For Major League Baseball players, the season can be grueling.
It’s not just the time on the field that makes the season long; it’s also the time spent traveling from one field to the next.
In 2024, the MLB regular season kicks off on March 28 and runs through September, which means MLB teams will play 162 games – nearly twice as many as the NBA and nearly nine times as many as the NFL.
On average, MLB teams will travel more than 34,000 miles this season, but which teams will travel the most?
Offers.bet, a sportsbook resource, took a closer look at every MLB regular season game in order to determine teams with the most grueling schedules. Our analysis calculated the linear miles traveled for each team throughout the regular season.
Highlights:
- Teams in the West, South, and Southeast dominate the top 10 list of teams traveling the most miles this season.
- The Seattle Mariners top the list, with 47,441 travel miles on their schedule during the regular season, which is nearly 1,800 miles more than the No. 2 team, the San Francisco Giants (45,642 miles), and nearly twice as many as the Pittsburgh Pirates (26,411), which will travel the fewest miles.
- On average, MLB teams will travel 34,952 miles during the 2024 regular season.
It’s probably no surprise that teams located on the west coast will have the busiest travel schedules this season.
According to our analysis, more than half of the teams listed within the top 10 are located in either California or Washington.
Topping the list of teams with the worst travel schedules are the Seattle Mariners. Overall, the Mariners will travel 47,441 miles during the 2024 regular season, which is nearly 1,800 miles more than the No. 2 team, the San Francisco Giants (45,642 miles), and 12,489 miles more than the league average (34,952 miles).
On average, the Mariners are set to travel 4,313 miles per road trip this season. In terms of miles traveled, the team’s longest road game stretch is 5,839 miles when they travel from Seattle to Cleveland, Cleveland to Miami, Miami to Tampa Bay, and back home again.
Rounding out the top 10 list of teams that are set to travel the most miles this season are the San Francisco Giants (45,642), San Diego Padres (45,629), Los Angeles Angels (45,242), Oakland Athletics (45,041), Los Angeles Dodgers (43,152), Arizona Diamondbacks (41,667), Miami Marlins (41,074), Houston Astros (37,214), and the Texas Rangers (36,074).
In terms of teams with the best schedules, or fewest miles on their itinerary, most are located in the Midwest or central part of the country, including the Pittsburgh Pirates (26,411), Cincinnati Reds (27,477), St. Louis Cardinals (27,613), Chicago Cubs (28,007), and the Washington Nationals (29,118).
Which MLB Teams Travel the Most?
#1. Seattle Mariners
Total miles traveled in the 2024 regular season: 47,441
Average miles per road trip: 4,313
#2. San Francisco Giants
Total miles traveled in the 2024 regular season: 45,642
Average miles per road trip: 3,511
#3. San Diego Padres
Total miles traveled in the 2024 regular season: 45,629
Average miles per road trip: 3,259
#4. Los Angeles Angels
Total miles traveled in the 2024 regular season: 45,242
Average miles per road trip: 3,480
#5. Oakland Athletics
Total miles traveled in the 2024 regular season: 45,041
Average miles per road trip: 3,753
#6. Los Angeles Dodgers
Total miles traveled in the 2024 regular season: 43,152
Average miles per road trip: 3,319
#7. Arizona Diamondbacks
Total miles traveled in the 2024 regular season: 41,667
Average miles per road trip: 3,205
#8. Miami Marlins
Total miles traveled in the 2024 regular season: 41,074
Average miles per road trip: 3,160
#9. Houston Astros
Total miles traveled in the 2024 regular season: 37,214
Average miles per road trip: 2,863
#10. Texas Rangers
Total miles traveled in the 2024 regular season: 36,074
Average miles per road trip: 2,775
Which MLB Teams Have the Longest Road Trips?
Whether it’s a three-game stretch in a neighboring city or a multi-town tour, road games can be particularly taxing for visiting teams, depending on the locations to which they’re traveling.
On average, MLB teams will cover 2,700 miles roundtrip while on the road. But for teams lucky enough to be based in the Midwest, the miles on the road are much fewer. For example, the centrally-located St. Louis Cardinals cover an average of 1,972 miles when they’re on the road, and both the Chicago Cubs as well as Chicago White Sox clock in fewer than 2,200 miles.
MLB Teams: Estimated Fuel Cost
Along with calculating how many miles each MLB team is scheduled to travel this season, we also incorporated the estimated fuel costs.
MLB teams utilize charter flights throughout the season, so we estimated jet fuel expenses for each team’s travels from city to city, according to their schedule. A majority of teams charter either a Boeing 757, 737, or Airbus A320. Our fuel cost estimates are based on planes flying an average speed of 500 miles per hour.
According to our estimates, MLB teams would need to spend an average of $429,955.74 on jet fuel throughout the regular season. The top eight teams traveling the most miles this season would need to spend more than half a million dollars on jet fuel. However, the Mariners top the list, with an estimated jet fuel cost of $583,580.07.
Whether they’re traveling coast to coast or playing a long stretch on the road, MLB teams across the country are gearing up for a packed schedule this season.
Methodology
In order to determine how far each MLB team will travel, we calculated the total linear miles traveled between each ballpark based on the MLB 2024 regular season schedule. Additionally, our analysis established the average linear miles covered by each team during road games throughout the regular season. Fuel cost estimates were derived from a chartered flight traveling at an average speed of 500 miles per hour, factoring in the nationwide average cost of Jet A aviation fuel per gallon as of March 11, 2023.
Sources: MLB, Boeing, Airbus, AirNav, AeroExplorer, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Jet Advisors
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