Major League Baseball division winners explained

This is a list of division champions (since) and wild-card winners (since) in Major League Baseball.

Division champions

indicates the winner of the World Series.

Four-division alignment (1969–1993)

Year NL West
Atlanta
Cincinnati
San Francisco
Cincinnati
Cincinnati
Los Angeles
Cincinnati
Cincinnati
Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Cincinnati
Houston
1981MontrealLos Angeles
Atlanta
Los Angeles
San Diego
Los Angeles
Houston
San Francisco
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Cincinnati
Atlanta
Atlanta
Atlanta

† Due to the strike that took place in the middle of the 1981 season, Major League Baseball crowned both a "first half" (pre-strike) and "second half" (post-strike) division champion. The teams were then matched against each other in a special division series. Oakland and New York won the 1981 American League Division Series while Los Angeles and Montreal won the 1981 National League Division Series.[1]

Six-division alignment (1994–present)

Year NL West
Postseason canceled due to 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike
Los Angeles
San Diego
San Francisco
San Diego
Arizona
San Francisco
Arizona
Arizona
San Francisco
Los Angeles
San Diego
San Diego
Arizona
Los Angeles
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Arizona
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Los AngelesLos Angeles
TexasLos Angeles
ClevelandTexasWashingtonChicagoLos Angeles
Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Los Angeles

Wild card winners

indicates the winner of the World Series.

One Wild Card (1995–2011)

See also: Major League Baseball wild card.

Year NL
Postseason canceled
Colorado
Los Angeles
Florida
Chicago
New York
New York
St. Louis
San Francisco
Florida
Houston
Houston
Los Angeles
Colorado
Milwaukee
Colorado
Atlanta
St. Louis

Two Wild Cards (2012–2019, 2021)

Year AL Visitor NL Visitor
Baltimore St. Louis
Tampa Bay Pittsburgh Cincinnati
Kansas City San Francisco
Houston Chicago
Toronto San Francisco
New York Arizona Colorado
New York Colorado
Tampa Bay Washington Milwaukee
2020Format not used
Boston Los Angeles St. Louis
† For the 2020 season, the postseason consisted of eight teams per league; the top two teams in each division and two wild card teams from among the remaining teams.

Three Wild Cards (2022–present)

Year AL #2 AL #3 NL #2 NL #3
Philadelphia
Kansas City Detroit San Diego New York

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: MLB Division Series History (1981-2023) Baseball Almanac . 2024-05-07 . www.baseball-almanac.com . en-us.