As of 2019, the World Series had been played 115 times, with the AL winning 66 and the NL winning 49. Until 2002, home-field advantage in the World Series was shared by the National League and the American League. From 2003 through 2016, the league that won the All-Star Game that year received home-field advantage. In 2017, the Chicago Cubs became the first team to win a best-of-seven series after losing the first two games at home.
The most recent season the NL lost was in 2019. The last time this happened was 1985 when the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Boston Red Sox 4-3 in Game 7 of the World Series.
The longest drought between World Series wins is by the Atlanta Braves, who have not won since 1995. The San Francisco Giants have not won either, having last done so in 2014.
The shortest span between World Series victories is three years. The Chicago Cubs swept the Milwaukee Brewers in 2017 and the Cleveland Indians in 2019. The Miami Marlins also won in 1993.
There have been nine instances where the winner of the National League Championship Series went on to lose the World Series. These teams are: the Cincinnati Reds in 1990, the Atlanta Braves in 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2009, and 2010. The other two winners at least made it to the World Series before being eliminated - the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1963 and 1967.
Each season begins with hope for the 30 MLB fan bases, and each one ends with disappointment for 29 of them. Every year, only one team can win the World Series, yet some supporters have waited a long time to see their club lift the Commissioner's Trophy.
No club has won successive World Series victories since the New York Yankees in 1998, 1999, and 2000, the longest such streak in Major League Baseball history. Until 2002, home-field advantage in the World Series was shared by the National League and the American League.
Until 1903, when the first World Series was staged, there were claims of superiority on both sides. The Boston Americans won the series 5 games to 3 over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The American League earned 33 World Series titles to the National League's 17 in the first 50 years of World Series baseball.
The AL beat out the NL in the early days of the league because it had more teams can you win a world series with only eight teams? In 1917, after the entry of the United States into World War I, President Woodrow Wilson ordered that professional baseball games be cancelled until September 30, a date which has become known as "Ball Four Day" in honor of the final game of the season then played by the Cincinnati Reds vs. the Chicago Cubs. When the games did resume in 1918, they did so with independent clubs playing for pennants, rather than the major leagues doing so directly. These new teams competed against each other instead of just one group from each league. The first World Series under these new rules took place that year between the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers. The White Sox won the series 4 games to 1.
In 1920, after the conclusion of World War I, Major League Baseball decided to bring back all of its teams, including the Cincinnati Reds. However, due to financial problems, only eight of the original Redlegs remained in Cincinnati. The remaining Reds players moved to Cleveland and became the Indians.
In Major League history, there have been twenty-one World Series sweeps. Thirteen Fall Classics have been won or swept by the American League. The National League has won eight Series games when playing against the odds.
The first World Series sweep in history occurred in 1903 when the American League (AL) defeated the National League (NL) four games to zero. It was the only Series that year because the players had not yet voted to end the season after it was discovered that baseball had no post-season tournament at the time. In 1904, the AL and NL met again for the championship, this time with a best of three series used instead. The AL won both games of the series to claim its second world title.
In 1907, the World Series became a best of five format and has remained so since. The AL has dominated the series since its inception with a record of 31-20. The NL has not swept an AL team since this year's series between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians.
World Series sweeps have come about various ways over the years. Some teams have simply taken all the game balls and refused to give them back once the Series has ended.
Copyright © 2020 - 2023 Sportsmanist Inc.
