List of National League Wild Card winners

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.

Beginning in 2012, a second wild card team was added to each league. The two wild card teams in each league will face each other in a one game playoff, the winner advancing to meet the number one seed in the Division Series.

NL wild-card qualifiers by year

As of 2014, three NL wild-card teams went on to win the World Series (Miami, as Florida in 1997 and 2003, St. Louis in 2011, and San Francisco in 2014). Four teams won the NL pennant but lost the World Series (NY Mets in 2000, San Francisco in 2002, Houston in 2005, Colorado in 2007). Two other teams won the division series but lost the championship series.

Team names link to the season in which each team played

Year	Team	Record	%	Playoffs
Original Format
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	.568	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
Expanded Format
2012	Atlanta Braves	94–68	.580	Lost Wild Card Game to St. Louis
2012	St. Louis Cardinals	88–74	.543	Lost NLCS to San Francisco, 4–3
2013	Pittsburgh Pirates	94–68	.580	Lost Division Series to St. Louis, 3–2
2013	Cincinnati Reds	90–72	.556	Lost Wild Card Game to Pittsburgh
2014**	Pittsburgh Pirates	88–74	.543	Lost Wild Card Game to San Francisco
2014**	San Francisco Giants	88–74	.543	Won World Series over Kansas City, 4–3
2015	Pittsburgh Pirates	98–64	.605	Lost Wild Card Game to Chicago (NL)
2015	Chicago Cubs	97–65	.599	Lost NLCS to New York (NL), 4–0

** In 2014, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the San Francisco Giants finished the season with identical records of 88–74. The Pirates, however, won the right to host the Wild Card Game based on their 4–2 regular season record against the Giants.

Most NL wild-card appearances

Rank	Team	Total	Year(s)
T-1	Colorado Rockies	3	1995, 2007, 2009
T-1	Pittsburgh Pirates	3	2013, 2014, 2015
T-1	St. Louis Cardinals	3	2001, 2011, 2012
T-1	Houston Astros	3	1994, 2004, 2005
T-4	Atlanta Braves	2	2010, 2012
T-4	Los Angeles Dodgers	2	1996, 2006
T-4	Florida/Miami Marlins	2	1997, 2003
T-4	New York Mets	2	1999, 2000
T-4	San Francisco Giants	2	2002, 2014
T-4	Chicago Cubs	2	1998, 2015
T-11	Cincinnati Reds	1	2013
T-11	Milwaukee Brewers	1	2008

Year in which the Wild Card qualifier won the Wild Card playoff is listed in italics.

Teams' NLDS records as NL wild-card qualifiers

NL Team	Series Record
Atlanta Braves	0–1
Chicago Cubs	1–1
Colorado Rockies	1–2
Houston Astros	3–0
Los Angeles Dodgers	0–2
Miami Marlins	2–0
Milwaukee Brewers	0–1
New York Mets	2–0
Pittsburgh Pirates	0–1
San Francisco Giants	2–0
St. Louis Cardinals	2–1
combined	13–9

Teams' NLCS records as NL wild-card qualifiers

NL Team	Series Record
Chicago Cubs	0–1
Colorado Rockies	1–0
Houston Astros	1–2
Miami Marlins	2–0
New York Mets	1–1
San Francisco Giants	2–0
St. Louis Cardinals	1–1
combined	8–5

Teams' World Series records as NL wild-card qualifiers

NL Team	Series Record
Colorado Rockies	0–1
Houston Astros	0–1
Miami Marlins	2–0
New York Mets	0–1
San Francisco Giants	1–1
St. Louis Cardinals	1–0
combined	4–4

Major League Baseball Wild-Card Game

American League	2012 2013 2014 2015

National League	2012 2013 2014 2015

Pre-2012 Playoffs	1998 NL Wild Card tie-breaker 1999 NL Wild Card tie-breaker 2007 NL Wild Card tie-breaker

Post-2012 Playoffs	2013 AL Wild Card tie-breaker

Major League Baseball Wild Card AL Wild Card winners NL Wild Card winners

National League

Organization

Current teams

East	Atlanta Braves Miami Marlins New York Mets Philadelphia Phillies Washington Nationals

Central	Chicago Cubs Cincinnati Reds Milwaukee Brewers Pittsburgh Pirates St. Louis Cardinals

West	Arizona Diamondbacks Colorado Rockies Los Angeles Dodgers San Diego Padres San Francisco Giants

Former, relocated,
and disestablished teams

19th-century National League teams
Boston Beaneaters/Braves (1883–1952)
Milwaukee Braves (1953–1965)
Brooklyn Dodgers (1883–1957)
New York Giants (1883–1957)
Houston Colt .45s/Astros (1962–2012)
Montreal Expos (1969–2004)

Championship play

Professional baseball

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