List of National League Wild Card winners

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The wild card was established for Major League Baseball's playoffs in 1994 with the intention of helping the best teams that did not win their division to still have a chance to win the World Series. The restructuring of both the National and American Leagues from two divisions each to three made it necessary to either give one team a bye in the first round of playoffs, or create the wild card for the best second-place team. In addition, the wild card guaranteed that the team with the second best record in each league would qualify for the playoffs, even if they were in the same division with the team having the best record.

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[edit] NL wild card qualifiers by year

Year Team Record % Playoffs
1994 Atlanta Braves§ 68-46 .596 No Playoffs
1995 Colorado Rockies 77-67 .535 Lost Division Series to Atlanta, 3-1
1996 Los Angeles Dodgers 90-72 .556 Lost Division Series to Atlanta, 3-0
1997 Florida Marlins 92-70 .568 Won World Series over Cleveland, 4-3
1998† Chicago Cubs 90-73 .552 Lost Division Series to Atlanta, 3-0
1999† New York Mets 97-66 .595 Lost NLCS to Atlanta, 4-2
2000 New York Mets 94-68 .580 Lost World Series to New York (AL), 4-1
2001 St. Louis Cardinals 93-69 .574 Lost Division Series to Arizona, 3-2
2002 San Francisco Giants 95-66 .590 Lost World Series to Anaheim, 4-3
2003 Florida Marlins 91-71 .562 Won World Series over New York (AL), 4-2
2004 Houston Astros 92-70 .568 Lost NLCS to St. Louis, 4-3
2005 Houston Astros 89-73 .549 Lost World Series to Chicago (AL), 4-0
2006 Los Angeles Dodgers 88-74 .543 Lost Division Series to New York (NL), 3-0
2007† Colorado Rockies 90-73 .552 Lost World Series to Boston, 4-0

§ - Due to the players' strike, no official winner was awarded. Atlanta was leading at the strike.
† - Wild card won in a tiebreaker one-game playoff.

[edit] Most NL wild card appearances

Rank Team Total Year(s)
T-1 Los Angeles Dodgers 2 1996, 2006
T-1 Florida Marlins 2 1997, 2003
T-1 New York Mets 2 1999, 2000
T-1 Houston Astros 2 2004, 2005
T-1 Colorado Rockies 2 1995, 2007
T-6 San Francisco Giants 1 2002
T-6 St. Louis Cardinals 1 2001
T-6 Chicago Cubs 1 1998

[edit] Team records as NL wild card qualifiers

NL Team Series Record
Florida Marlins 6-0
Houston Astros 3-2
New York Mets 3-2
San Francisco Giants 2-1
Colorado Rockies 2-2
St. Louis Cardinals 0-1
Chicago Cubs 0-1
Los Angeles Dodgers 0-2

[edit] See also

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