python-mlb-statsapi 0.8.0

mlbstatsapi python wrapper

Python MLB Stats API

The Unofficial Python Wrapper for the MLB Stats API

Copyright Notice

This package and its authors are not affiliated with MLB or any MLB team. This API wrapper interfaces with MLB's Stats API. Use of MLB data is subject to the notice posted at http://gdx.mlb.com/components/copyright.txt.

This is an educational project - Not for commercial use.

Getting Started

Python-mlb-statsapi is a Python library that provides access to the MLB Stats API, allowing developers to retrieve information related to MLB teams, players, stats, and more. Written in Python 3.10+.

All models are built with Pydantic for robust data validation and serialization. Field names follow Python's snake_case convention for a more Pythonic experience.

For detailed documentation, check out the Wiki which contains information on return objects, endpoint structure, usage examples, and more.

Examples | Wiki | API

Installation

python3 -m pip install python-mlb-statsapi

Quick Start

>>> import mlbstatsapi
>>> mlb = mlbstatsapi.Mlb()

>>> mlb.get_people_id("Ty France")
[664034]

>>> player = mlb.get_person(664034)
>>> print(player.full_name)
Ty France

>>> stats = ['season', 'seasonAdvanced']
>>> groups = ['hitting']
>>> params = {'season': 2022}
>>> mlb.get_player_stats(664034, stats, groups, **params)
{'hitting': {'season': Stat, 'seasonAdvanced': Stat }}

>>> mlb.get_team_id("Seattle Mariners")
[136]

>>> team = mlb.get_team(136)
>>> print(team.name, team.franchise_name)
Seattle Mariners Seattle

HTTP Sessions, Timeouts, and Retries

Version 0.8.0 adds shared HTTP Sessions, explicit timeouts, optional Session injection, bounded retries, and structured transport exceptions. The Mlb client remains synchronous. Shared Sessions pool reusable connections; they do not cache MLB response bodies, and the client does not enable response caching by default.

Recommended context-manager usage

Prefer a context manager so library-owned HTTP resources are closed when the block exits, including when the block exits because of an exception:

import mlbstatsapi

with mlbstatsapi.Mlb() as mlb:
    player = mlb.get_person(664034)
    team = mlb.get_team(136)

One Mlb client uses one shared requests.Session. The v1 and v1.1 adapters share that Session, so repeated requests can reuse pooled connections. A Session manages a pool of reusable connections; it is not one permanent network connection.

Existing construction remains valid

Existing construction continues to work:

import mlbstatsapi

mlb = mlbstatsapi.Mlb()
player = mlb.get_person(664034)

Callers who do not use a context manager may call mlb.close(). Repeated close() calls are safe.

Custom timeouts

Every request uses an explicit timeout. The defaults are:

Connection timeout: 3.05 seconds
Read timeout: 30 seconds

The read timeout is the maximum wait while reading response data. It is not one absolute total duration for the complete request.

Use a scalar to apply the same value to both connect and read phases:

import mlbstatsapi

with mlbstatsapi.Mlb(timeout=10) as mlb:
    player = mlb.get_person(664034)

Or provide separate connection and read timeouts:

import mlbstatsapi

with mlbstatsapi.Mlb(
    timeout=(5.0, 60.0),
) as mlb:
    player = mlb.get_person(664034)

5.0 seconds: connection timeout
60.0 seconds: read timeout

Injecting a custom Session

Advanced callers may inject a caller-owned Session:

import requests
import mlbstatsapi

session = requests.Session()
session.headers.update({
    "User-Agent": "my-baseball-project/1.0",
})

try:
    with mlbstatsapi.Mlb(session=session) as mlb:
        player = mlb.get_person(664034)
finally:
    session.close()

Ownership rules:

Library-created Session
    The library owns and closes it
Caller-injected Session
    The caller owns and closes it

Mlb.close() does not close a caller-injected Session, and exiting with Mlb(session=session) does not close the injected Session either. The library does not replace or reconfigure adapters on an injected Session. Callers control custom retry, TLS, proxy, and adapter configuration.

Structured exception handling

import mlbstatsapi

try:
    with mlbstatsapi.Mlb() as mlb:
        player = mlb.get_person(664034)
except mlbstatsapi.MlbTimeoutError:
    print("The MLB API timed out")
except mlbstatsapi.MlbTransportError:
    print("The request could not reach the MLB API")
except mlbstatsapi.MlbHttpError as exc:
    print(
        exc.status_code,
        exc.reason,
        exc.url,
    )
except mlbstatsapi.MlbDecodeError:
    print("The MLB API returned invalid JSON")

• MlbTimeoutError represents connection and read timeouts
• MlbTransportError represents other request transport failures
• MlbHttpError represents an unexpected final HTTP response
• MlbDecodeError represents invalid JSON in a successful response

Backward-compatible exception handling

All new transport exceptions inherit from TheMlbStatsApiException, so existing broad exception handling remains compatible:

import mlbstatsapi

try:
    with mlbstatsapi.Mlb() as mlb:
        player = mlb.get_person(664034)
except mlbstatsapi.TheMlbStatsApiException:
    print("The MLB request failed")

Default retry behavior

Library-created Sessions automatically retry temporary GET failures for:

429
500
502
503
504

Initial request: 1
Maximum retries: 3
Maximum total attempts: 4
Backoff factor: 0.5
Retry-After respected: yes

Only GET requests are retried, and retries are bounded. Ordinary client errors such as 400, 401, 403, and 404 are not retried. Invalid JSON and Pydantic validation failures are not retried. Retries improve resilience for transient failures, but they do not guarantee success.

Existing 404 compatibility

Version 0.8.0 preserves existing endpoint-specific not-found behavior. Depending on the endpoint, a 404 may still produce:

None
[]
{}

Not every 404 raises MlbHttpError.

See the HTTP transport documentation for the complete retry policy, Session ownership rules, cleanup behavior, and exception hierarchy.

Working with Pydantic Models

All returned objects are Pydantic models, giving you access to powerful serialization and validation features.

Convert to Dictionary

>>> player = mlb.get_person(664034)
>>> player.model_dump()
{'id': 664034, 'full_name': 'Ty France', 'link': '/api/v1/people/664034', ...}

# Exclude None values
>>> player.model_dump(exclude_none=True)
{'id': 664034, 'full_name': 'Ty France', 'link': '/api/v1/people/664034', ...}

# Include only specific fields
>>> player.model_dump(include={'id', 'full_name', 'primary_position'})
{'id': 664034, 'full_name': 'Ty France', 'primary_position': Position(...)}

Convert to JSON

>>> player = mlb.get_person(664034)
>>> player.model_dump_json()
'{"id": 664034, "full_name": "Ty France", "link": "/api/v1/people/664034", ...}'

# Pretty print with indentation
>>> print(player.model_dump_json(indent=2))
{
  "id": 664034,
  "full_name": "Ty France",
  "link": "/api/v1/people/664034",
  ...
}

Access Fields with Snake Case Names

>>> player = mlb.get_person(664034)
>>> player.full_name          # Not fullName
'Ty France'
>>> player.primary_position   # Not primaryPosition
Position(code='3', name='First Base', ...)
>>> player.bat_side           # Not batSide  
CodeDesc(code='R', description='Right')

Documentation

People, Person, Players, Coaches

• Mlb.get_people_id(self, fullname: str, sport_id: int = 1, search_key: str = 'fullname', **params) - Return Person Id(s) from fullname
• Mlb.get_person(self, player_id: int, **params) - Return Person Object from Id
• Mlb.get_people(self, sport_id: int = 1, **params) - Return all Players from Sport

Draft

• Mlb.get_draft(self, year_id: int, **params) - Return a draft for a given year

Awards

• Mlb.get_awards(self, award_id: int, **params) - Return award recipients for a given award

Teams

• Mlb.get_team_id(self, team_name: str, search_key: str = 'name', **params) - Return Team Id(s) from name
• Mlb.get_team(self, team_id: int, **params) - Return Team Object from Team Id
• Mlb.get_teams(self, sport_id: int = 1, **params) - Return all Teams for Sport
• Mlb.get_team_coaches(self, team_id: int, **params) - Return coaching roster for team for current or specified season
• Mlb.get_team_roster(self, team_id: int, **params) - Return player roster for team for current or specified season

Stats

• Mlb.get_player_stats(self, person_id: int, stats: list, groups: list, **params) - Return stats by player id, stat type and groups
• Mlb.get_team_stats(self, team_id: int, stats: list, groups: list, **params) - Return stats by team id, stat types and groups
• Mlb.get_stats(self, stats: list, groups: list, **params: dict) - Return stats by stat type and group args
• Mlb.get_players_stats_for_game(self, person_id: int, game_id: int, **params) - Return player stats for a game

Gamepace

• Mlb.get_gamepace(self, season: str, sport_id=1, **params) - Return pace of game metrics for specific sport, league or team.

Venues

• Mlb.get_venue_id(self, venue_name: str, search_key: str = 'name', **params) - Return Venue Id(s)
• Mlb.get_venue(self, venue_id: int, **params) - Return Venue Object from venue Id
• Mlb.get_venues(self, **params) - Return all Venues

Sports

• Mlb.get_sport(self, sport_id: int, **params) - Return a Sport object from Id
• Mlb.get_sports(self, **params) - Return all Sports
• Mlb.get_sport_id(self, sport_name: str, search_key: str = 'name', **params)- Return Sport Id from name

Schedules

• Mlb.get_schedule(self, date: str, start_date: str, end_date: str, sport_id: int, team_id: int, **params) - Return a Schedule

Divisions

• Mlb.get_division(self, division_id: int, **params) - Return a Division
• Mlb.get_divisions(self, **params) - Return all Divisions
• Mlb.get_division_id(self, division_name: str, search_key: str = 'name', **params) - Return Division Id(s) from name

Leagues

• Mlb.get_league(self, league_id: int, **params) - Return a League from Id
• Mlb.get_leagues(self, **params) - Return all Leagues
• Mlb.get_league_id(self, league_name: str, search_key: str = 'name', **params) - Return League Id(s)

Seasons

• Mlb.get_season(self, season_id: str, sport_id: int = None, **params) - Return a season
• Mlb.get_seasons(self, sportid: int = None, **params) - Return all seasons

Standings

• Mlb.get_standings(self, league_id: int, season: str, **params) - Return standings

Schedules

• Mlb.get_schedule(self, date: str = None, start_date: str = None, end_date: str = None, sport_id: int = 1, team_id: int = None, **params) - Return a Schedule from dates
• Mlb.get_scheduled_games_by_date(self, date: str = None,start_date: str = None, end_date: str = None, sport_id: int = 1, **params) - Return game ids from dates

Games

• Mlb.get_game(self, game_id: int, **params) - Return the Game for a specific Game Id
• Mlb.get_game_play_by_play(self, game_id: int, **params) - Return Play by play data for a game
• Mlb.get_game_line_score(self, game_id: int, **params) - Return a Linescore for a game
• Mlb.get_game_box_score(self, game_id: int, **params) - Return a Boxscore for a game

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Whether it's bug fixes, new features, or documentation improvements, we appreciate your help.

Getting Started

1. Fork the repository
2. Clone your fork: git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/python-mlb-statsapi.git
3. Install dependencies: poetry install
4. Create a branch: git checkout -b feat/your-feature

Development

Offline tests are deterministic and should run before every pull request:

poetry run pytest \
  tests/ \
  --ignore=tests/external_tests

External tests contact the live MLB API. They require internet access and are separate from normal offline CI:

poetry run pytest \
  tests/external_tests/

These live tests may fail because the MLB service is unavailable or because MLB changes undocumented payloads.

Full local validation:

poetry run pytest tests/
poetry build

Offline CI is the normal pull-request gate. External tests are available manually, on a weekly schedule, and before releases.

Pull Request Guidelines

• Run offline tests before submitting a PR
• Use the PR template when creating your pull request
• Follow the branch naming convention:
  • feat/ - New features
  • fix/ - Bug fixes
  • docs/ - Documentation updates
  • refactor/ - Code improvements

Reporting Issues

Found a bug or have a feature request? Please open an issue with:

• A clear description of the problem or feature
• Steps to reproduce (for bugs)
• Expected vs actual behavior
• Python version and package version

Examples

Let's show some examples of getting stat objects from the API. What is baseball without stats, right?

Player Stats

Get the Id(s) of the players you want stats for and set stat types and groups.

>>> mlb = mlbstatsapi.Mlb()
>>> player_id = mlb.get_people_id("Ty France")[0]
>>> stats = ['season', 'career']
>>> groups = ['hitting', 'pitching']
>>> params = {'season': 2022}

Use player id with stat types and groups to return a stats dictionary

>>> stat_dict = mlb.get_player_stats(player_id, stats=stats, groups=groups, **params)
>>> season_hitting_stat = stat_dict['hitting']['season']
>>> career_pitching_stat = stat_dict['pitching']['career']

Print season hitting stats using Pydantic's model_dump()

>>> for split in season_hitting_stat.splits:
...     print(split.stat.model_dump(exclude_none=True))
{'games_played': 140, 'groundouts': 163, 'airouts': 148, 'runs': 65, 'doubles': 27, ...}

Or access individual fields directly

>>> for split in season_hitting_stat.splits:
...     print(f"Games: {split.stat.games_played}")
...     print(f"Home Runs: {split.stat.home_runs}")
...     print(f"Batting Avg: {split.stat.avg}")
Games: 140
Home Runs: 20
Batting Avg: .274

Team Stats

Get the Team Id(s)

>>> mlb = mlbstatsapi.Mlb()
>>> team_id = mlb.get_team_id('Seattle Mariners')[0]

Set the stat types and groups

>>> stats = ['season', 'seasonAdvanced']
>>> groups = ['hitting']
>>> params = {'season': 2022}

Use team id and the stat types and groups to return season hitting stats

>>> stats = mlb.get_team_stats(team_id, stats=stats, groups=groups, **params)
>>> season_hitting = stats['hitting']['season']
>>> advanced_hitting = stats['hitting']['seasonAdvanced']

Print stats as JSON

>>> for split in season_hitting.splits:
...     print(split.stat.model_dump_json(indent=2, exclude_none=True))
{
  "games_played": 162,
  "groundouts": 1273,
  "runs": 690,
  "doubles": 229,
  ...
}

Expected Stats

>>> player_id = mlb.get_people_id('Ty France')[0]
>>> stats = ['expectedStatistics']
>>> group = ['hitting']
>>> params = {'season': 2022}

>>> stats = mlb.get_player_stats(player_id, stats=stats, groups=group, **params)
>>> expected = stats['hitting']['expectedStatistics']
>>> for split in expected.splits:
...     print(f"Expected AVG: {split.stat.avg}")
...     print(f"Expected SLG: {split.stat.slg}")
Expected AVG: .259
Expected SLG: .394

vsPlayer Stats

Get pitcher and batter player Ids

>>> ty_france_id = mlb.get_people_id('Ty France')[0]
>>> shohei_ohtani_id = mlb.get_people_id('Shohei Ohtani')[0]

Set stat type, stat groups, and params

>>> stats = ['vsPlayer']
>>> group = ['hitting']
>>> params = {'opposingPlayerId': shohei_ohtani_id, 'season': 2022}

Get stats

>>> stats = mlb.get_player_stats(ty_france_id, stats=stats, groups=group, **params)
>>> vs_player = stats['hitting']['vsPlayer']
>>> for split in vs_player.splits:
...     print(f"Games: {split.stat.games_played}, Hits: {split.stat.hits}")
Games: 2, Hits: 2

Hot/Cold Zones

>>> ty_france_id = mlb.get_people_id('Ty France')[0]
>>> stats = ['hotColdZones']
>>> hitting_group = ['hitting']
>>> params = {'season': 2022}

>>> hotcoldzones = mlb.get_player_stats(ty_france_id, stats=stats, groups=hitting_group, **params)
>>> zones = hotcoldzones['stats']['hotColdZones']

>>> for split in zones.splits:
...     print(f"Stat: {split.stat.name}")
...     for zone in split.stat.zones:
...         print(f"  Zone {zone.zone}: {zone.value}")
Stat: battingAverage
  Zone 01: .226
  Zone 02: .400
  ...

Schedule Examples

Get a schedule for a given date

>>> mlb = mlbstatsapi.Mlb()
>>> schedule = mlb.get_schedule(date='2022-10-13')
>>> dates = schedule.dates

>>> for date in dates:
...     for game in date.games:
...         print(f"Game: {game.game_pk}")
...         print(f"Status: {game.status.detailed_state}")
...         print(f"Home: {game.teams.home.team.name}")
...         print(f"Away: {game.teams.away.team.name}")

Game Examples

Get a Game for a given game id

>>> mlb = mlbstatsapi.Mlb()
>>> game = mlb.get_game(662242)

Get the weather for a game

>>> weather = game.game_data.weather
>>> print(f"Condition: {weather.condition}")
>>> print(f"Temperature: {weather.temp}")
>>> print(f"Wind: {weather.wind}")

Get the current status of a game

>>> linescore = game.live_data.linescore
>>> home_info = game.game_data.teams.home
>>> away_info = game.game_data.teams.away
>>> home_status = linescore.teams.home
>>> away_status = linescore.teams.away

>>> print(f"Home: {home_info.franchise_name} {home_info.club_name}")
>>> print(f"  Runs: {home_status.runs}, Hits: {home_status.hits}, Errors: {home_status.errors}")
>>> print(f"Away: {away_info.franchise_name} {away_info.club_name}")
>>> print(f"  Runs: {away_status.runs}, Hits: {away_status.hits}, Errors: {away_status.errors}")
>>> print(f"Inning: {linescore.inning_half} {linescore.current_inning_ordinal}")

Get play by play, line score, and box score objects

>>> play_by_play = game.live_data.plays
>>> line_score = game.live_data.linescore
>>> box_score = game.live_data.boxscore

Play by Play

Get only the play by play for a given game id

>>> playbyplay = mlb.get_game_play_by_play(662242)

Line Score

Get only the line score for a given game id

>>> linescore = mlb.get_game_line_score(662242)

Box Score

Get only the box score for a given game id

>>> boxscore = mlb.get_game_box_score(662242)

Gamepace Examples

Get pace of game metrics for a specific season

>>> mlb = mlbstatsapi.Mlb()
>>> gamepace = mlb.get_gamepace(season=2021)
>>> print(f"Hits per game: {gamepace.sports[0].sport_game_pace.hits_per_game}")

People Examples

Get all Players for a given sport id

>>> mlb = mlbstatsapi.Mlb()
>>> players = mlb.get_people(sport_id=1)
>>> for player in players:
...     print(f"{player.id}: {player.full_name}")

Get a player id

>>> player_id = mlb.get_people_id("Ty France")
>>> print(player_id[0])
664034

Team Examples

Get a Team

>>> mlb = mlbstatsapi.Mlb()
>>> team_id = mlb.get_team_id("Seattle Mariners")[0]
>>> team = mlb.get_team(team_id)
>>> print(f"{team.id}: {team.name}")
>>> print(f"Venue: {team.venue.name}")

Get a Player Roster

>>> mlb = mlbstatsapi.Mlb()
>>> players = mlb.get_team_roster(136)
>>> for player in players:
...     print(f"#{player.jersey_number} {player.person.full_name}")

Get a Coach Roster

>>> mlb = mlbstatsapi.Mlb()
>>> coaches = mlb.get_team_coaches(136)
>>> for coach in coaches:
...     print(f"{coach.person.full_name}: {coach.title}")

Draft Examples

Get a draft for a year

>>> mlb = mlbstatsapi.Mlb()
>>> draft = mlb.get_draft('2019')

Get Players from Draft

>>> draftpicks = draft[0].picks
>>> for pick in draftpicks:
...     print(f"Round {pick.pick_round}, Pick {pick.pick_number}: {pick.person.full_name}")

Award Examples

Get awards for a given award id

>>> mlb = mlbstatsapi.Mlb()
>>> retired_numbers = mlb.get_awards(award_id='RETIREDUNI_108')
>>> for recipient in retired_numbers.awards:
...     print(f"{recipient.player.full_name}: {recipient.name} ({recipient.date})")

Venue Examples

Get a Venue

>>> mlb = mlbstatsapi.Mlb()
>>> venue_id = mlb.get_venue_id('PNC Park')[0]
>>> venue = mlb.get_venue(venue_id)
>>> print(f"{venue.name} - {venue.location.city}, {venue.location.state}")

Division Examples

Get a division

>>> mlb = mlbstatsapi.Mlb()
>>> division = mlb.get_division(200)
>>> print(division.name)
American League West

League Examples

Get a league

>>> mlb = mlbstatsapi.Mlb()
>>> league = mlb.get_league(103)
>>> print(league.name)
American League

Season Examples

Get a Season

>>> mlb = mlbstatsapi.Mlb()
>>> season = mlb.get_season(2018)
>>> print(f"Season: {season.season_id}")
>>> print(f"Regular Season: {season.regular_season_start_date} to {season.regular_season_end_date}")

Standings Examples

Get Standings

>>> mlb = mlbstatsapi.Mlb()
>>> standings = mlb.get_standings(103, 2018)
>>> for record in standings:
...     print(f"Division: {record.division.name}")
...     for team in record.team_records:
...         print(f"  {team.team.name}: {team.wins}-{team.losses}")