It was decided that the six-team American Association would expand to eight teams and saw the minor league New York Metropolitans join and the enfranchisement of the Columbus Buckeyes.
Prior to the season, the Boston Red Caps and St. Louis Brown Stockings renamed as the Boston Beaneaters and St. Louis Browns, respectively.
The following season would see the National League play a 112-game schedule (increase of 14 to 16 games each), while the American Association would expanded again, this time to twelve teams, for a 110-game schedule (of 10 games against each of the other eleven teams).
American Association would see its final day of the regular season on September 30 featuring four teams, while the National League would see its final day of the regular season on September 29, featuring all eight teams.
The 1883 season saw the following rule changes: An asterisk (*) denotes the ballpark a team played the minority of their home games at