World Series | |
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League | Major League Baseball |
First played | 1903 |
Most recently played | 2023 |
Reigning champions | Texas Rangers (1) |
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 |
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Wild Card Series |
Division Series |
League Championship Series |
World Series |
Teams |
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It has traditionally been held in October, though some more recent editions were contested in November due to expanded playoffs and/or season delays. It has been contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff, and the winning team is awarded the Commissioner's Trophy.[1]
Prior to the AL and NL being split into divisions in 1969, the team with the best regular-season win–loss record in each league automatically clinched its league's pennant and advanced to the World Series, barring the rare 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 the WC team had a better record or wins the tie-breaking procedure).
The World Series has been contested 119 times through the 2023 season, with the AL team winning 68 times and the NL team 51. It is sometimes referred to as the Fall Classic, as it is played during the fall season in North America.[2]