21st Century

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The 21st Century is the present century. It officially began on January 1, 2001 and is due to end December 31, 2100, but in popular culture, January 1, 2000 is usually considered its start.

The beginning of the 2000s has been marked by an increased international focus on baseball with the start of new leagues such as the China Baseball League. An increasingly higher percentage of Major League Baseball players were coming from outside the USA - and not just from traditional sources in Latin America, but from Australia, Europe and Asia. The World Baseball Classic was founded with baseball being removed from the Olympics after 2008 before returning on a one-off basis in 2020, to keep international competition going in years when neither the Baseball World Cup or Intercontinental Cup is played.

Another big issue in the 21st Century was the beginning of steroid testing in many leagues, including those in Organized Baseball as well as Nippon Pro Baseball. These tests began after past MLB stars such as Jose Canseco and Ken Caminiti admitted to steroid use and claimed many other players were also using those substances to get an added edge. After more than a decade of unprecedented offensive numbers, the edge began to shift again towards pitchers in the first years of the 2010s. A number of rule changes affecting the pace of play were also introduced during the 2010s and 2020s, most notably the pitch clock.

The first major league player born in the 21st century - using the common standard of January 1, 2000 as its beginning - was pitcher Elvis Luciano who made his debut with the Toronto Blue Jays on March 31, 2019. He had just turned 19 less than two months earlier and had never pitched above Rookie-class before his debut.


Years
19th Century
1850s   1857 1858 1859
1860s 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869
1870s 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879
1880s 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
1890s 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
20th Century
1900s 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910s 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920s 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
21st Century
2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024