The 1965 Major League Baseball season was contested from April 12 to October 14, 1965. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Minnesota Twins were the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The Dodgers then defeated the Twins in the World Series, four games to three. The Houston Colt .45s became the Houston Astros, as they moved from Colt Stadium to the new Astrodome, becoming the first team to play their home games indoors, rather than outdoors. It was also the final season for the Milwaukee Braves, before relocating and becoming the Atlanta Braves for the 1966 season. The Los Angeles Angels officially changed their name to California Angels on September 2, 1965, with only 28 games left in the season, in advance of their pending 1966 move to a new stadium in Anaheim, California. In June, the first Major League Baseball draft was held in New York City. Teams chose players in reverse order of the previous season's standings, with picks alternating between American League and National League teams. With the first pick of the 1965 MLB draft, the Kansas City Athletics took Rick Monday, an outfielder from Arizona State University.

Rule change

The 1965 season saw the following rule change:

Standings

American League

National League

Postseason

Bracket

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Managers

American League

National League

MLB statistical leaders

1 National League Triple Crown Pitching Winner

Awards and honors

Home field attendance

Events

January–April

May–August

September–December

Television coverage

In 1965, ABC provided the first-ever nationwide baseball coverage with weekly Saturday broadcasts on a regional basis. ABC paid $5.7 million for the rights to the 28 Saturday/holiday Games of the Week. ABC's deal covered all of the teams except the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies (who had their own television deals) and called for two regionalized games on Saturdays, Independence Day, and Labor Day. Each Saturday, ABC broadcast two 2 p.m. ET games and one game for the Pacific Time Zone at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m local time. Although MLB ended the Game of the Week blackouts in cities with MLB clubs, ABC blacked out the games in the home cities of the clubs playing those games. Meanwhile, CBS continued to air its own slate of Games of the Week with the rights to individual teams, with its New York Yankees games in particular beating ABC in the ratings. At the end of the season, ABC declined to exercise its $6.5 million option for 1966, citing poor ratings, especially in New York. Although it did not air Games of the Week this season, NBC continued to air the All-Star Game and World Series.