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Part of a series on the
Major League Baseball postseason
Wild Card Series
Division Series
League Championship Series
World Series
Teams
For other events named "World Series", see World Series (disambiguation).
Further information: List of World Series § The modern World Series
Further information: 2007 World Series

The World Series is the championship series of Major League Baseball and the culmination of the sport's postseason each October. Since the Series takes place in mid-autumn, sportswriters many years ago dubbed the event the "Fall Classic". The Boston Red Sox are the current (2007) World Series champions. The St.Louis Cardinals who were last years champions failed to qualify for the post-season in 2007, and the Boston Red Sox were crowned this year.

The World Series is played between the winners of the American League and National League, which currently includes 30 clubs based in certain U.S. and Canadian cities. The modern World Series has been an annual event since 1903, with the exceptions of 1904 and 1994. Baseball has employed various championship formulas since the 1860s. When the term "World Series" is used by itself, it is usually understood to refer to the "modern" World Series exclusively.

The World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff. Best-of-seven has been the format of all the modern World Series except in 1903, 1919, 1920 and 1921 when the winner was determined through a best-of-nine playoff. The Series winner is awarded the World Series Trophy, as well as individual World Series rings.

The New York Yankees have played in 39 of the 102 Series up to and including 2003 and have won 26 World Series championships, which is far more than any other Major League franchise. The St. Louis Cardinals have won ten championships, which is the second most all time and the most for any National League team.[1] The Cardinals also hold a 3 Series to 2 edge against the Yankees in Series play, the only one of the "classic eight" National League teams to lead the Yankees overall.

Overview

The first modern World Series was held between Boston of the American League and Pittsburgh of the National League in 1903. Boston won the series 5 games to 3, helping to establish the new league's credibility. However, the next year, the National League champion New York Giants refused to play the American League champions (Boston again) because of the alleged "inferiority" of the American League, along with the legitimate claim that there were no formal or standard rules for this championship (a factor which had helped kill the 1880s version of the Series). In response, the World Series was instituted in 1905 as a permanent institution, through which the leagues would "meet annually in a series of games for the Professional Base Ball Championship of the World."[2]

Until 1969, teams reached the Fall Classic merely by having the best records in their respective leagues. If two teams were tied for the best record at the end of the scheduled season, the winner of a head-to-head "pennant playoff" game between the two teams was declared winner of the "pennant" (league championship), and thus represented the league in the Series.

The reorganization of each league into two divisions for the 1969 season changed the road to the Series. The winners of the East and West divisions of each league would meet in a best-of-five (later best-of-seven) League Championship Series to determine the winner of the pennant. The split into two divisions was partially based on the premise that there were too many teams in the league to have one division ("you can't sell a twelfth place team"[citation needed]). It also ensured more "pennant races" to generate more regular-season attendance, along with more post-season revenue.

A further change occurred in 1994 with the expansion of the Major Leagues and the establishment of the Central Divisions. This created an odd number of teams in each league's playoff tournament, so a fourth playoff team was added. It was called the "wildcard", patterned after the National Football League's playoff system of including the best non-divisional winner (by win-loss record) in the playoffs. This created additional regular-season races as well as further augmenting post-season income. It also had the inevitable effect of playing the game's prime event in the latter part of October, with weather often much colder and harsher than in the early part of the month, especially in the Midwest and Northeast.

Under the current format, normally the division-winner with the highest winning percentage in the league faces the wildcard in the best-of-five first round, or Division Series, and the two remaining teams face each other in the first round. However, if both the wildcard qualifier and the best divisional win-loss record come from the same division (which has happened frequently), the wildcard instead plays the division winner with the second-best record in the first round while the remaining two teams face each other. The winners of the two Division Series play in the League Championship Series for the right to play in the World Series.

In case two teams tie for the fourth playoff spot in a league, a single-game "wild-card playoff" is required to determine the final qualifier.

Although the current structure was established in 1994, the players' strike canceled the post-season events that year. Playoffs with the current structure were first played in 1995.

Structure

Home-field advantage is determined by the results of the All-Star Game. By virtue of the American League winning the 2007 All-Star Game, it has home-field advantage in the 2007 World Series. The series follows what is called a 2-3-2 format with the first two and last two games being played in the stadium of the club with home-field advantage. The other three games are played in the opponent's stadium.

This All-Star Game determination of home-field was instituted in 2003, following significant criticism after the 2002 All-Star Game ended in a tie. In order to prevent a future repeat of that situation, Commissioner Bud Selig decided to give the All-Star Game a more competitive element by making its result tangibly meaningful. For subsequent events Major League Baseball adopted the slogan "This one counts". Prior to 2003, home-field advantage had alternated between the leagues from year to year. The American League held the home-field edge in 2002, the last year of the "alternating" approach, and has won every All-Star Game through the 2007 season. Thus the 2007 season marks the sixth consecutive year of American League home field advantage. (The National League, winless in the All-Star game since the 1997 season, has yet to take advantage of the current format.)

Since 1986, the designated hitter rule has been applied according to the rules normally in effect at the home ballpark. In an American League ballpark, both teams may use a designated hitter, a player who bats in place of one of the nine position players and does not play in the field himself. The DH almost always hits for the pitcher. In a National League ballpark, all nine position players must hit. From 1976 through 1985, the designated hitter was used for all games in even-numbered years and no games in odd-numbered years. The designated hitter was not used at all prior to the 1976 Series, although the DH rule had been adopted by the AL in 1973.

A portion of the gate receipts from the World Series — and, from 1969 onward, the other rounds of postseason play preceding it — is used to fund a Players' Pool, from which descending shares are distributed to the World Series winner, the World Series loser, all the other teams qualifying for the playoffs but not reaching the World Series, and certain other teams not qualifying for the playoffs. Prior to 1969, teams finishing in the first division, or top half of the leagues' standings, received such shares; today, only the teams finishing second in their divisions but not earning a wild card receive them. The shares for the actual participants are limited to the gate receipts of the minimum number of games (4) necessary to decide the series; that rule has been in place from the beginning, to keep the games "honest" by taking away any financial incentive for conspiring to extend the number of games.

The Series has run to eight games four times: 1903, 1912, 1921, and the ill-fated 1919 Series. The 1912 Series was best-of-seven but included one tie game; the other three were best-of-nine. (The other tie games in the modern Series were in 1907 and 1922, both of which ran for five games.)

International impact, and explanation of the term "World" Series

The title of this championship may be confusing to some readers from countries where baseball is not a major sport (or even where it is), because the "World" Series is confined to the champions of two baseball leagues that currently operate only in the United States and Canada.

The explanation is that when the term "World's Championship Series" was first used in the 1880s, baseball at a highly-skilled level was almost exclusively confined to North America, especially the United States. Thus it was understood that the winner of the major league championship was the best baseball team in the world. The title of this event was soon shortened to "World's Series" and later to "World Series".

The United States continued to be the only professional baseball country until some decades into the 20th Century. The first Japanese professional baseball efforts began in 1920. The current Japanese leagues date from the late 1940s. Various Latin American leagues also formed around that time.

By the 1990s, baseball was played at a highly skilled level in many countries, resulting in a strong international flavor to the Series, as many of the best players from the Pacific Rim, Latin America, the Caribbean, and elsewhere now play on Major League rosters. The notable exception is Cuban nationals, due to the political situation between the USA and Cuba (despite that barrier, over the years a number of Cuba's finest ballplayers have defected to the United States to play in the American professional leagues). Players from the Japanese Leagues also have a more difficult time coming to the Major Leagues because they must first play 10 years in Japan before becoming free agents. Reaching the high-income Major Leagues tends to be the goal of many of the best players around the world.

Early in 2006, Major League Baseball conducted the inaugural World Baseball Classic, to establish a "true" world's championship in the way the term is normally used for other international sports. Teams of professional players from 16 nations participated, and Japan won the first World Baseball Classic championship. Olympic baseball was instituted as a medal sport in 1992, but in 2005 the International Olympic Committee voted to eliminate baseball, and it will be off the Olympic program in 2012.

The World Series itself retains a US-oriented atmosphere. The title of the event is often presented on television as merely a "brand name" in the same sense as the "Super Bowl", and thus the term "World Series Championship" is sometimes used. However, the origin of the term lives on, as with these words of Frank Thomas in the Chicago White Sox victory celebration in 2005: "We're world's champions, baby!" At the close of the 2006 Series, Commissioner Bud Selig pronounced the St. Louis Cardinals "champions of the world". Likewise, the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine for November 6, 2006, features Series MVP David Eckstein and is subtitled "World Champions".

A recent myth has arisen that the "World" in "World Series" came about because the New York World newspaper sponsored it. There is no evidence at all supporting that hypothesis.[3]The annual publication called the World Almanac was originally published by the New York World. Its ambiguous title and U.S.-centric content may have inspired the World Series myth, either facetiously or naively.

Humorist Ring Lardner, when writing columns about ongoing World Series in the 1910s (including the infamous 1919 Series) mocked the pomp surrounding the games he covered (as well as his own persona) by calling the event the "World's Serious".

Other uses of "World Series"

The term World Series has been appropriated by other championships, such as the College World Series, the Little League World Series, the World Series of Golf, the World Series of Poker, the World Series of Birding and the World Series of Martial Arts. World Series Cricket was a short-lived but influential cricket competition. Additionally, the World Series of Darts & World Series of Blackjack made their debuts in 2006.

Champions prior to and precursors to the modern World Series (1857-1902)

Further information: List of World Series § The original World Series

The original World Series

Until the formation of the American Association in 1882 as a second major league, the National Association and then the National League represented the top level of organized baseball in the United States. All championships went to whoever had the best record at the end of the season, without a postseason series being played. In 1882 and 1883, the champions of the American Association and National League played a series of exhibition games at the end of the season, but the winner of the series was not recognized as the champion of both leagues. Starting in 1884 and going through 1891, the National League and the American Association played an official series of games at the end of the season to determine an overall champion.

Although these series were promoted and referred to as the "The Championship of the United States",[4] "World's Championship Series", or "World's Series" for short, they are not officially recognized as part of World Series history by Major League Baseball.[5] Major League Baseball, in general, regards 19th century events as a prologue to the Modern Era of baseball, which is defined by the two current major leagues.

It is worth pointing out, however, that until about the 1960s, the 19th Century Series were often considered to have equal merit with the modern Series, particularly in encyclopedias such as Ernest Lanigan's Baseball Cyclopedia from 1922, and Turkin and Thompson's Encyclopedia of Baseball series throughout the 1950s. The Sporting News Record Book, by contrast, which began publishing in the 1930s, only listed the modern Series, although the TSN record books then and now do include regular-season achievements for all the 19th Century leagues.

1892–1900: "The Monopoly Years"

Further information: List of World Series § 1892-1900: "The Monopoly Years"

Following the collapse of the American Association after the 1891 season, four of its clubs were admitted to the National League. The league championship was awarded in 1892 by a playoff between half-season champions. This scheme was abandoned after one season. 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, 1894-97, the league champions played the runners-up in the post season championship series called the Temple Cup. A second attempt at this format was the Chronicle-Telegraph Cup series, which was played only once, in 1900.

In 1901 the American League was formed as a second major league. No championship series would be played in 1901 or 1902 as the National and American Leagues fought each other for business supremacy.

The modern World Series (1903-present)

File:1903 world series crowd.jpg
Crowd outside Huntington Avenue Grounds before a game during the 1903 World Series


The first attempt

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 Red Sox) of the AL; that one is known as the 1903 World Series. It had been arranged well in advance by the two owners, as both teams were league leaders by large margins. Boston upset Pittsburgh by 5 games to 3, 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 on the field.

The boycott of 1904

The 1904 Series would have been between the AL's Boston Americans (later called Red Sox) and the NL's New York Giants. The Giants' owner, John T. Brush, refused to allow his team to play, 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 (formerly known as the Baltimore Orioles and also already being called the 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 1904/05, 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 would be 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's Series matches would be operated strictly by the National Commission itself, not by the participating clubs.

The list of post-season rules evolved over time. In 1925, Brooklyn owner Charles Ebbets convinced 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.

1919: The fix

Main article: Black Sox Scandal

Gambling and game-fixing had been a problem in 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 the Chicago White Sox 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. 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. 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 "lively ball" era, marked a point in time of change of the fortunes of a number of teams. Today's two most prolific winners, the Yankees and the Cardinals, did not win their first championship until the 1920s; and three of the teams that were highly successful prior to 1920 (the Red Sox, White Sox and 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 are still waiting for their next trophy.

The 1989 earthquake

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 p.m. 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 (magnitude 6.9 with an epicenter ten miles (16 km) northeast of Santa Cruz, CA). The earthquake caused a great deal of destruction in the Bay Area and killed 62 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. Commissioner Fay Vincent ordered the game to be postponed approximately 30 minutes after the earthquake, and fans, workers, and the teams evacuated a blacked out Candlestick. Game 3 was finally played on October 27, and Oakland won that day and the next to complete a four-game sweep.

The 1994 strike

Main article: 1994 Major League Baseball strike

After the boycott of 1904, the World Series was played faithfully every year despite World War I, the Great Depression of the 1930s, America's involvement in World War II, and even an earthquake in the host city of the 1989 World Series. However, it would not be played in 1994 because of money.

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 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 the commissioner, responsible for insuring the integrity and protecting the welfare of the game, was an interested party rather than a neutral arbiter, and baseball headed into the 1994 work stoppage without an independent commissioner for the first time since the office was founded in 1920.

The previous collective bargaining agreement expired on Dec. 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 Sept. 14. The World Series would not be played for the first time in 90 years.

The labor dispute would last 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 ruled that the owners had engaged in unfair labor practices. The season started on April 25 and the 1995 World Series would be played as scheduled, with Atlanta beating Cleveland four games to two.

World Series appearances (modern) by franchise

Further information: List of World Series § World Series (modern) appearances by franchise

"Feast and famine" (frequent success / frequent failure)

  • Since their first championship in 1923, the New York Yankees have won at least one World Series title in every decade except in the 1980s, and two or more championships in seven different decades - the 1920s, '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s, and the '90s. Additionally, they have won at least one pennant in every decade since the 1920's.
  • The New York Giants' four consecutive World Series appearances from 1921 to 1924 are the most for any non-Yankees franchise.
  • The Oakland Athletics' three consecutive World Series victories from 1972 to 1974 are the most for any non-New York franchise.
  • The New York Yankees hold the record for most consecutive World Series titles with five (1949-1953). The Yankees are also in second place for that record, with four (1936-1939).
  • The 1907-1909 Detroit Tigers and the 1911-1913 New York Giants are the only teams to lose three consecutive World Series.
  • Teams from New York (Yankees, New York Giants, Mets, and Brooklyn Dodgers) have accounted for 65 World Series appearances, or 32%, including thirteen all-New York Series. They have won 34 Series, or about 1/3. If the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants are included, these franchises account for 76 appearances (38%) and 39 wins (38.6%).
  • The St Louis Cardinals lead the National League with ten World Series titles in seventeen appearances: 1926, 1931, 1934, 1942, 1944, 1946, 1964, 1967, 1982 and 2006.
  • The Braves have appeared in the World Series representing the most cities: two for Boston (1914, 1948), two representing Milwaukee (1957, 1958) and five for the city of Atlanta (1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1999). They've brought home one victory from each of the three cities.
  • The Chicago Cubs hold the record for the longest World Series drought (still active heading into 2008), with their last title coming in 1908 (99 years).
  • The American League has won 60 of the 102 World Series played (60-42, 58.8%). Of that number, the New York Yankees, have won 26, 25.5% of all wins or 43.3% of all American League wins. The St. Louis Cardinals have won 10, 9.8% of all wins or 23.8% of all National League wins.
  • The 1907-1908 Cubs, 1921-1922 Giants and 1975-1976 Reds are the only National League teams to win back-to-back World Series.
  • The 1915-1916 Red Sox and 1992-1993 Blue Jays are the only other American League teams besides the Yankees and the A's to win two straight World Series (The Philadelphia A's won 1910-1911 and 1929-1930, the Oakland A's won 1972-1974).
  • From 1949 to 1956, every Series game was won by a team from New York City.
  • From 1949 to 1966, every Series involved the Yankees, Dodgers and/or Giants.
  • From 1978 to 1987, no franchise won the World Series twice, the longest such streak. The second longest streak extends from 1982 to 1990, and the current streak of seven straight (2000 to 2006) is the third longest such streak. The current streak will end if the Boston Red Sox defeat the Colorado Rockies in this year's World Series, as the Red Sox also won the 2004 World Series.
  • Since the institution of the Division Series in 1995, only two teams have won the World Series more than once: the New York Yankees (1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000) and the Florida Marlins (1997, 2003).
  • As of 2006, the team with the better regular season winning percentage has won the World Series 50 times, or 49.0% (50 of 102) of the time. The longest such streak was from 1936 to 1942 (7 years). 1958 and 1949 are included in the percentage, but both of those teams had the same exact record.
  • In the last fifteen World Series match-ups, nine teams with a lower winning percentage than their opponent have emerged as champions. This is currently the highest percentage of any stretch of 15 World Series.
  • The 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks were the fastest expansion franchise ever to win both a pennant and a World Series (4th season), after being founded in 1998. Second fastest were the 1997 Florida Marlins, after being founded in 1993 (5th season).
  • While the New York Mets were the first expansion team to win or appear in the World Series, 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. They 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.
  • As of 2007, no two expansion teams have met in the World Series, although ten of them (the Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Florida Marlins, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets, San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays) have made it there. Expansion teams are 9-7 in the World Series, with three teams (the Mets, Blue Jays and Marlins) winning more than one.
  • The Marlins and the Blue Jays are the only teams with more than one World Series title to have never lost a World Series. Each have two. The Marlins have never even lost a post-season series.
  • The Marlins are the only World Series-winning team that has never won a Division title. While the Angels won their only World Series appearance on a Wild Card berth, they have also won six Division titles in their history.
  • Every non-expansion team has won at least one World Series title. The last to do it were the Philadelphia Phillies, who finally won a title in 1980.
  • The last American League non-expansion team to win their first World Series was the Baltimore Orioles, winning in 1966.
  • The Orioles were also the last non-expansion team in the majors to make their first World Series appearance, as the St. Louis Browns in 1944. They have won three World Series, in six appearances, since moving to Baltimore. The last National League non-expansion team to make their World Series debut were the St. Louis Cardinals in 1926.
  • As of 2006, 22 of the 25 teams to play in the World Series have won it at least once. The Astros, Brewers and Padres are the exceptions.
  • As of 2007, only four teams (all of them expansion) haven't won a pennant: the Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Texas Rangers and Washington Nationals.
  • The Toronto Blue Jays are the only team outside of the U.S. (the Blue Jays are from Toronto, Ontario, Canada) to ever win a World Series, doing so twice, in 1992 and 1993. The other team, the Montreal Expos, from Montreal, Quebec, Canada (now the Washington Nationals) - won one division title (1981), but never won a pennant.
  • Including their existence as the "second" Washington Senators, beginning in 1961, the Texas Rangers are the oldest franchise never to have won a pennant or a World Series. Their neighbors, the Houston Astros (established in 1962 as the Colt .45's), are the second-oldest franchise--and oldest in the National League--to have never won a World Series. The Washington Nationals (established in 1969 as the Montreal Expos) are the third oldest franchise--and second-oldest in the National League--to have never won a pennant. The Seattle Mariners (established in 1977) are the second-oldest American League franchise to have never won a pennant or a World Series. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are the only team to have no playoff experience at all.
  • The home team has won the last eight World Series Game 7's (the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals, 1985 Kansas City Royals, 1986 New York Mets, 1987 and 1991 Minnesota Twins, 1997 Florida Marlins, 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, and 2002 Anaheim Angels). The 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates are the last team to win a World Series Game 7 on the road.
  • The National League champion has not held home field advantage in the World Series since Arizona in 2001, due to the American League's dominance in the All-Star game (whose outcome since 2003 has determined home field advantage). The National League last won the All-Star Game in 1996, and as such has yet to take advantage of the current format.
  • 2007 marks the sixth consecutive World Series to feature at least one wild card participant: the 2002 Anaheim Angels and San Francisco Giants, 2003 Florida Marlins, 2004 Boston Red Sox, 2005 Houston Astros, 2006 Detroit Tigers, and the 2007 Colorado Rockies.

The World Series in fiction

  • The movie Fever Pitch takes place during the 2004 baseball season ends with the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series.
  • In the movie Back to the Future Part II, a fictional Major League Baseball team, the Miami Gators, loses the 2015 World Series to the Chicago Cubs in a four-game sweep. Protagonist Marty McFly expresses surprise, not being aware of the future existence of a Miami major league team. In 2003, this prediction of a postseason result almost came true, as the Cubs did fall just short of beating Miami-based (Florida Marlins), though in the NLCS. This sparked an urban legend that the movie almost got it exactly right (except of course, the part about the LCS and the Marlin mascot), and some movie followers since then were astounded that MLB would not grant a team to South Florida until 1991 but the movie came out in 1989. But other professional sports leagues began expanding into Florida in the late 1980s, making the "Miami Gators" a plausible projection by the filmmakers.
  • In SeaQuest DSV, a television show set in the mid-21st Century that ran from 1993 to 1996, the character Lucas Wolenczak often wears a Florida Marlins jersey that labels them the "2010 World Series" champs. When the show began production, the Marlins had just begun their first season of play. The Marlins later won championships in 1997 and 2003.
  • In the film A Bronx Tale, the coming of age of the young boy in 1960's New York City centers around his admiration of the New York Yankees until their mythical perfection is destroyed in the 1960 World Series by the Pittsburgh Pirates dramatic come-back victory. Bill Mazeroski's famous series-ending home run is mentioned in the film.
  • In the science fiction television program Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a future Major League Baseball team, the London Kings, won the 2042 World Series, which the show claims was the last World Series before Major League Baseball disbanded. Only 300 spectators showed up to watch the final game. It is possible that the death of baseball in that continuity was contributed to by war, as 2042 is during the timeframe of World War III in Star Trek's timeline (2026-2053).
  • In another Star Trek series, Star Trek: Voyager, it is revealed that the 2032 World Series is won by the New York Yankees in six games.
  • In the science fiction television program Space: 1999, episode "Journey to Where," it is stated that the Boston Red Sox won the World Series of 1998 by 4 games to 3 over the St. Louis Cardinals, and that this would be the last time the Red Sox won the World Series before all competitive sports were banned in 2026. Interestingly, the closest actual Red Sox World Series appearance to 1998 was their victory over the St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 0, in 2004.
  • In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, the character Meyer Wolfsheim was supposedly behind the fixing of the 1919 World Series.
  • In the television series Lost, the stranded airplane crash survivor Jack is shown video of the Boston Red Sox winning the 2004 World Series to prove that citizens of the remote fictional island are in contact with the outside world. Due to the Red Sox's history of futility, Jack does not initially believe the video to be authentic.
  • In the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Jack Nicholson's character, McMurphy, performs an improvised version of a World Series radio broadcast for his fellow mental patients, after Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) has refused to let them watch the series on television.
  • In the film Taking Care of Business, Jim Belushi's character breaks out of prison to attend a Chicago Cubs-California Angels World Series game, the tickets to which he won on a radio contest while in prison. During the game, he catches a Mark Grace home run (off of Bert Blyleven) and is seen on television. Hilarity ensues. Eventually, they hear on the radio that the Cubs won the World Series.
  • Baseball has been a theme of many films, with a subgenre of films centering around teams trying to make the World Series. Examples of films in this subgenre include both versions of Angels in the Outfield as well as Little Big League, Major League, The Natural, and Rookie of the Year. However, non-fictional films that deal with the World Series itself are quite rare. One of the few feature films to dramatize a World Series is the non-fiction Eight Men Out, which tells the story of the 1919 World Series and the Black Sox scandal.
  • The Houston Astros have been featured in two fictional movies centered around them reaching the World Series: one is titled Murder at the World Series, in which they win it; and another is called Night Game.
  • In the Joe E. Brown movie Elmer the Great, Brown's character, Elmer Kane (a left-handed hitting infielder), is a "crossroads apple-knocker" (country bumpkin) who makes good in the pennant race despite himself. He plays for the Cubs, against the Yankees--in a seven-game series (The Yankees swept the Cubs in four both times they met in the Series). The Yankees' battery (pitcher and catcher) conspire to strike Kane out by pretending to pitch (which would be against the rules in real life). After foiling this plot, Kane connects and slides home--on a field made muddy by rain--winning the game with an inside-the-park grand slam.

See also

References

  1. ^ List of World Series
  2. ^ Business of Baseball - 1905 World Series Regulations, accessed October 23, 2006
  3. ^ Origin of the Name "World Series", Doug Pappas, originally published in the Fall 2001 issue of Outside the Lines, the SABR Business of Baseball Committee newsletter, accessed 23 October, 2006
  4. ^ "World Series: A Comprehensive History of the World Series". Baseball Almanac. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessdaymonth= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ World Series Summary, Major League Baseball website, accessed 24 October, 2006

Source books

  • Ernest Lanigan, Baseball Cyclopedia, 1922, originally published by Baseball Magazine, available as a reprint from McFarland.
  • Lamont Buchanan, The World Series and Highlights of Baseball, 1951, E. P. Dutton & Company.
  • Richard M. Cohen, David Neft, Roland T. Johnson, Jordan A. Deutsch, The World Series, 1976, Dial Press. Contains play-by-play accounts of all World Series from 1903 onward.
  • The New York Times, The Complete Book of Baseball: A Scrapbook History, 1980, Bobbs_Merrill.
  • Sporting News, Baseball Record Book and Baseball Guide, published annually since ca. 1941.
  • Jerry Lansch, Glory Fades Away: The Nineteenth Century World Series Rediscovered, 1991, Taylor Publishing. ISBN 0-87833-726-1

Other sources

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