World Series

The Commissioner's Trophy from the Boston Red Sox's 2004 World Series win.
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World Series
For other events named "World Series", see World Series (disambiguation).

The World Series is the championship series of Major League Baseball, the culmination of the sport's postseason each October. Since the Series takes place in mid-autumn, sportswriters many years ago dubbed the event the Fall Classic, a usage reflected in the logo for the 2008 World Series; it is also sometimes known as the October Classic or simply The Series.

The World Series is played between the champion clubs of the American League and the National League, which collectively include 29 clubs based in the United States and one club from Canada. The "modern" World Series has been an annual event since 1903. Baseball has employed various championship formulas since the 1860s. When the term "World Series" is used by itself, it is usually understood to refer to the "modern" World Series exclusively.

The World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff. Best-of-seven has been the format of all the modern World Series except in 1903, 1919, 1920 and 1921 when the winner was determined through a best-of-nine playoff. The Series winner is awarded the World Series Trophy, as well as individual World Series rings. The Series winner also receives a larger proportion of the gate receipts than does the Series loser.

The New York Yankees, of the American League, have played in 39 of the 104 Series through 2008 and have won 26 World Series championships, the most of any Major League franchise. For the National League, the Dodgers have appeared in the Series the most at 18 times (9 each in Brooklyn and Los Angeles), but have won the Series only 6 times (once as Brooklyn, five times as Los Angeles). The St. Louis Cardinals have represented the National League 17 times and have won 10 championships, which is the most for any National League team.[1] The Chicago Cubs have the longest streak of not winning the World Series, with their last championship coming in 1908.

Contents

Overview

The first modern World Series was between the Boston Americans (as in "American Leaguers" — now the Red Sox) of the American League and the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League in 1903. Boston won the Series 5 games to 3, helping to establish the new league's credibility. However, the next year, the National League champion New York Giants refused to play the American League champions (Boston again) because of the alleged inferiority of the American League, along with the legitimate claim that there were no formal or standard rules for this championship (a factor which had helped kill the 1880s version of the Series). In response, the World Series was instituted in 1905 as a permanent institution, through which the leagues would "meet annually in a series of games for the Professional Base Ball Championship of the World."[2]

International impact, and explanation of the term "World" Series

The title of this championship may seem odd to some readers from countries where baseball is not a major sport (or even where it is), because the "World" Series is confined to the champions of two baseball leagues that currently operate only in the United States and Canada.

The explanation is that when the term "World's Championship Series" was first used in the 1880s, baseball at a highly-skilled level was almost exclusively confined to North America, especially the United States. Thus it was understood that the winner of the major league championship was the best baseball team in the world. The title of this event was soon shortened to "World's Series" and later to "World Series". "The Series", by itself, capitalized, is understood to mean "The World Series", in the appropriate context.

The United States, Canada and Mexico (Liga Mexicana de Beisbol, established 1925) continued to be the only professional baseball countries until some decades into the 20th century. The first Japanese professional baseball efforts began in 1920. The current Japanese leagues date from the late 1940s. Various Latin American leagues also formed around that time.

By the 1990s, baseball was played at a highly skilled level in many countries, resulting in a strong international flavor to the Series, as many of the best players from the Pacific Rim, Latin America, the Caribbean, and elsewhere now play on Major League rosters. The notable exception is Cuban nationals, due to the political situation between the USA and Cuba (despite that barrier, over the years a number of Cuba's finest ballplayers have defected to the United States to play in the American professional leagues). Players from the Japanese Leagues also have a more difficult time coming to the Major Leagues because they must first play 10 years in Japan before becoming free agents. Reaching the high-income Major Leagues tends to be the goal of many of the best players around the world.

Early in 2006, Major League Baseball conducted the inaugural World Baseball Classic, to establish a "true" world's championship in the way the term is normally used for other international sports. Teams of professional players from 16 nations participated, and Japan won the first World Baseball Classic championship. Olympic baseball was instituted as a medal sport in 1992, but in 2005 the International Olympic Committee voted to eliminate baseball, and it will be off the Olympic program in 2012.

The World Series itself retains a US-oriented atmosphere. The title of the event is often presented on television as merely a "brand name" in the same sense as the "Super Bowl", and thus the term "World Series Championship" is sometimes used. However, the origin of the term lives on, as with these words of Frank Thomas in the Chicago White Sox victory celebration in 2005: "We're world's champions, baby!" At the close of the 2006 Series, Commissioner Bud Selig pronounced the St. Louis Cardinals "champions of the world". Likewise, the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine for November 6, 2006, featured Series MVP David Eckstein and was subtitled "World Champions". Immediately after the final putout of the 2008 World Series, TV announcer Joe Buck stated, "Phillies are world champions."

Champions prior to and precursors to the modern World Series (1857-1902)

Further information: List of World Series#The original World Series

1892–1900: "The Monopoly Years"

Further information: List of World Series#1892-1900: "The Monopoly Years"

Following the collapse of the American Association after the 1891 season, four of its clubs were admitted to the National League. The league championship was awarded in 1892 by a playoff between half-season champions. This scheme was abandoned after one season. Beginning in 1893 — and continuing until divisional play was introduced in 1969 — the pennant was awarded to the first-place club in the standings at the end of the season. For four seasons, 1894–97, the league champions played the runners-up in the post season championship series called the Temple Cup. A second attempt at this format was the Chronicle-Telegraph Cup series, which was played only once, in 1900.

In 1901 the American League was formed as a second major league. No championship series would be played in 1901 or 1902 as the National and American Leagues fought each other for business supremacy.

The modern World Series (1903–present)

Further information: List of World Series#The modern World Series
Crowd outside Huntington Avenue Grounds before a game during the 1903 World Series

The first attempt

After two years of bitter competition and player raiding, the National and American Leagues made peace and, as part of the accord, several pairs of teams squared off for interleague exhibition games after the 1903 season. These series were arranged by the participating clubs, as the 1880s World's Series matches had been. One of them matched the two pennant winners, Pittsburgh Pirates of the NL and Boston of the AL (later known as the Red Sox); that one is known as the 1903 World Series. It had been arranged well in advance by the two owners, as both teams were league leaders by large margins. Boston upset Pittsburgh by 5 games to 3, winning with pitching depth behind Cy Young and Bill Dinneen and with the support of the band of Royal Rooters. The Series brought much civic pride to Boston and proved the new American League could beat the Nationals.

The boycott of 1904

The 1904 Series, if it had been held, would have been between the AL's Boston Americans (Boston Red Sox) and the NL's New York Giants (now the San Francisco Giants). At that point there was no governing body for the World Series nor any requirement that a Series be played. Thus the Giants' owner, John T. Brush, refused to allow his team to participate in such an event, citing the "inferiority" of the upstart American League. John McGraw, the Giants' manager, even went so far as to say that his Giants were already world champions since they were the champions of the "only real major league". At the time of the announcement, their new cross-town rivals, the New York Highlanders (now the NY Yankees), were leading the AL, and the prospect of facing the Highlanders did not please Giants management. Boston won on the last day of the season, and the leagues had previously agreed to hold a World's Championship Series in 1904, but it was not binding, and Brush stuck to his original decision. In addition to political reasons, Brush also factually cited the lack of rules under which money would be split, where games would be played, and how they would be operated and staffed. During the winter of 1904/05, however, feeling the sting of press criticism, Brush had a change of heart and proposed what came to be known as the "Brush Rules", under which the series would be played subsequently.

One rule was that player shares would come from a portion of the gate receipts for the first four games only. This was to discourage teams from "fixing" early games in order to prolong the series and make more money. Receipts for later games would be split among the two clubs and the National Commission, the governing body for the sport, which was able to cover much of its annual operating expense from World Series revenue.

Most importantly, the now-official and compulsory World's Series matches would be operated strictly by the National Commission itself, not by the participating clubs.

The list of post-season rules evolved over time. In 1925, Brooklyn owner Charles Ebbets convinced others to adopt as a permanent rule the 2-3-2 pattern used in 1924. Prior to 1924, the pattern had been to alternate by game or to make another arrangement convenient to both clubs.

1919: The fix

Main article: Black Sox Scandal

Gambling and game-fixing had been a problem in professional baseball from the beginning; star pitcher Jim Devlin was banned for life in 1877, when the National League was just two years old. Baseball's gambling problems came to a head in 1919, when the Chicago White Sox conspired to throw the 1919 World Series.

The Sox had won the Series in 1917 and were heavy favorites to beat the Cincinnati Reds in 1919, but first baseman Chick Gandil had other plans. Gandil, in collaboration with gambler Joseph "Sport" Sullivan, approached his teammates and got six of them to agree to throw the Series: starting pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams, shortstop Swede Risberg, left fielder Shoeless Joe Jackson, center fielder Happy Felsch, and utility infielder Fred McMullin. Third baseman Buck Weaver knew of the fix but declined to participate. The Sox, who were promised $100,000 for cooperating, proceeded to lose the Series in eight games, pitching poorly, hitting poorly and making many errors. Though he took the money, Jackson insisted to his death that he played to the best of his ability in the series (the statistical evidence for that claim is weak).

During the Series, writer and humorist Ring Lardner had facetiously called the event the "World's Serious". The Series turned out to indeed have serious consequences for the sport. After rumors circulated for nearly a year, the players were suspended in September 1920.

The "Black Sox" were acquitted in a criminal conspiracy trial. However, baseball in the meantime had established the office of Commissioner in an effort to protect the game's integrity, and the first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, banned all of the players involved, including Weaver, for life. The White Sox would not win a World Series again until 2005.

The events of the 1919 Series, seguéing into the "live ball" era, marked a point in time of change of the fortunes of a number of teams. The two most prolific World Series winners to date, the Yankees and the Cardinals, did not win their first championship until the 1920s; and three of the teams that were highly successful prior to 1920 (the Red Sox, White Sox and Cubs) went the rest of the 20th century without another World Series win. The Red Sox and White Sox finally won again in 2004 and 2005, respectively. The Cubs are still waiting for their next trophy.

The 1989 earthquake

When the 1989 World Series began, it was notable chiefly for being the first ever World Series matchup between the two San Francisco Bay Area teams, the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics. Oakland won the first two games at home, and the two teams crossed the bridge to San Francisco to play Game 3 on Tuesday, October 17. ABC's broadcast of Game 3 began at 5 p.m. local time, approximately 30 minutes before the first pitch was scheduled. At 5:04, while broadcasters Al Michaels and Tim McCarver were narrating highlights and the teams were warming up, the Loma Prieta earthquake occurred (magnitude 6.9 with an epicenter ten miles (16 km) northeast of Santa Cruz, CA). The earthquake caused substantial property and economic damage in the Bay Area and killed 62 people.

Television viewers saw the video signal deteriorate and heard Michaels say "I'll tell you what, we're having an earth--" before the feed from Candlestick Park was lost. Fans filing into the stadium saw Candlestick sway visibly during the quake. Television coverage later resumed, using backup generators, with Michaels becoming a news reporter on the unfolding disaster. Approximately 30 minutes after the earthquake, Commissioner Fay Vincent ordered the game to be postponed. Fans, workers, and the teams evacuated a blacked out (although still sunlit) Candlestick. Game 3 was finally played on October 27, and Oakland won that day and the next to complete a four-game sweep.

The 1994 strike

Main article: 1994 Major League Baseball strike

After the boycott of 1904, the World Series was played faithfully every year despite World War I, the global influenza pandemic of 1918–19, the Great Depression of the 1930s, America's involvement in World War II, and even an earthquake in the host cities of the 1989 World Series. However, it would not be played in 1994 because of money.

As the labor talks began, baseball franchise owners demanded a salary cap in order to limit payrolls, the elimination of salary arbitration, and the right to retain free agent players by matching a competitor's best offer. The Major League Baseball Players Association refused to agree to limit payrolls, noting that the responsibility for high payrolls lay with those owners who were voluntarily offering contracts. One difficulty in reaching a settlement was the absence of a commissioner. When Fay Vincent was forced to resign in 1992, owners did not replace him, electing instead to make Milwaukee Brewers owner Bud Selig acting commissioner. Thus the commissioner, responsible for ensuring the integrity and protecting the welfare of the game, was an interested party rather than a neutral arbiter, and baseball headed into the 1994 work stoppage without an independent commissioner for the first time since the office was founded in 1920.

The previous collective bargaining agreement expired on Dec. 31, 1993, and baseball began the 1994 season without a new agreement. Owners and players negotiated as the season progressed, but owners refused to give up the idea of a salary cap and players refused to accept one. On August 12, 1994, the players went on strike. After a month passed with no progress in the labor talks, Selig canceled the rest of the 1994 season and the postseason on Sept. 14. The World Series would not be played for the first time in 90 years.

The labor dispute would last into the spring of 1995, with owners beginning spring training with replacement players. However, the MLBPA returned to work on April 2, 1995 after a federal judge ruled that the owners had engaged in unfair labor practices. The season started on April 25 and the 1995 World Series would be played as scheduled, with Atlanta beating Cleveland four games to two.

Modern World Series appearances by franchise

Further information: List of World Series#World Series (modern) appearances by franchise

World Series record by team or franchise, 1903-2008

Team † Titles Last Series Last
New York Yankees [Highlanders] (AL) 26 2000 39 2003
St. Louis Cardinals (NL) 10 2006 17 2006
[Philadelphia/Kansas City] Oakland Athletics (AL) 9 1989 14 1990
Boston Red Sox [Americans] (AL) 7 2007 11 2007
[Brooklyn] Los Angeles Dodgers ‡ (NL) 6 1988 18 1988
Cincinnati Reds (NL) 5 1990 9 1990
Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) 5 1979 7 1979
[New York] San Francisco Giants (NL) 5 1954 17 2002
Detroit Tigers (AL) 4 1984 10 2006
Chicago White Sox (AL) 3 2005 5 2005
[Boston/Milwaukee] Atlanta Braves (NL) 3 1995 9 1999
[Wash. Senators/Nationals] Minnesota Twins (AL) 3 1991 6 1991
[St. Louis Browns] Baltimore Orioles (AL) 3 1983 7 1983
Philadelphia Phillies (NL) 2 2008 6 2008
Cleveland Indians (AL) 2 1948 5 1997
Chicago Cubs (NL) 2 1908 10 1945
Florida Marlins (NL,1993) * 2 2003 2 2003
Toronto Blue Jays (AL,1977) * 2 1993 2 1993
New York Mets (NL,1962) * 2 1986 4 2000
‡ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (AL,1961) * 1 2002 1 2002
Arizona Diamondbacks (NL,1998) * 1 2001 1 2001
Kansas City Royals (AL,1969) * 1 1985 2 1985
San Diego Padres (NL,1969) * 0   2 1998
Houston Astros [Colt .45's] (NL,1962) * 0   1 2005
Colorado Rockies (NL,1993) * 0   1 2007
‡ Milwaukee Brewers (AL,1969; NL,1998) * 0   1 1982
Tampa Bay Rays [Devil Rays] (AL,1998) * 0   1 2008
[Washington Senators] Texas Rangers (AL,1961) * 0   0  
[Montreal Expos] Washington Nationals (NL,1969) * 0   0  
Seattle Mariners (AL,1977) * 0   0  
Key to table
AL = American League
NL = National League
* Joined the AL or NL after 1960
†   Totals include a team's record in a previous city or under another name.

‡ The Red Sox had no official nickname in 1903.
The Dodgers were better known as the Brooklyn Robins in 1916 and 1920.
The Angels were the Anaheim Angels in 2002.
The Brewers were the Seattle Pilots (AL) in 1969.
See individual team articles or Major League franchises for further details.
See also List of World Series winners
Source: MLB.com

Notes

The American League has won 61 of the 104 World Series played so far (61-43 or 59%-41%). Of that number, the New York Yankees have won 26, 25% of all wins or 43% of the 61 American League wins. The St. Louis Cardinals have won 10, 9.6% of all wins or 23% of the 43 National League wins.

By the first World Series in 1903, eight teams belonged to the American League (founded in 1901), and another eight to the National League (or "Senior Circuit", founded in 1876). Each of the 16 original teams has won at least two Series.

Since 1960, fourteen more teams have joined one league or the other. Eleven out of these 14 "expansion teams" have appeared so far in the World Series, and 18 out of the 47 Series after 1960 (accounting for 94 league pennants) have included an expansion team, always playing against one of the original 16 teams. Expansion teams won 9 and lost 9 of those 18 Series.

Team patterns in the World Series

This information is up to date through the 2008 World Series:

Streaks and droughts

  1. Since their first championship in 1923, the New York Yankees have won two or more World Series titles in every decade except the 1980s and the current decade (2000-2009), when they won only one. Additionally, they have won at least one American League pennant in every decade since the 1920s.
  2. The New York Yankees hold the record for most consecutive World Series titles with five (1949-1953). The Yankees are also in second place for that record, with four (1936-1939).
  3. The New York Giants' four World Series appearances from 1921 to 1924 are the most consecutive appearances for any non-Yankees franchise.
  4. The Oakland Athletics' three World Series victories from 1972 to 1974 are the most consecutive victories for any non-New York franchise.
  5. The 1915-1916 Red Sox and 1992-1993 Blue Jays are the only other American League teams besides the Yankees and the A's to win two straight World Series (The Philadelphia A's won 1910-1911 and 1929-1930, the Oakland A's won 1972-1974).
  6. The 1907-1908 Cubs, 1921-1922 Giants and 1975-1976 Reds are the only National League teams to win back-to-back World Series.
  7. From 1978 to 1987, no franchise won the World Series twice, the longest such streak. The second longest streak extends from 1982 to 1990, and the most recent streak of seven straight (2000 to 2006) was the third longest such streak.
  8. The 1907-1909 Detroit Tigers and the 1911-1913 New York Giants are the only teams to lose three consecutive World Series.
  9. The Chicago Cubs hold the record for the longest World Series drought (still active heading into 2009), with their last title coming in 1908 (100 years). In fact, they also hold the longest drought without a World Series appearance, not having won the NL pennant since 1945. Even had they won the 1945 World Series, they would still hold the longest active World Series championship drought, the second longest being since 1948 by the Cleveland Indians. Note: The Cubs won the pennant, but lost to Philadelphia when they were the Athletics in the 1910 World Series. The Cubs also lost to the Chicago White Sox in the 1906 World Series, the first time appearing for both teams.
  10. Twenty-two of the 27 teams to play in the World Series have won it at least once. The Houston Astros (enfranchised in 1961), Milwaukee Brewers (formerly Seattle Pilots, 1969), San Diego Padres (1969), Colorado Rockies (1993), and Tampa Bay Rays (1998) are the exceptions. The Padres are the only of these five to have appeared twice (1984, 1998). The Rockies and Astros are also the only two World Series participants that have not won a World Series game.
  11. As of 2008, only three teams (all of them expansion) have not won a pennant (in order of age): the Texas Rangers (est. 1961), Washington Nationals (est. 1969), and Seattle Mariners (est. 1977)). The Tampa Bay Rays were the most recent to win their first pennant, winning the 2008 American League Championship Series.

Regular seasons, Divisions and wild cards

  1. The team with the better regular season winning percentage has won the World Series 51 times, or 49% (51 of 104) of the time. The longest such streak was from 1936 to 1942 (7 years). 1958 and 1949 are included in the percentage, but both of those teams had exactly the same record.
  2. In the last seventeen World Series match-ups, ten teams with a lower winning percentage than their opponent have emerged as champions.
  3. Since the institution of the Division Series in 1995, three teams have won the World Series more than once: the New York Yankees (1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000); the Florida Marlins (1997, 2003); and the Boston Red Sox (2004, 2007).
  4. The Florida Marlins are the only World Series-winning team that has never won a Division title. While the Angels won their only World Series appearance on a Wild Card berth, they have also won seven Division titles in their history. The Marlins are also the only NL Wild Card team to win a World Series.
  5. 2007 marked the sixth consecutive World Series to feature at least one wild card participant: the 2002 Anaheim Angels and San Francisco Giants, 2003 Florida Marlins, 2004 Boston Red Sox, 2005 Houston Astros, 2006 Detroit Tigers, and the 2007 Colorado Rockies. This streak ended in 2008, when the two pennant winners, Philadelphia (NL) and Tampa Bay (AL), had led their Divisions in regular season play.
  6. Since the addition of wild card teams in 1994 (deferred to 1995 due to the strike), only one team in Major League Baseball has swept both its League's Division Series and its League's Championship Series on its way to the World Series, the 2007 Colorado Rockies. They were then swept in the series by the Boston Red Sox.
  7. Every team has been to the postseason at least once. The last team to gain postseason experience was the Tampa Bay Rays, who clinched the American League East in 2008.
  8. The Philadelphia Phillies have appeared in a World Series against every team in the current AL East. The Phillies played the Boston Red Sox in 1915, the New York Yankees in 1950, the Baltimore Orioles in 1983, the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993, and the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008.

Game by game

  1. The home team has won the last eight World Series Game 7's (the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals, 1985 Kansas City Royals, 1986 New York Mets, 1987 and 1991 Minnesota Twins, 1997 Florida Marlins, 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, and 2002 Anaheim Angels). The 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates are the last team to win a World Series Game 7 on the road; in contrast to the above, the Pirates' championship marked the thirteenth time in sixteen series that the road team won Game 7.
  2. Since 2003, the All-Star Game's outcome has determined home field advantage in the World Series. So far, only the American League has taken advantage of this, winning the first six games under the format, while the National League remains winless since 1996. The NL champion has not had World Series home field advantage since Arizona in 2001. In entering a seventh consecutive year of AL home field advantage (2002-present), NL champions are 3-4 in the World Series (winners being the 2003 Florida Marlins, 2006 St. Louis Cardinals, and 2008 Philadelphia Phillies).
  3. The 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers are the last team to win a World Series after losing the first two games on the road.
  4. There have been 18 World Series 4-game sweeps. Nine different teams have swept a World Series at least once, the Yankees having the most overall (8). The Red Sox and Reds both have done it twice. The Braves, Orioles, White Sox, Dodgers, Athletics and Giants have each swept one. Six of these have also been swept in a World Series at least once, except the Orioles, Red Sox and White Sox. The Red Sox' two World Series sweeps are the most of any team that has never been swept in one.
  5. The Athletics, Cardinals, Cubs, Tigers and Yankees are the only teams to be swept twice in a World Series. The Athletics and Yankees are the only two of these with at least one World Series sweep to their credit, the other three being among nine teams overall that have never swept a World Series, but have been swept in one (the Astros, Indians, Padres, Phillies, Pirates, Cardinals and Rockies being the others).
  6. The Cubs in 1907 and the Giants in 1922 won 4 games to 0, but each of those Series' included a tied game and are not considered to be true "sweeps".
  7. The Cincinnati Reds are the only National League team who has swept a World Series since 1963, sweeping the series in 1976 and 1990.
  8. The Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays are the first teams to have an elimination game be suspended because of weather, and not have it cancelled. The game was suspended Monday, October 27, 2008 then resumed in the bottom of the sixth on October 29, 2008.
  9. No team has come back from an 0-3 deficit in the World Series.

Designated hitters

  1. Three teams have never used a designated hitter in World Series play: the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, and Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cubs last appeared in the World Series in 1945, 28 years before the position debuted. Pittsburgh last appeared in 1979 and Baltimore in 1979 and 1983, during a ten year period (1976-1985) in which the DH was not used in World Series played in odd-numbered seasons. To date, neither the Cubs nor the Pirates have ever used a DH in postseason play.
  2. Also to date, the Cubs, Giants, Indians, Orioles, Pirates, and Royals are the only remaining teams that have won their only World Series titles in Series that didn't use the designated hitter rule. By contrast, the Phillies are the only team to go winless in the World Series without the DH, but win one with it.

First and last

  1. The first three World Series all featured teams that had never appeared in a World Series before: 1903, 1905, and 1906. 1906 was also the last time that situation occurred. Had there been a Series in 1904, it would not be in the list, since the Red Sox were repeating as league champions. Since 1906, every Series has featured at least one club with Series experience. Under the major league alignment as of the 2008 season, the only possible such combination in the future would be the Washington Nationals of the NL against one of the two AL teams that has never appeared in the Series: Seattle Mariners or Texas Rangers.
  2. Since 1920, only one World Series, the 1980 World Series, has featured two teams who had never before won a World Series (Kansas City Royals vs Philadelphia Phillies).

New York and Brooklyn teams of the past and present

  1. Teams from New York (Yankees, New York Giants, Mets, and Brooklyn Dodgers) have accounted for 65 World Series appearances, or 32%, including 13 all-New York Series (called "Subway Series" because fans could commute between home and away ballparks on the New York City Subway †). They have won 34 Series, or about one third. If the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants are included, these franchises account for 76 appearances (38%) and 39 wins (38.6%). † The Yankees played the first Subway Series, against the Giants, in 1921 and the most recent, against the Mets, in 2000.
  2. From 1949 to 1956, every Series game was won by a team from New York City.
  3. From 1949 to 1966, every Series involved the Yankees, Dodgers and/or Giants.
  4. The Dodgers and Yankees met in at least one World Series a decade for five straight decades (1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s).

Other places where more than one Major League team has played

  1. The Chicago Cubs (NL) defeated the Chicago White Sox (AL) in the third World Series (1906).
  2. There have been two all-Missouri Series. The Kansas City Royals (AL) won in 1985 against the St. Louis Cardinals (NL) in the "I-70 Series", so named because Interstate 70 runs through the state connecting both cities. This is the only time that teams in two different Missouri cities played a World Series against each other. The other all-Missouri World Series was between the St. Louis Cardinals and the St. Louis Browns (AL), now the Baltimore Orioles, in the 1944 "Streetcar Series". Not only were all the games played in one city, they were played on one field, Sportsman's Park, which the two teams shared during the regular season. (The Cardinals did not play a Series against the Athletics (AL) when they were in Kansas City from 1955 to 1967, although they split the 1930-31 Series when the A's were still in Philadelphia.)
  3. In October 1989, the San Francisco Giants (NL) and Oakland Athletics (AL) played in the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) or Earthquake Series, interrupted by the Loma Prieta earthquake. (While the Giants were still in New York, and the Athletics in Philadelphia, the Giants, managed by John McGraw, beat Connie Mack's A's in the second World Series [1905], but lost to the A's in 1911 and 1913.)
  4. The Giants lost another all-California Series in 2002 to the then-Anaheim Angels (AL, 1961). The Oakland Athletics beat the Los Angeles Dodgers (formerly of Brooklyn) in the 1974 Series, and lost to them in 1982. However, the two Los Angeles teams, the Angels and Dodgers, have never played a Series each other. Nor have the San Diego Padres (NL, 1969) ever played a Series against another California team.
  5. The former Philadelphia Athletics have never played a Series, in any city, against the Philadelphia Phillies (NL). Neither have the Athletics ever played a Series against their former co-Pennsylvanians, the Pittsburgh Pirates (NL), although each team won its respective league's pennant in 1902, a year before the first modern World Series.
  6. The Boston Red Sox (AL) have never played a Series against the former Boston Braves (NL) in any city, although the Red Sox have played Series against all the other seven pre-1961 National League teams. (When the Braves first returned to Boston as the Atlanta Braves in interleague play, both teams wore uniforms designed from patterns that their predecessors had worn before 1914.)
  7. The two Ohio teams, Cincinnati (NL), and Cleveland (AL) have yet to play a Series against each other.
  8. The Florida Marlins (NL, 1993) and Tampa Bay Rays (AL, 1998) have never played a Series against each other. Nor have the Texas Rangers (who've never won an American League pennant since joining in 1961) and the Houston Astros (NL, 1962).
  9. Since the Montreal Expos (now Washington Nationals) have never won the National League pennant since joining in 1969, they have never faced the Toronto Blue Jays (AL, 1977) in a World Series.

The original sixteen teams

  1. Every original team has won at least two World Series titles. The Philadelphia Phillies were the last of the original teams to win two, with their first World Series victory in (1980) and their second World Series victory in (2008). They have appeared in six total: (1915), (1950), (1980), (1983), (1993), and (2008).
  2. The last original American League team to win its first World Series was the Baltimore Orioles, winning in 1966.
  3. The Orioles were also the last original team in the majors to make their first World Series appearance, as the St. Louis Browns in 1944. They have won three World Series, in six appearances, since moving to Baltimore. The last original National League team to make their modern World Series debut were the St. Louis Cardinals in 1926, which they also won.
  4. The Yankees have defeated all eight original NL teams in a World Series at some point. Conversely, they have lost at least one World Series to every original NL team except the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies.
  5. The Boston Red Sox (AL) come next, having played every pre-1961 National League team in a World Series except their former cross-town rivals, the Braves (in Boston, Milwaukee or Atlanta).
  6. The Atlanta Braves (formerly of Boston) are the only original National League team who has never played the Boston Red Sox in the World Series (the Red Sox have played in eleven World Series, only two of them against expansion teams - the Mets and Rockies). Likewise, the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians are the only original American League teams who have never played the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series (the Cardinals have played in seventeen World Series, only two of them against expansion teams - the Brewers and Royals).

Expansion teams (after 1960)

  1. The 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks was the fastest expansion franchise ever to win both a pennant and a World Series (4th season), after being founded in 1998. Second fastest were the 1997 Florida Marlins, after being founded in 1993 (5th season). The fastest AL expansion franchise to a pennant are the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008 (11th season) and the fastest AL expansion franchise to a World Series title was the Toronto Blue Jays in 1992 (16th season).
  2. While the New York Mets (NL) were the first expansion team to win or appear in the World Series, the American League would have to wait until 1980 for its first expansion-team World Series appearance, and until 1985 for its first expansion team win. Both were by the Kansas City Royals. The AL also had two expansion teams appear in the World Series (the Milwaukee Brewers being the second, in 1982) before the National League's second expansion team to appear--the San Diego Padres in 1984.
  3. No two out of the fourteen post-1960 expansion teams have yet met each other in a World Series, although eleven expansion teams have appeared in them (against one of the sixteen teams established by 1903). Expansion teams are 9–9 in the World Series, with three teams (the New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays and Florida Marlins) each winning two. The three expansion teams that have not yet won a League pennant and a World Series appearance are the Texas Rangers (formerly the last Washington Senators), Seattle Mariners and Washington Nationals (formerly Montreal Expos).

Other notes

  1. The St Louis Cardinals lead the National League with ten World Series titles in seventeen appearances: 1926, 1931, 1934, 1942, 1944, 1946, 1964, 1967, 1982 and 2006.
  2. The Braves have appeared in the World Series representing the most cities: two for Boston (1914, 1948), two representing Milwaukee (1957, 1958) and five for the city of Atlanta (1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1999). They've brought home one victory from each of the three cities.
  3. The Marlins and the Blue Jays are the only teams with more than one World Series title to have never lost a World Series. Each has two. The Marlins have never even lost a post-season series.
  4. The Toronto Blue Jays are the only non-U.S. team to ever win a pennant or a World Series, doing both twice, in 1992 and 1993. The Montreal Expos (now Washington Nationals) were the first non-U.S. team to win a division title, winning the N.L. East in 1981.
  5. Of the fourteen different teams to win a National League pennant, only two have never played a World Series against the New York Yankees: the Colorado Rockies and the Houston Astros.
  6. To date, the Colorado Rockies are the only World Series opponent of the Boston Red Sox with no Series appearances against the N.Y. Yankees.
  7. All World Series re-matches from 1976-present have been of original meetings from 1905-1974. All original meetings from 1975-present have never been re-staged. There have been 44 re-matches in World Series history, the most recent being 2006 between the Cardinals and Tigers. The first re-match took place in 1908 between the Cubs and Tigers in a re-match of 1907, still the earliest original match-up re-visited.

Finally...

  1. More people watch the World Series each year than the Super Bowl.

Image gallery

See also

  • List of baseball films
  • World Series MVP Award
  • AL Wildcard winners (since 1994)
  • NL Wildcard winners (since 1994)
  • List of Major League Baseball franchise post-season droughts
  • List of most experienced baseball players never to play in a World Series
  • List of World Series won
  • List of World Series starting pitchers
  • World Series television ratings
  • MLB Post-Season Representatives
  • Caribbean World Series
  • College World Series
  • Negro League World Series
  • Japan Series
  • Korean Series
  • Asia Series
  • Baseball World Cup
  • World Baseball Classic

References

  1. ↑ List of World Series
  2. ↑ Business of Baseball - 1905 World Series Regulations, accessed October 23, 2006

Source books

Other sources

External links

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