Back World Series (bofbal) Afrikaans نهائيات كأس العالم (كرة القاعدة) Arabic Serie Mundial AST Sèries Mundials de beisbol Catalan Světová série Czech Baseball playoffs Danish World Series German Παγκόσμια Σειρά (μπέιζμπολ) Greek Monda Serio (basbalo) Esperanto Serie Mundial Spanish
| World Series | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| League | Major League Baseball |
| First played | 1903 |
| Most recently played | 2024 |
| Most recent champions | Los Angeles Dodgers (8th) |
| Most titles | New York Yankees (27) |
| Sponsor | YouTube TV (2017–2019) Capital One (2022–present) |
| Part of a series on the |
| Major League Baseball postseason |
|---|
| Wild Card Series |
| Division Series |
| League Championship Series |
| World Series |
| Teams |
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best-of-seven playoff, is awarded the Commissioner's Trophy.[1]
The series is traditionally played in October, although before expansion of the regular-season schedule from 154 to 162 games the event occasionally started in late September (most recently in 1955) and the entire 1918 series took place early in that month due to the World War I "Work or Fight" order forcing an early end to that year's regular season,[2] while some more recent editions have been played into November due to in-season delays and expansion of earlier postseason rounds. Because the series is played in the fall or autumn season in North America, it is often referred to as the Fall Classic.[3]
Before the AL and NL were split into divisions in 1969, the team with the best regular-season win–loss record in each league won its pennant and advanced to the World Series, barring a tie necessitating a pennant playoff. Since then each league has conducted a League Championship Series (ALCS and NLCS) preceding the World Series to determine which teams will advance, while those series have been preceded in turn by Division Series (ALDS and NLDS) since 1995, and Wild Card games or series in each league since 2012. Until 2002, home-field advantage in the World Series alternated from year to year between the AL and NL. From 2003 to 2016, home-field advantage was given to the league that won that year's All-Star Game. Starting in 2017, home-field advantage was awarded to the league champion team with the better regular-season win–loss record, regardless of that team's seeding in earlier playoff rounds (i.e. a Wild Card team in one league will have home-field advantage over a division winner in the other league if it had a better record or wins the tie-breaking procedure).
The World Series has been contested 120 times through the 2024 season, with the AL team winning 68 times and the NL team 52.
- ^ "World Series trophy profile". New York: MLB Advanced Media. October 27, 2015. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
- ^ "Cutting Down Baseball Season Favors Present Club Leaders for Final Honors". Star-Gazette. Elmira, New York. August 5, 1918. p. 8. Retrieved October 8, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Enders, Eric (2007). The Fall Classic: The Definitive History of the World Series. Sterling Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1-4027-4770-0., et al.