resulted in the end of free-to-air regional telecasts for the city's two franchises. in february, the cubs launched the team-owned marquee sports network, a joint venture with sinclair broadcast group. the white sox signed exclusively with nbc sports chicago under a multi-year deal. in november 2019, mlb owners voted unanimously to revert "certain in-market digital rights" to the teams themselves. on april 1, the los angeles dodgers' spectrum sportsnet la reached a carriage deal with at&t (covering at&t tv, u-verse, and directv), concluding a seven-year impasse that had hindered the network's local availability. long-time cincinnati reds television play-by-play announcer thom brennaman resigned on september 26 after he was caught using a homophobic slur in a game on august 19 against the kansas city royals. sideline host jim day took over brennaman's duties for the rest of the season, beginning august 20. national espn radio will air its 23rd season of national coverage, including sunday night baseball, saturday games, opening day, labor day games, and the entire major league baseball postseason. local the oakland athletics were briefly the first mlb team to abandon terrestrial radio in their primary market in favor of internet radio; the team initially carried games on tunein via the "a's cast" channel, with plans for some games to be aired without commercial interruptions. the decision was prompted by competition with other local sports teams for time on stations, resulting in frequent pre-emptions and lowered priorities, and conflicts with regular station programming. the broadcasts were still carried on some terrestrial radio stations outside the bay area (with the closest being sacramento's khtk). however, on july 30, 2020, it was reported that the team had backed out of the arrangement and signed with iheartmedia to make 960 knew the team's flagship station (with its streaming platform shifting to iheartradio), beginning july 31. team owner dave kaval cited people having become "budget-conscious" due to the pandemic as having influenced the decision. entercom's kmnb/minneapolis will join wcco as the fm flagship for the minnesota twins in an extension of rights until the 2023 season. chicago white sox radio play-by-play announcer ed farmer, a former pitcher for the team who had been part of the team's radio broadcast staff since 1991, died on april 1 after a long-term battle with polycystic kidney disease. on june 30, the team and its radio network named andy masur (the former pre-game host) as farmer's successor. impact of the covid-19 pandemic on production cutout images of washington nationals fans placed in nationals park seats in august 2020 in order to reduce avoidable travel and the amount of personnel on-site for each game, most mlb broadcasters commentated away games remotely from either their broadcaster's studio, or their home stadium's broadcast booths. mlb safety protocols mandated remote broadcasts for away games on television, but radio broadcasters were allowed to be present on-site for away games if they so chose. some teams had their commentators on-site for home games only, and called away games from their studio. furthermore, the home team's local television rightsholder served as the host broadcaster for each game, providing a neutral video feed to media partners (including the away team's local rightsholder, and in some cases, a national broadcaster), which added commentary, graphics, and other surrounding coverage for their audience. mlb network assisted with providing and using existing