List of National League Wild Card winners

See also: Major League Baseball Wild Card

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.

There were no division or wild-card winners in 1994, due to the 1994 Major League Baseball strike.

Contents

NL wild-card qualifiers by year

As of 2011, three NL wild-card teams went on to win the World Series (Florida in 1997 and 2003 plus St Louis in 2011). Four teams won the NL pennant, but lost the World Series (Colorado, Houston, New York, San Francisco). Two other teams won the division series but lost the championship series. The remaining eight teams lost the division series.

Year Team Record % 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
2008 Milwaukee Brewers 90–72 .556 Lost Division Series to Philadelphia, 3–1
2009 Colorado Rockies 92–70 .571 Lost Division Series to Philadelphia, 3–1
2010 Atlanta Braves 91–71 .562 Lost Division Series to San Francisco, 3–1
2011 St Louis Cardinals 90–72 .556 Won World Series over Texas, 4–3

† - Wild card won in a tiebreaker one-game playoff.

* - Awarded Wild Card without tiebreaker, due to head-to-head losses against Division Winner.

Most NL wild-card appearances

Rank Team Total Year(s)
1 Colorado Rockies 3 1995, 2007, 2009
T-2 Los Angeles Dodgers 2 1996, 2006
T-2 Florida Marlins 2 1997, 2003
T-2 New York Mets 2 1999, 2000
T-2 St. Louis Cardinals 2 2001, 2011
T-2 Houston Astros 2 2004, 2005
T-7 Chicago Cubs 1 1998
T-7 San Francisco Giants 1 2002
T-7 Milwaukee Brewers 1 2008
T-7 Atlanta Braves 1 2010

Teams' NLDS records as NL wild-card qualifiers

NL Team Series Record
Florida Marlins 2–0
Houston Astros 2–0
New York Mets 2–0
San Francisco Giants 1–0
St. Louis Cardinals 1–1
Colorado Rockies 1–2
Atlanta Braves 0–1
Chicago Cubs 0–1
Milwaukee Brewers 0–1
Los Angeles Dodgers 0–2
combined 9–8

See also