National League Championship Series

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MLB Playoffs
Division series American League Division Series National League Division Series Championship series American League Championship Series National League Championship Series World Series

In Major League Baseball, the National League Championship Series (NLCS) determines who wins the National League pennant and advances to baseball's championship, the World Series, facing the winner of the American League Championship Series. The reigning National League Champion is the St. Louis Cardinals

Prior to 1969, the National League Champion (the "Pennant Winner") was determined by the best won-loss record at the end of the regular season. There was an occasional ad hoc playoff series due to ties under this formulation, as also happened in the American League.

A structured playoff series began in 1969, when both the National and American Leagues were reorganized into two divisions each, East and West. The two division winners within each league played each other in a best-of-five series to determine who would advanced to the World Series. In 1985, the format changed to best-of-seven.

The NLCS and ALCS, since the expansion to best-of-seven, are always played in a 2-3-2 format: Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 are played in the stadium of the team that has home field advantage, and Games 3, 4 and 5 are played in the stadium of the team that does not. Home field advantage is given to the team that has the better record, unless that team happens to be the Wild Card team. In that case, the other team gets home field advantage.

In 1981, a divisional series was held due to split-season caused by strike action.

In 1994, the league was restructured into three divisions, with the three division winners and a wild-card team advancing to a best-of-five playoff round, the National League Division Series (NLDS). The winners of that round advance to the best-of-seven NLCS.

The Colorado Rockies and Milwaukee Brewers are the only teams to have not played in the NLCS. However, the Brewers, who were an American League team from 1969 through 1997, played in and won the 1982 American League Championship Series.

A Most Valuable Player (MVP) award is given to the outstanding player in each series, though voters can consider performances made during the divisional series. The Warren Giles Trophy is awarded to the NLCS winner.

For National League pennant winners prior to 1969, see National League pennant winners 1901-68 and National League pennant winners 1876-1900.

[edit] NLCS results (1969-present)

Year	Winner	Loser	Wins	Losses	Series MVP	Notable
1969	New York Mets	Atlanta Braves	3	0
1970	Cincinnati Reds	Pittsburgh Pirates	3	0
1971	Pittsburgh Pirates	San Francisco Giants	3	1
1972	Cincinnati Reds	Pittsburgh Pirates	3	2		After Johnny Bench hit a Game 5-tying home run, Bob Moose threw a 9th-inning wild pitch to send the Reds to the World Series.
1973	New York Mets	Cincinnati Reds	3	2		This series is best remembered for a fight between Pete Rose and Bud Harrelson.
1974	Los Angeles Dodgers	Pittsburgh Pirates	3	1
1975	Cincinnati Reds	Pittsburgh Pirates	3	0
1976	Cincinnati Reds	Philadelphia Phillies	3	0
1977	Los Angeles Dodgers	Philadelphia Phillies	3	1	Dusty Baker, Los Angeles
1978	Los Angeles Dodgers	Philadelphia Phillies	3	1	Steve Garvey, Los Angeles
1979	Pittsburgh Pirates	Cincinnati Reds	3	0	Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh
1980	Philadelphia Phillies	Houston Astros	3	2	Manny Trillo, Philadelphia	Numerous surveys and articles rank this as one of the best postseason series of all time; the final four games went to extra innings.
1981	Los Angeles Dodgers	Montreal Expos	3	2	Burt Hooton, Los Angeles	A key home run by Rick Monday, off Steve Rogers, eliminated the Expos in their only postseason appearance.
1982	St. Louis Cardinals	Atlanta Braves	3	0	Darrell Porter, St. Louis
1983	Philadelphia Phillies	Los Angeles Dodgers	3	1	Gary Matthews, Philadelphia	Philadelphia prevailed despite having lost 11 of 12 regular-season meetings.
1984	San Diego Padres	Chicago Cubs	3	2	Steve Garvey, San Diego	After Garvey hit a walk-off home run in Game 4, the Padres finished their 2-0 comeback in Game 5 after Leon Durham made a crucial error.
1985	St. Louis Cardinals	Los Angeles Dodgers	4	2	Ozzie Smith, St. Louis	The first best-of-seven NLCS. Smith ended Game 5 with his first ever left-handed home run, and in Game 6 Tom Niedenfuer surrendered his second big homer in as many games when Jack Clark struck the deciding blow.
1986	New York Mets	Houston Astros	4	2	Mike Scott, Houston	In the first N.L.C.S. between expansion teams, Scott pitched two complete games, but Lenny Dykstra and Gary Carter provided game-winning heroics for the Mets before an epic 16-inning classic in Game 6 closed out the series.
1987	St. Louis Cardinals	San Francisco Giants	4	3	Jeff Leonard, San Francisco	Although Leonard hit home runs in each of the first 4 games of the series, it would not be enough as Cardinal pitchers John Tudor and Danny Cox hurled shutouts in games 6 and 7.
1988	Los Angeles Dodgers	New York Mets	4	3	Orel Hershiser, Los Angeles	The Dodgers scored a memorable 7-game upset victory over the heavily favored Mets. Hershiser, the series MVP, pitched an LCS-record 24⅔ innings, while Kirk Gibson hit 2 key home runs.
1989	San Francisco Giants	Chicago Cubs	4	1	Will Clark, San Francisco	Will Clark set LCS records with a .650 AVG, 8 runs scored and 24 total bases as the Giants stormed to a 5-game series victory for their first NL pennant in 27 years.
1990	Cincinnati Reds	Pittsburgh Pirates	4	2	Rob Dibble and Randy Myers, Cincinnati	Led by "Nasty Boys" Dibble, Myers and Norm Charlton coming out of the bullpen, the Reds defeated the Pirates in 6 games.
1991	Atlanta Braves	Pittsburgh Pirates	4	3	Steve Avery, Atlanta	Steve Avery's record 16.1 scoreless innings pitched led the unheralded Braves to a 7-game series victory.
1992	Atlanta Braves	Pittsburgh Pirates	4	3	John Smoltz, Atlanta	Down in the 9th inning, Francisco Cabrera singled home two runs to bring Atlanta their second pennant in a row.
1993	Philadelphia Phillies	Atlanta Braves	4	2	Curt Schilling, Philadelphia	Kim Batiste, in his only postseason at-bat ever, hit the game-winning single in the 10th inning of Game 1 after making a 9th-inning throwing error that led to the tying run.
1994	Not held due to player strike.
1995	Atlanta Braves	Cincinnati Reds	4	0	Mike Devereaux, Atlanta	The Braves wiped out the Reds in the first-ever four game sweep in NLCS history.
1996	Atlanta Braves	St. Louis Cardinals	4	3	Javy López, Atlanta	Atlanta came back from a 3-1 deficit by winning their next three games in blowout fashion. The combined score in those games was 32-1.
1997	Florida Marlins†	Atlanta Braves	4	2	Liván Hernández, Florida	Filling in for an injured Kevin Brown, Rookie Livan Hernandez recorded 15 strikeouts in a crucial game 5 victory that would tilt the series in Florida's favor and send them to their first World Series.
1998	San Diego Padres	Atlanta Braves	4	2	Sterling Hitchcock, San Diego	Buoyed by strong pitching performances by series MVP Hitchcock, Kevin Brown and Andy Ashby, the Padres raced to a 3-0 series lead before wrapping up their first NL title since 1984.
1999	Atlanta Braves	New York Mets†	4	2	Eddie Pérez, Atlanta	The Mets won on a Robin Ventura hit in the 15th inning of a rainy Game 5. In Game 6, Kenny Rogers walked Andruw Jones with the bases loaded to give the Braves the pennant in extra innings.
2000	New York Mets†	St. Louis Cardinals	4	1	Mike Hampton, New York	The Mets beat the Cardinals in 5 games thanks mostly to timely hitting and clutch pitching. Mike Hampton's 3-hit shutout in the clinching game gave the Mets their first pennant since 1986.
2001	Arizona Diamondbacks	Atlanta Braves	4	1	Craig Counsell, Arizona	Arizona advanced to the World Series in only their 4th year of existence.
2002	San Francisco Giants†	St. Louis Cardinals	4	1	Benito Santiago, San Francisco	Kenny Lofton's game-winning single wins San Francisco its first pennant in 13 years.
2003	Florida Marlins†	Chicago Cubs	4	3	Iván Rodríguez, Florida	Steve Bartman earned infamy as Florida battled back from a 3-1 hole to extend the Billy Goat Curse. Rodriguez had an NLCS record 10 RBI.
2004	St. Louis Cardinals	Houston Astros†	4	3	Albert Pujols, St. Louis	Pujols set NLCS records with 14 hits, 28 total bases and 4 home runs. Houston's Carlos Beltran matched the latter mark.
2005	Houston Astros†	St. Louis Cardinals	4	2	Roy Oswalt, Houston	The Astros' first NL championship. Pujols' 3 run home run in Game 5 with 2 outs in the 9th temporarily saved the Cardinals from elimination.
2006	St. Louis Cardinals	New York Mets	4	3	Jeff Suppan, St. Louis	St Louis won the series behind strong pitching and a home run from Yadier Molina in Game 7. Suppan pitched Game 3 & 7, and had an 0.60 ERA in the LDS & LCS.