World Series

Until the formation of the American Association in 1882 as a second major league, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (1871–1875) and then the National League (founded 1876) represented the top level of organized baseball in the United States. All championships were awarded to the team with the best record at the end of the season, without a postseason series being played. From 1884 to 1890, the National League and the American Association faced each other in a series of games at the end of the season to determine an overall champion. These series were disorganized in comparison to the modern World Series, with the terms arranged through negotiation of the owners of the championship teams beforehand. The number of games played ranged from as few as three in 1884 (Providence defeated New York three games to zero), to a high of fifteen in 1887 (Detroit beat St. Louis ten games to five). Both the 1885 and 1890 Series ended in ties, each team having won three games with one tie game.[5]

The series was promoted and referred to as "The Championship of the United States",[6][7] "World's Championship Series", or "World's Series" for short. In his book Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883, Simon Winchester mentions in passing that the World Series was named for the New York World newspaper,[8] but this view is disputed.[9]

The 19th-century competitions are, however, not officially recognized as part of World Series history by Major League Baseball, as it considers 19th-century baseball to be a prologue to the modern baseball era.[10] Until about 1960, some sources treated the 19th-century Series on an equal basis with the post-19th-century series.[11] After about 1930, however, many authorities list the start of the World Series in 1903 and discuss the earlier contests separately.[12] (For example, the 1929 World Almanac and Book of Facts lists "Baseball World's Championships 1884–1928" in a single table,[13] but the 1943 edition lists "Baseball World Championships 1903–1942".[14])

Following the collapse of the American Association after the 1891 season, the National League was again the only major league. The league championship was awarded in 1892 by a playoff between half-season champions. This scheme was abandoned after one season.[15] 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, 1894–1897, the league champions played the runners-up in the post season championship series called the Temple Cup.[16][17] A second attempt at this format was the Chronicle-Telegraph Cup series, which was played only once, in 1900.[18]

In 1901, the American League was formed as a second major league. No championship series were played in 1901 or 1902 as the National and American Leagues fought each other for business supremacy (in 1902, the top teams instead opted to compete in a football championship).

An overflow crowd at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston prior to Game 3 of the 1903 World Series

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 Americans (later known as the Red Sox) of the AL; that one is known as the 1903 World Series played at Huntington Avenue Grounds. It had been arranged well in advance by the two owners, as both teams were league leaders by large margins.[19] Boston upset Pittsburgh by five games to three, 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 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 New York 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 1904–1905, 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 were 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 Series matches were operated strictly by the National Commission itself, not by the participating clubs.

With the new rules in place and the National Commission in control, McGraw's Giants made it to the 1905 Series, and beat the Philadelphia Athletics four games to one. Since then the Series has been held every year except 1994, when it was canceled due to a players' strike. The name of the event, initially known as the World's Championship Series, was gradually shortened in common usage to "World's Series" and, by the 1930s, to "World Series".

The list of postseason rules evolved over time. In 1925, Brooklyn owner Charles Ebbets persuaded 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. The 2–3–2 pattern has been used ever since save for the 1943 and 1945 World Series, which followed a 3–4 pattern due to World War II travel restrictions; in 1944, the normal pattern was followed because both teams were based in the same home stadium.

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 eight players of the Chicago White Sox were alleged to have 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, hitting .324 for the series from 11 hits and committing no errors in the field. 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 (he was the best hitter in the series, including having hit the series' only home run, but had markedly worse numbers in the games the White Sox lost).

The 1919 Chicago White Sox team photo

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, segueing into the "live ball" era, marked a point in time of change of the fortunes of several teams. The two most prolific World Series winners to date, the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals, did not win their first championship until the 1920s; and three of the teams that were highly successful prior to 1920 (the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and the Chicago 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 had to wait over a century (until the 2016 season) for their next trophy. They did not appear in the Fall Classic from 1945 until 2016, the longest drought of any MLB club.

The New York Yankees purchased Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox after the 1919 season, appeared in their first World Series two years later in 1921, and became frequent participants thereafter. The 1921 World Series was the first to be broadcast on radio.[20] Over a period of 45 years from 1920 to 1964, the Yankees played in 29 World Series championships, winning 20. The team's dynasty reached its apex between 1949 and 1964, when the Yankees reached the World Series 14 times in 16 years, helped by an agreement with the Kansas City Athletics (after that team moved from Philadelphia during 1954–1955 offseason) whereby the teams made several deals advantageous to the Yankees (until ended by new Athletics' owner Charles O. Finley). During that span, the Yankees played in all World Series except 1954 and 1959, winning nine of them. From 1949 to 1953, the Yankees won the World Series five years in a row; from 1936 to 1939 the Yankees won four World Series Championships in a row. There are only two other occasions when a team has won at least three consecutive World Series: 1972 to 1974 by the Oakland Athletics, and 1998 to 2000 by the Yankees.

Game 1 of the 1955 World Series between the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers

In an 18-year span from 1947 to 1964, except for 1948 and 1959, the World Series was played in New York City, featuring at least one of the three teams located in New York at the time. The Dodgers and Giants moved to California after the 1957 season, leaving the Yankees as the lone team in the city until the Mets were enfranchised in 1962. In 1947, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, and 1956, both teams in the World Series were from New York, with the Yankees playing against either the Dodgers or Giants.

1959 World Series action at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

In 1958, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants took their long-time rivalry to the west coast, moving to Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively, bringing Major League Baseball west of St. Louis and Kansas City.

The Dodgers were the first of the two clubs to contest a World Series on the west coast, defeating the Chicago White Sox in 1959. The 1962 Giants made the first California World Series appearance of that franchise, losing to the Yankees. The Dodgers made three World Series appearances in the 1960s: a 1963 win over the Yankees, a 1965 win over the Minnesota Twins and a 1966 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

In 1968, the Kansas City Athletics relocated to Oakland and the following year 1969, the National League granted a franchise to San Diego as the San Diego Padres. The A's became a powerful dynasty, winning three consecutive World Series from 1972 to 1974. In 1974, the A's played the Dodgers in the first all-California World Series. The Padres have two World Series appearances (a 1984 loss to the Detroit Tigers, and a 1998 loss to the New York Yankees).

The Dodgers won two more World Series in the 1980s (1981, 1988). The A's again went to three straight world series, from 1988 to 1990, winning once. 1988 and 1989 were all-California series as the A's lost to the Dodgers and beat the Giants, respectively. The Giants have been in four World Series' in the new millennium, losing in 2002 to the Anaheim Angels (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim from 2005 to 2015), and winning in 2010 (Rangers), 2012 (Tigers), and 2014 (Royals).

Prior to 1969, the National League and the American League each crowned its champion (the "pennant winner") based on the best win-loss record at the end of the regular season.

A structured playoff series began in 1969, when both the National and American Leagues were reorganized into two divisions each, East and West. The two division winners within each league played each other in a best-of-five League Championship Series to determine who would advance to the World Series. In 1985, the format changed to best-of-seven.

The National League Championship Series (NLCS) and American League Championship Series (ALCS), since the expansion to best-of-seven, are always played in a 2–3–2 format: Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 are played in the stadium of the team that has home-field advantage, and Games 3, 4, and 5 are played in the stadium of the team that does not.

Night games were played in the major leagues beginning with the Cincinnati Reds in 1935, but the World Series remained a strictly daytime event for years thereafter. In the fifth and final game of the 1949 World Series, a Series game was finished under the lights for the first time due to encroaching darkness in the ninth inning. The first scheduled night World Series game was Game 4 of the 1971 World Series at Three Rivers Stadium.[21] Afterward, World Series games were frequently scheduled at night, when television audiences were larger. Game 6 of the 1987 World Series was the last World Series game played in the daytime,[22] indoors at the Metrodome in Minnesota. (The last World Series played outdoors during the day was the final game of the 1984 series in Detroit's Tiger Stadium.)

During this seven-year period, only three teams won the World Series: the Oakland Athletics from 1972 to 1974, Cincinnati Reds in 1975 and 1976, and New York Yankees in 1977 and 1978. This is the only time in World Series history in which three teams have won consecutive series in succession. This period was book-ended by World Championships for the Pittsburgh Pirates, in 1971 and 1979.

However, the Baltimore Orioles made three consecutive World Series appearances: 1969 (losing to the "amazing" seven-year-old franchise New York Mets), 1970 (beating the Reds in their first World Series appearance of the decade), and 1971 (losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates, as well their 1979 appearance, when they again lost to the Pirates), and the Los Angeles Dodgers' back-to-back World Series appearances in 1977 and 1978 (both losses to the New York Yankees), as well in 1974 losing against the cross-state rival Oakland Athletics.

Game 6 of the 1975 World Series is regarded by most as one of the greatest World Series games ever played. It found the Boston Red Sox winning in the 12th inning in Fenway Park, defeating the Cincinnati Reds to force a seventh and deciding game. The game is best remembered for its exciting lead changes, nail-biting turns of events, and a game-winning walk-off home run by Carlton Fisk, resulting in a 7–6 Red Sox victory.

The National and American Leagues operated under essentially identical rules until 1973, when the American League adopted the designated hitter (DH) rule, allowing its teams to use another hitter to bat in place of the (usually) weak-hitting pitcher. The National League did not adopt the DH rule. This presented a problem for the World Series, whose two contestants would now be playing their regular-season games under different rules. From 1973 to 1975, the World Series did not include a DH. Starting in 1976, the World Series allowed for the use of a DH in even-numbered years only. (The Cincinnati Reds swept the 1976 Series in four games, using the same nine-man lineup in each contest. Dan Driessen was the Reds' DH during the series, thereby becoming the National League's first designated hitter.) Finally, in 1986, baseball adopted the current rule in which the DH is used for World Series games played in the AL champion's park but not the NL champion's. Thus, the DH rule's use or non-use can not affect the performance of the home team.

The 1984 Detroit Tigers gained distinction as just the third team in major league history (after the 1927 New York Yankees and 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers) to lead a season wire-to-wire, from opening day through their World Series victory.[23] In the process, Tigers skipper Sparky Anderson became the first manager to win a World Series title in both leagues, having previously won in 1975 and 1976 with the Cincinnati Reds.

The 1985 Kansas City Royals won the series four games to three over the St. Louis Cardinals. The key turning point of the series was a Kansas City win in Game Six aided by a controversial call by Don Denkinger at first base. Kansas City later won Game Seven 11–0 to take the series.

President Ronald Reagan congratulating the 1987 Minnesota Twins on their World Series victory

The 1987 Minnesota Twins became the 1st team in the history of the World Series to win the championship by winning all 4 games they hosted when they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals. They repeated this 4 years later in 1991 when they defeated the Atlanta Braves.

The 1988 World Series is remembered for the iconic home run by the Los Angeles Dodgers' Kirk Gibson with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 1. The Dodgers were huge underdogs against the 104-win Oakland Athletics, who had swept the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS. Baseball's top relief pitcher, Dennis Eckersley, closed out all four games in the ALCS, and he appeared ready to do the same in Game 1 against a Dodgers team trailing 4–3 in the ninth. After getting the first two outs, Eckersley walked Mike Davis of the Dodgers, who were playing without Gibson, their best position player and the NL MVP. Gibson had injured himself in the NLCS and was expected to miss the entire World Series. Yet, despite not being able to walk without a noticeable limp, Gibson surprised all in attendance at Dodger Stadium (and all watching on TV) by pinch-hitting. After two quick strikes and then working the count full, Gibson hit a home run to right, inspiring iconic pronouncements by two legendary broadcasters calling the game, Vin Scully (on TV) and Jack Buck (on radio). On NBC, as Gibson limped around the bases, Scully famously exclaimed, "The impossible has happened!" and on radio, Buck equally famously exclaimed, "I don't believe what I just saw!" Gibson's home run set the tone for the series, as the Dodgers went on to beat the A's 4 games to 1. The severity of Gibson's injury prevented him from playing in any of the remaining games.[24]

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 pm 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 (having a surface-wave magnitude of 7.1 with an epicenter ten miles (16 km) northeast of Santa Cruz, California). The earthquake caused substantial property and economic damage in the Bay Area and killed 63 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 1991 World Series saw the Minnesota Twins defeating the Atlanta Braves four games to three to win the championship. ESPN selected it as the "Greatest of All Time" in their "World Series 100th Anniversary" countdown, with five of its games being decided by a single run, four games decided in the final at-bat and three games going into extra innings.

The series-deciding seventh game was a scoreless tie (0–0) through the regular nine innings, and went into extra innings; Minnesota won by a score of 1–0 in the 10th inning, after their starting pitcher, Jack Morris, pitched a complete 10 inning shutout 7th game. (Morris was named Most Valuable Player for the Series.)[25]

With 69 innings in total, the 1991 World Series shares the record for longest seven-game World Series ever, in terms of innings, with the 1924 World Series.

World Series games were contested outside of the United States for the first time in 1992, with the Toronto Blue Jays defeating the Atlanta Braves in six games. The World Series returned to Canada in 1993, with the Blue Jays victorious again, this time against the Philadelphia Phillies in six games. No other Series has featured a team from outside of the United States. Toronto is the only expansion team to win successive World Series titles. The 1993 World Series was also notable for being only the second championship concluded by a walk-off home run and the first concluded by a come-from-behind homer, after Joe Carter's three-run shot in the bottom of the ninth inning sealed an 8–6 Toronto win in Game 6. The first Series to end with a homer was the 1960 World Series, when Bill Mazeroski hit a ninth-inning solo shot in Game 7 to win the championship for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In 1994, each league was restructured into three divisions, with the three division winners and the newly introduced wild card winner advancing to a best-of-five playoff round (the "division series"), the National League Division Series (NLDS) and American League Division Series (ALDS). The team with the best league record is matched against the wild card team, unless they are in the same division, in which case, the team with the second-best record plays against the wild card winner. The remaining two division winners are pitted against each other. The winners of the series in the first round advance to the best-of-seven NLCS and ALCS. Due to a players' strike, however, the NLDS and ALDS were not played until 1995. Beginning in 1998, home field advantage was given to the team with the better regular season record, with the exception that the Wild Card team cannot get home-field advantage.

After the boycott of 1904, the World Series was played every year until 1994 despite World War I, the global influenza pandemic of 1918–1919, 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. A breakdown in collective bargaining led to a strike in August 1994 and the eventual cancellation of the rest of the season, including the playoffs.

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 (MLBPA) 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, baseball headed into the 1994 work stoppage without a full-time commissioner for the first time since the office was founded in 1920.

The previous collective bargaining agreement expired on December 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 September 14. The World Series was not played for the first time in 90 years. The Montreal Expos, now the Washington Nationals, were the best team in baseball at the time of the stoppage, with a record of 74–40.

The labor dispute lasted 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, Sonia Sotomayor, ruled that the owners had engaged in unfair labor practices.[26] The season started on April 25 and the 1995 World Series was played as scheduled, with Atlanta beating Cleveland four games to two.

The 2001 World Series was the first World Series to end in November, due to the week-long delay in the regular season after the September 11 attacks. Game 4 had begun on Oct. 31 but went into extra innings and ended early on the morning of Nov. 1, the first time the Series had been played in November. Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter won the game with a 10th inning walk-off home run and was dubbed "Mr. November" by elements of the media echoing the media's designation of Reggie Jackson as "Mr. October" for his slugging achievements during the 1977 World Series. The Boston Red Sox broke their 86-year drought, known as the Curse of the Bambino, defeating the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS after losing the first three games, and then defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2004 World Series. With the 2006 World Series victory by the St. Louis Cardinals, Tony La Russa became the second manager to a win a World Series in both the American and National Leagues. Other notable World Series victories of the decade include the Diamondbacks, in only their fourth season of play, over the Yankees in 2001, The Angels in 2002, the White Sox in 2005, and the Phillies in 2008.

Prior to 2003, home-field advantage in the World Series alternated from year to year between the NL and AL. After the 2002 Major League Baseball All-Star Game ended in a tie, MLB decided to award home-field advantage in the World Series to the winner of the All-Star Game. Originally implemented as a two-year trial from 2003 to 2004, the practice was extended.

The American League had won every All-Star Game since this change until 2010 and thus enjoyed home-field advantage from 2002, when it also had home-field advantage based on the alternating schedule, through 2009. From 2003 to 2010, the AL and NL had each won the World Series four times, but none of them had gone the full seven games. Since then, the 2011, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019 World Series have gone the full seven games.

This rule was subject to debate, with various writers feeling that home-field advantage should be decided based on the regular season records of the participants, not on an exhibition game played several months earlier.[27][28] Some writers especially questioned the integrity of this rule after the 2014 All-Star Game, when St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright suggested that he intentionally gave Derek Jeter some easy pitches to hit in the New York Yankees' shortstop's final All-Star appearance before he retired at the end of that season.[29][30]

As Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe wrote in July 2015 about the rule:

So now we have a game that's not real baseball determining which league hosts Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 in the World Series. It's not a game if pitchers throw one inning. It's not a game if managers try to get everyone on a bloated roster into the game. It's not a game if every franchise, no matter how wretched, has to put a player on the team ... If the game is going to count, tell the managers to channel their inner Connie Mack and go for it.[31]

However, within the last seven seasons, home-field advantage has not decided World Series games: Since 2014, the home team has not won the deciding game of a World Series.

The San Francisco Giants won the World Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014 while failing to qualify to play in the postseason in the intervening seasons.

The Texas Rangers were twice only one strike away from winning their first World Series title in 2011, but the St. Louis Cardinals' David Freese, the eventual Series MVP, drove in both the tying and winning runs late in Game 6 to force a Game 7.

In 2013, the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series of the 2010s, this time at Fenway Park for the first time since 1918.

The Kansas City Royals reached the World Series in 2014, which was their first appearance in the postseason since winning the series in 1985. At the time, it was the longest postseason drought in baseball. They lost in seven games to the Giants. The following season, the Royals finished with the American League's best record, and won a second consecutive American League pennant. They defeated the New York Mets in the World Series 4–1, capturing their first title in 30 years. The 2015 contest was the first time that two expansion clubs met for the Fall Classic.

Chicago Cubs celebrate their 2016 World Series victory

In 2016, the Chicago Cubs ended their 108-year long drought without a World Series title by defeating the Cleveland Indians, rallying from a 3–1 Series deficit in the process. That extended Cleveland's World Series title drought to 68 years and counting – the Indians last won the Series in 1948 – now the longest title drought in the major leagues.[32]

Beginning in 2017, home field advantage in the World Series was awarded to the league champion team with the better regular season win-loss record.[33] If both league champions have the same record, the tie-breaker is head-to-head record, and if that does not resolve it, the second tie-breaker is best divisional record.

The Houston Astros won the 2017 World Series in 7 games against the Los Angeles Dodgers on November 1, 2017, winning their first World Series since their creation in 1962.[34] That title would soon become tainted because of the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal.

The Boston Red Sox won the 2018 World Series, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in 5 games for their fourth title since 2004.[35]

In 2019, the Washington Nationals defeated the Houston Astros in seven games. It was the first seven-game World Series in which the road team won every game. The Nationals achieved a couple of historical milestones: becoming the first team to win the World Series without winning a home game[36] and bringing the title back to the capital for the first time since 1924.[37]

In 2020, the Los Angeles Dodgers won their first World Series since 1988, and their seventh championship in franchise history during a season that was shortened to 60 games by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Notes

American League (AL) teams have won 66 of the 116 World Series played (56.9%). The New York Yankees have won the World Series the most times with 27 championships, accounting for 23.3% of all series played and 40.9% of the wins by American League teams. The Yankees have also been the American League's representative in the World Series the most number of times, with 40 total appearances. The St. Louis Cardinals have won 11 World Series, second-most among all 30 teams and most among National League franchises, accounting for 9.5% of all series played and 22% of the 50 National League victories. However, the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers have been the National League's representative in the World Series the most number of times, with 21 total appearances. The Dodgers’ 14 World Series losses are the most by any team, while the Yankees’ 13 losses are the most among AL teams.

The Yankees and the Dodgers have faced off against each other the most number of times, with eleven total contests between the two franchises. The Yankees won eight of those eleven contests, although the Dodgers defeated the Yankees in their last World Series matchup in 1981.

When the first modern World Series was played in 1903, there were eight teams in each league. These 16 franchises, all of which are still in existence, have each won at least two World Series titles.

The number of teams was unchanged until 1961, with fourteen expansion teams joining MLB since then, all of which except the Seattle Mariners have appeared in at least one World Series. Of the 24 Series in which at least one expansion team has played, including two Series (2015 and 2019) in which both teams were expansion teams, expansion teams have won 11 of them, which is 45.8% of all series in which an expansion team played and 9.5% of all 116 series played since 1903. In 2015, the first World Series featuring only expansion teams was played between the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets.[38]

This information is up to date through the present time:

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 2010s, when they won none. They won at least one American League pennant in every decade from the 1920s until the 2000s; the streak ended in the 2010s. The Yankees are the only team in MLB to win more than three series in a row, winning in four consecutive seasons from 1936 to 1939, and an MLB record five consecutive seasons from 1949 to 1953. The Yankees also won three consecutive World Series from 1998 to 2000. The Oakland Athletics are the only other team to have won three straight titles, doing so from 1972 to 1974.
2. The New York Giants' four World Series appearances from 1921 to 1924 are the most consecutive appearances for any National League franchise. The Yankees are the only American League franchise to appear in four or more consecutive World Series, doing so from 1936 to 1939, 1949–1953, 1955–1958, 1960–1964, and 1998–2001.
3. The 1907–1908 Cubs, 1921–1922 Giants and the 1975–1976 Reds are the only National League teams to win back-to-back World Series. No National League team has ever won three consecutive World Series.
4. The 1907–1909 Detroit Tigers and the 1911–1913 New York Giants are the only teams to lose three consecutive World Series.
5. The Chicago Cubs hold the record for the longest World Series championship drought of all time, with no titles between 1908 and 2016 (108 years). They also hold the longest ever pennant drought of all time, which stretched from 1945 to 2016 and ended with a 4–2 series victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2016 NLCS. With the Cubs' subsequent victory in the 2016 World Series, the longest active World Series championship drought belongs coincidentally to their opponents in that series, the Cleveland Indians, who have not won a World Series since 1948. The Indians' drought is the second longest active championship drought among all four major professional sports leagues in North America (MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL); only the NFL's Arizona Cardinals, who last won a league championship in 1947, when the team still operated as the Chicago Cardinals, have a longer active championship drought. The team with the longest active pennant drought among AL teams that have played in a World Series at least once is the Baltimore Orioles, who have not reached the World Series since their 1983 title. The team with the longest active pennant drought among NL teams (and overall) that have played in a World Series at least once is the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have not played in a World Series since winning it in 1979. This also means that the Pirates hold the second longest active World Series title drought among all teams that have at least one Series and longest championship drought among NL teams that have won a Series.
6. Twenty-four of the 29 teams who have played in the World Series have won it at least once. The only exceptions are the Milwaukee Brewers (formerly Seattle Pilots), San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies, Tampa Bay Rays (formerly Devil Rays), and Texas Rangers (formerly Washington Senators). The Padres, Rangers, and Rays have each lost two World Series; the Brewers and Rockies have both lost one Series. As of 2019, every team that has appeared in at least three World Series has won at least one title.
7. Only one team has never played in the World Series: the American League's Seattle Mariners. The Mariners have competed in the American League Championship Series three times (in 1995, 2000, and 2001), but lost all three.
8. The Boston Red Sox have the most World Series titles before their first World Series loss, winning the championship in their first five appearances—1903, 1912, 1915, 1916, and 1918—before losing the next series they played, in 1946.
9. The American League's Toronto Blue Jays (1992 and 1993) and National League's Miami Marlins (1997 and 2003 as the Florida Marlins) hold the record for most appearances without ever losing a Series. Three other franchises have won their lone appearance: the National League's Arizona Diamondbacks (2001) and Washington Nationals (2019) and the American League's Los Angeles Angels (2002 as the Anaheim Angels).
10. The Boston Red Sox have the longest active streak of World Series victories (four) since the last time they lost a series. They have won titles in 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018 after their last loss in 1986.
11. The Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants, and Cincinnati Reds have the longest active World Series wins streak by National League teams, with each team having won 3 times since their last losses. Since their last defeat in 1927, the Pirates have won the Series in 1960, 1971 and 1979. After their loss in 2002, the Giants won the Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014. Finally, since their loss in 1972, the Reds have won the Series in 1975, 1976 and 1990.
12. The Yankees have the most World Series victories (eight) between World Series losses. After losing the 1926 World Series to the Cardinals, the Yankees won in their next eight appearances, (1927, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, and 1941) before losing in 1942 to the Cardinals, who are the National League leader in this category, with four titles (1944, 1946, 1964, and 1967) between series losses in 1943 and 1968.
13. The Cubs and Dodgers are tied at seven apiece for most World Series losses between World Series victories. The Dodgers lost their first seven appearances in the Fall Classic in (1916, 1920, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, and 1953) before winning their first title in 1955. The Cubs' situation was the opposite: between winning their second and third titles (in 1908 and 2016), they lost in 1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938, and 1945. The Cleveland Indians have four World Series losses (1954, 1995, 1997, and 2016) since their last crown in 1948, more than any other team in the American League.
14. The longest duration without back-to-back World Series champions is currently active at 20 years, from after the 2000 New York Yankees to the present. The previous record of 14 years (from 1979 through 1992) was broken when the Toronto Blue Jays won in 1992 and 1993.
15. The longest sequence of World Series in which each was won by a different franchise is 10, from 1978 through 1987. This streak was broken when the Dodgers, which had won in 1981, won again in 1988.

1. During the 1960s and 1970s, eight of the 11 World Series to go seven games saw Game 7 won by the road team: the road team won Game 7 in 1962, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, and 1979, while the home team won Game 7 in 1960, 1964, and 1973. Since 1980, the home team has won Game 7 in nine of the thirteen World Series between 1980 and 2013 that went to seven games. The first nine series to go seven games since 1980 all saw the home team win Game 7 (1982 St. Louis Cardinals, 1985 Kansas City Royals, 1986 New York Mets, 1987 and 1991 Minnesota Twins, 1997 Florida Marlins, 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, 2002 Anaheim Angels, and 2011 St. Louis Cardinals) before the San Francisco Giants won game 7 on the road in 2014. The three World Series that have gone the full seven games since 2014 have also seen the road team win Game 7 (2016 Chicago Cubs, 2017 Houston Astros and 2019 Washington Nationals).
2. To date, only six teams have come back to win a World Series when facing elimination going into Game 5 of a best-of-seven contest: the 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates, who defeated the reigning champion Washington Senators; the 1958 New York Yankees, who defeated the reigning champion Milwaukee Braves in a re-match of the 1957 World Series; the 1968 Detroit Tigers, who defeated the St. Louis Cardinals; the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, who defeated the Baltimore Orioles; the 1985 Kansas City Royals, who defeated the St. Louis Cardinals; and the 2016 Chicago Cubs, who defeated the Cleveland Indians. Only the Pirates have accomplished the feat twice. By contrast, only the St. Louis Cardinals have blown a 3 games to 1 lead twice (1968 and 1985). The 1958 Yankees, 1968 Tigers, 1979 Pirates, and 2016 Cubs all accomplished the feat by winning Games 6 & 7 on the road.
3. The 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers are the most recent team to win a World Series after losing the first two games on the road. The recent tendency of a team winning the first two games at home and then winning the Series suggests the theoretical advantage to gaining home-field advantage (which includes the first two games at home).
4. The Pittsburgh Pirates won all five of their World Series championships (1909, 1925, 1960, 1971, and 1979) in seven games.
5. The Minnesota Twins/Washington Senators won all three of their World Series championships (1924, 1987, and 1991) in seven games.
6. The Boston Red Sox have lost four World Series (1946, 1967, 1975, & 1986), all of which were in Series that went seven games.
7. There have been 19 World Series four-game (4–0) sweeps, the most recent of which occurred in 2012 when the Giants swept the Tigers. Nine teams have swept a World Series at least once, the Yankees having done so most often (8 times). The Red Sox, Reds, and Giants have all done it twice. The Braves, Orioles, White Sox, Dodgers, and Athletics have each swept one Series. Six of these teams (all but the Orioles, Red Sox and White Sox) have also been swept 0–4 in at least one World Series. The Red Sox have the most World Series sweeps of any team that has never been swept in one, with two (2004 and 2007). The Reds and Yankees are the only teams to have swept each other (the Yankees swept the Reds in 1939, while the Reds swept the Yankees in 1976). The Giants are the only team to record World Series sweeps in two cities: New York (1954) and San Francisco (2012). The 1999 Yankees are the last team to date, and the only one since 1966, to sweep a World Series that began on the road. The 1963 Dodgers are the last National League team to date to sweep a World Series that began on the road.
8. The Athletics, Cardinals, Cubs, and Yankees are the only teams to be swept in two World Series. The Athletics and Yankees are the only two of these with at least one World Series sweep to their credit, the other two being among nine teams overall that have never swept a World Series, but have been swept in one (the Tigers, Astros, Indians, Padres, Phillies, Pirates, and Rockies being the others).
9. 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. In 1907, the first game was the tie and the Cubs won four straight after that. In 1922, Game 2 was the tie.
10. The Cincinnati Reds were the only National League team to sweep any World Series between 1963 and 2012, sweeping their last two series appearances to date in 1976 and 1990. When added to their Game 7 victory in 1975, this means that the Reds have won their last 9 consecutive World Series games, the longest active winning streak in terms of consecutive World Series games won. The Reds are also to date the only team since the inception of the League Championship Series (LCS) in 1969 to sweep the entire postseason. The 1976 "Big Red Machine" swept the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League LCS in three games, and then swept the New York Yankees in the World Series in four games. The longest ever streak of consecutive World Series games won is 14 by the New York Yankees, who won four straight games to win the 1996 World Series after losing the first two games of that series, then swept their next two World Series appearances in 1998 and 1999, and then won the first two games of the 2000 World Series before losing the third game of that Series to the New York Mets.
11. The only team to have appeared in a World Series and have no World Series game victories is the Colorado Rockies, who were swept in their only appearance to date in 2007.
12. Nine World Series have ended with "walk-off" hits, i.e., that game and the Series ended when the home team won with a base hit in the bottom of the ninth or in extra innings:[39] 1924*, 1929, 1935, 1953, 1960*, 1991*, 1993, 1997*, and 2001*. Five of these (marked with a *) were in a deciding Game 7. In addition, the deciding Game 8 (one game had ended in a tie) of the 1912 World Series ended in a walk-off sacrifice fly.[40] The Twins in 1924 (as the Senators) and 1991 are the only franchise to win two Series in this fashion. Two men have ended a World Series with a walk-off home run: Bill Mazeroski in 1960 and Joe Carter in 1993. Mazeroski's was a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 to win a championship for the Pittsburgh Pirates, while Carter's was a three-run shot in Game 6 that won a championship for the Toronto Blue Jays.
13. There has been one World Series that ended on a runner caught stealing. In the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 1926 World Series, Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees tried to steal second base with two outs and his team trailing the St. Louis Cardinals 3–2. Ruth was thrown out by Cardinals catcher Bob O'Farrell after Bob Meusel swung at and missed a pitch from Grover Cleveland Alexander. St. Louis second baseman Rogers Hornsby applied the tag on Ruth, who in his career was successful on 51% of his stolen base attempts. Ruth, Alexander, and Hornsby were later inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
14. One World Series game has ended with a pick-off of a runner. Kolten Wong of the St. Louis Cardinals was picked off first base in Game 4 of the 2013 World Series by Boston Red Sox closer Koji Uehara. The score was 4–2 and rookie Wong was a pinch runner.
15. The Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays are the first and only pair of teams to have a World Series game be suspended because of weather, and not have it cancelled. Game 5 (in Philadelphia) was suspended on October 27, 2008 with a 2–2 score, and resumed in the bottom of the sixth inning two days later on October 29. The Phillies, who entered the game leading the series 3 games to 1, went on to win the game and clinch the series.
16. Both of the Minnesota Twins' World Series titles since relocating to the Twin Cities from Washington, D.C. (where they were the Washington Senators) were in seven-game series in which all games were won by the home team, in 1987 over the Cardinals and 1991 over the Atlanta Braves. This same scenario also occurred in 2001, when the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the New York Yankees. In all three of those series, a pitcher was named World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP). In the 1987 World Series, Frank Viola was the MVP having pitched games 1, 4, and 7, and finishing with a 2–1 record. In 1991, Jack Morris achieved the same feat pitching games 1, 4, and 7 with a 2–0 record and a no decision in game 4, and winning MVP honors. However, Morris's MVP came on the heels of pitching 10 shutout innings in game 7. Finally, in 2001, Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson took MVP honors by being the reason the Arizona Diamondbacks were in position to win the series.
17. The Washington Nationals' lone World Series appearance and victory came in the only seven-game World Series to date (2019) in which all seven games were won by the visiting team. Additionally, this is the only time that any of the three major North American professional sports leagues that use a best-of-seven series for their championship round (MLB's World Series, NBA's NBA Final, and the NHL's Stanley Cup Final) have had a championship series go seven games with all contests won by the road team. Prior to Game 7, the Series was already the first such instance of a World Series, NBA Final, or Stanley Cup Final in which the road team won the first six games.
18. One World Series - the 2020 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Rays - was played at a neutral site. The Series, won by the Dodgers in six games, was played entirely at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, rather than at the Dodgers’ and Rays’ respective normal home stadiums of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California and Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
19. There has only been one instance in World Series history where the Series MVP was selected from the losing team: Bobby Richardson of the 1960 New York Yankees.
20. The last time a team clinched a World Series title in their home stadium occurred in 2013, when the Boston Red Sox clinched the title at their home field of Fenway Park. The Los Angeles Dodgers were the designated home team in the clinching game of the 2020 World Series, but every game of that Series was played at a neutral site due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
21. The winning team has scored fewer runs (composite) on 22 occasions, six of these in six-game series: 1918, 1959, 1977, 1992, 1996, and 2003. Seven-game series winners were outscored in 1912, 1924, 1925, 1931, 1940, 1957, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1991, 1997, and 2002. An equal number of runs were scored by the teams in 1948 (6 games), 2016, and 2017. A five-game series winner has yet to be outscored, with the closest margin being two runs in 1915. The closest composite margin in a four-game sweep is six runs (1950 and 2005).

When two teams share the same state or metropolitan area, fans often develop strong loyalties to one and antipathies towards the other, sometimes building on already-existing rivalries between cities or neighborhoods. Before the introduction of interleague play in 1997, the only opportunity for two teams playing in the same area but in different leagues to face each other in official competition would have been in a World Series.

The first city to host an entire World Series was Chicago in 1906. The Chicago White Sox were known as "the Hitless Wonders" that year, with the worst team batting average in the American League. The Chicago Cubs had a winning percentage of .763, a record that still stands. But in an upset, the White Sox beat the Cubs four games to two.[41][42]

Fourteen "Subway Series" have been played entirely within New York City, all including the American League's New York Yankees. Thirteen of them matched the Yankees with either the New York Giants or the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League. The initial instances occurred in 1921 and 1922, when the Giants beat the Yankees in consecutive World Series that were not technically "subway series" since the teams shared the Polo Grounds as their home ballpark. The Yankees finally beat the Giants the following year, their first in their brand-new Yankee Stadium, and won the two teams' three subsequent Fall Classic match-ups in 1936, 1937 and 1951. The Yankees faced Brooklyn seven times in October, winning their first five meetings in 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953, before losing to the Dodgers in 1955, Brooklyn's sole World Championship. The last Subway Series involving the original New York ballclubs came in 1956, when the Yankees again beat the Dodgers. The trio was separated in 1958 when the Dodgers and Giants moved to California (although the Yankees subsequently met and beat the now-San Francisco Giants in 1962, and played the now-Los Angeles Dodgers four times, losing to them in a four-game sweep in 1963, beating them back-to-back in 1977 and 1978 and losing to them in 1981). An all-New York Series did not recur until 2000, when the Yankees defeated the New York Mets in five games.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the 2020 World Series to be played entirely at a neutral site (Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas), the last World Series played entirely in one ballpark was the 1944 "Streetcar Series" between the St. Louis Cardinals and the St. Louis Browns. The Cardinals won in six games, all held in their shared home, Sportsman's Park.

The 1989 World Series, sometimes called the "Bay Bridge Series" or the "BART Series" (after the connecting transit line), featured the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants, teams that play just across San Francisco Bay from each other. The series is most remembered for the major earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area just before game 3 was scheduled to begin. The quake caused significant damage to both communities and severed the Bay Bridge that connects them, forcing the postponement of the series. Play resumed ten days later, and the A's swept the Giants in four games. (The earthquake disruption of the Series almost completely overshadowed the fact that the 1989 Series represented a resumption after many decades of the October rivalry between the Giants and the A's dating back to the early years of the 20th Century, when the then-New York Giants had defeated the then-Philadelphia Athletics in 1905, and had lost to them in 1911 and again in 1913.)

The Giants are the only team to have played in cross-town World Series in two cities, having faced the Yankees six times while located in New York, and the Athletics once while based in San Francisco.

Two cross-town World Series match-ups were formerly possible but did not occur — the Boston Red Sox vs. the Boston Braves, and the Philadelphia Phillies vs. the Philadelphia Athletics. (The Braves moved to Milwaukee in 1953, and the Athletics moved to Kansas City in 1955.)

Currently there are five metropolitan areas that have two Major League Baseball teams — New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco-Oakland, and Baltimore-Washington. Of the five, Los Angeles and Baltimore-Washington have never hosted a cross-town World Series. Such contests would pit the Dodgers against the Angels and the Orioles against the Nationals, respectively.

Below is a chronological list of World Series played between teams from the same metropolitan area, with the winning teams listed in boldface.

The historic rivalry between Northern and Southern California added to the interest in the Oakland Athletics-Los Angeles Dodgers series in 1974 and 1988 and in the San Francisco Giants' series against the then-Anaheim Angels in 2002.

Other than the St. Louis World Series of 1944, the only postseason tournament held entirely within Missouri was the I-70 Series in 1985 (named for the Interstate Highway connecting the two cities) between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals, who won at home in the seventh game.

Going into the 2020 season, there has never been an in-state World Series between the teams in Ohio (Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds), Florida (Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins), Texas (Texas Rangers and Houston Astros – who now both play in the American League since the Astros changed leagues in 2013, making any future joint World Series appearance an impossibility unless one of the teams switches leagues), or Pennsylvania (the Philadelphia Phillies and the Pittsburgh Pirates have been traditional National League rivals going back to the late 19th Century). Neither the Phillies nor the Pirates ever faced the Athletics in October during the latter team's tenure in Philadelphia, through 1954. The Boston Red Sox never similarly faced the Braves while the latter team played in Boston through 1952. There also was never an all-Canada World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the former Montreal Expos, who never won a National League pennant when they played in that Canadian city from 1969 through 2004. The Expos became the Washington Nationals in 2005 – raising the possibility of a potential future "I-95 World Series" between the National League team and the AL's Baltimore Orioles, who play just 38 miles to the north of Washington. Finally, the Los Angeles and/or Anaheim Angels have never faced off in October against either the Dodgers or against the San Diego Padres for bragging rights in Southern California, although all three of those teams have appeared in the World Series at various times.

1. The Braves are the only team to have both won and lost a World Series in three home cities (Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta).
2. The Athletics have had three home cities (Philadelphia, Kansas City, and Oakland), but have appeared in the World Series (both winning and losing) while based in only two of them (Philadelphia and Oakland).
3. Three other teams have both won and lost the Fall Classic in two home cities: The Dodgers (Brooklyn and Los Angeles), the Giants (New York and San Francisco), and the Twins (Minneapolis and Washington, as the first Senators).
4. The Orioles are the only other team to have played in the World Series in two home cities (Baltimore and St. Louis, as the Browns), but all three of their titles (and three of their four losses) have come while based in Baltimore.

At the time the first modern World Series began in 1903, each league had eight clubs, all of which survive today (although sometimes in a different city or with a new nickname), composing the "original sixteen".

1. Every original team has won at least two World Series titles. The Philadelphia Phillies (National League) were the last of the original teams to win their first Series, in 1980. They were also the last to win at least two, with their second Series victory in 2008. The Cubs were the first team to win the series twice, in 1907 and 1908.
2. The last original American League team to win its first World Series was the Baltimore Orioles (former St. Louis Browns, originally the Milwaukee Brewers), 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. Although they never won another American League pennant while in St. Louis, they have won three World Series in six appearances since moving to Baltimore. The St. Louis Cardinals were the last original National League team to appear in a modern World Series, in their 1926 championship victory. They have subsequently won more World Series than any other National League club: 11 championships through 2019.
4. The New York Yankees have defeated all eight original NL teams in a World Series. Conversely, they have lost at least one World Series to six of the original NL teams, never losing to the Chicago Cubs or the Philadelphia Phillies. The Boston Red Sox have played at least one Series against seven original National League teams, missing only the Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, with whom they shared a home city through 1952. The Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers have faced seven original teams of the American League in the World Series, missing only the Detroit Tigers.
5. The St. Louis Cardinals are currently the only club of the National League's original eight that holds an overall Series lead over the Yankees, 3 to 2, taking that lead in 1964.[43] The Giants won their first two Series over the Yankees (1921 and 1922), but the Yankees have faced the Giants five times since then and have won all five, taking the overall lead over the Giants in 1937. The Pittsburgh Pirates and Yankees have faced each other twice (1927 and 1960), with the Yankees winning in 1927 and the Pirates winning in 1960, making the two teams .500 against each other.
6. Since the two leagues expanded beyond eight teams apiece in 1961, the American League's Cleveland Indians are the only original team that has not won a World Series against the larger field of competitors.
7. Out of 116 Series, all but two have featured at least one of the original sixteen teams. The only exceptions are the 2015 World Series between the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets and the 2019 World Series between the Washington Nationals (formerly the Montreal Expos) and the Houston Astros.

1. The 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks won their first pennant and World Series in fewer seasons than any other expansion team (both attained in their 4th season). The 1997 World Series Champion Florida Marlins achieved these milestones in the second-fewest seasons (fifth season). The fastest AL expansion franchise to win a pennant was the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008 (11th season) and the fastest AL expansion franchise to win a World Series 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 (doing both in 1969), 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. There have been two World Series in which both teams were expansion franchises. The first instance occurred in 2015 between the National League's New York Mets (who started play in 1962) and the American League's Kansas City Royals (who started play in 1969), with the Royals winning in five games. The second instance occurred in 2019 between the National League's Washington Nationals (started play in 1969 as the Montreal Expos; moved to Washington, D.C. and renamed the Nationals beginning in 2005) and the American League's Houston Astros (started play as the Colt .45s in 1962 as a member of the National League; renamed the Astros beginning in 1965 and began playing in the American League in 2013), with the Nationals winning in seven games.
4. In the first World Series to only have expansion teams, the New York Mets and the Kansas City Royals were each the first expansion team in each respective league to appear in the World Series, the Mets in 1969 and the Royals in 1980. Each team was also the first team in each respective league to win the World Series, the Mets in 1969 and the Royals in 1985. Each team has the most appearances by an expansion team in each respective league in the World Series, with five for the Mets in 1969, 1973, 1986, 2000, and 2015, and four for the Royals in 1980, 1985, 2014, and 2015.
5. 13 expansion teams have now played in at least one Series. As of the end of the 2020 edition, expansion teams were 11–13 in the 24 editions of the World Series to feature at least one expansion team, with four teams (the New York Mets, Kansas City Royals, Toronto Blue Jays and Miami Marlins) each winning two. The then-Anaheim Angels, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Houston Astros, and the Washington Nationals had each won one Series by the end of the 2019 season.
6. The Toronto Blue Jays (1992 and 1993), Miami Marlins (1997 and 2003 as the Florida Marlins), Arizona Diamondbacks (2001), the Los Angeles Angels (2002 as the Anaheim Angels) and the Washington Nationals (2019) have never lost a World Series appearance.
7. Five expansion teams have appeared in the World Series without ever winning a championship: twice each for the Texas Rangers (formerly the second Washington Senators), San Diego Padres, and Tampa Bay Rays (formerly Devil Rays), and once each for the Milwaukee Brewers (formerly Seattle Pilots) and Colorado Rockies.
8. One expansion team has not yet won a league pennant (and therefore has also not appeared in a World Series): the American League's Seattle Mariners.

1. Three World Series have featured teams with identical regular season records (1949, 1958, 2013). In the remaining 113 Series, the team with the better regular season winning percentage has won the World Series 55 times, or 48.67% (54 of 113) of the time.
2. The Toronto Blue Jays are the only Canadian team to win a pennant or a World Series, doing both feats twice, in 1992 and 1993.
3. The Chicago Cubs, the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals are the only teams with a World Series title that have never clinched one at home.
4. The Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Los Angeles Angels are the only teams with a World Series title that have never clinched one on the road.
5. Three World Series have matched up the previous two champions, with all three featuring and won by the New York Yankees. The 1928 World Series was contested by the Cardinals (won in 1926) and Yankees (won in 1927), which the Yankees won 4–0. In 1943, the Yankees (won in 1941) met the Cardinals (won in 1942); the Yankees won this series 4–1. In 1958, the Yankees (won in 1956) faced the Milwaukee Braves (won in 1957); the Yankees won this series 4–3.
6. The only two teams that have changed leagues, the Milwaukee Brewers and Houston Astros are also the only teams to have played in both the American League Championship Series (ALCS) and National League Championship Series (NLCS). The Brewers won their lone ALCS appearance in 1982 against the California Angels and lost both of their NLCS appearances, in 2011 against the St. Louis Cardinals and in 2018 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, making them 1–2 all time between both League Championship Series. The Astros, meanwhile, have a 3–4 all-time record between both League Championship Series, having gone 1–3 in four NLCS appearances (lost in 1980 to the Philadelphia Phillies, lost in 1986 to the New York Mets, lost in 2004 to the Cardinals, and won in 2005 versus the Cardinals) and 2–1 in three ALCS appearances (winning in 2017 and 2019 against the New York Yankees and losing to the Boston Red Sox in 2018). The Astros are the only team in MLB to appear in the World Series as a member of both the National League (2005) and the American League (2017 and 2019); they have gone 1-2 overall across three World Series appearances, going 0-1 as a member of the National League (lost to the Chicago White Sox in 2005) and 1-1 as a member of the American League (defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2017 and lost to the Washington Nationals in 2019).
7. Game 1 of the 2015 World Series between the New York Mets and the Kansas City Royals was the longest game 1 in history at 5 hours and 9 minutes.
8. Yogi Berra of the New York Yankees holds the record for most World Series championships by a player with 10. Joe DiMaggio of the Yankees is second with 9.
9. Joe McCarthy and Casey Stengel are tied for the most World Series titles by a manager with 7 apiece, all 14 of them with the Yankees. Connie Mack managed the Philadelphia Athletics to 5 World Series crowns.
10. The all-time World Series single-game attendance record is 92,706, set in Game 5 of the 1959 World Series at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the temporary home of the Los Angeles Dodgers until Dodger Stadium opened in 1962. The Chicago White Sox defeated the Dodgers 1–0 in the record-setting game. Games 3 and 4 of that series also drew crowds in excess of 92,000.
11. Game 3 of the 2018 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers was the longest single game in series history at 7 hours and 20 minutes, which took longer than the entire 1939 World Series, with a cumulative duration of 7 hours and 5 minutes.[44]
12. Two divisions - the American League Central and the National League East - exclusively comprise teams that have won at least one World Series. In the AL Central, the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins, and Chicago White Sox have each won the World Series at least twice; the Twins are the only one to win a title under a different name, having won the 1924 title as the original Washington Senators, while only the White Sox and Royals have won as members of this division. All five current NL East members have won as members of this division: the Atlanta Braves have won 3 titles (in 1914 as the Boston Braves, 1957 as the Milwaukee Braves, and 1995 as Atlanta), the Philadelphia Phillies, Miami Marlins (as the Florida Marlins) and the New York Mets have each won twice, and the Washington Nationals have won one title.
13. The 2019 World Series was the first and only postseason Series in the history of the Major North American Professional Sports Leagues (MLB, NBA, NHL) in which the home team lost all seven games; No prior Series had featured the home team losing the first six games.
14. The 1982 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers and the 2005 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and the Houston Astros are the only two World Series matchups that cannot have a rematch under the current alignment, as the Cardinals and Brewers have both played in the National League since the Brewers switched over from the American League in 1998 and the White Sox and Astros have both played in the American League since the Astros switched over from the National League in 2013. For the same reason, these two World Series are the only ones that are capable of having a rematch in the postseason outside of the World Series; the Cardinals and Brewers have met once in the postseason since the Brewers switched leagues, in the 2011 National League Championship Series, which the Cardinals won 4 games to 2, while the White Sox and Astros have not yet met in the postseason since the Astros switched leagues.
15. The Philadelphia Phillies are the only team to play all five teams in a division in the World Series, against the current American League East: the Boston Red Sox in 1915, the New York Yankees in both 1950 and 2009, the Baltimore Orioles in 1983, the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993, and the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008. Before their 2008 victory against the Rays, the Phillies were 0–4 in the World Series against current American League East teams, and 1–0 against all other American League teams (beat the Kansas City Royals, then in the American League West, in 1980).