National League Division Series.html



For current information on this topic, see 2008 National League Division Series.

In Major League Baseball, the National League Division Series (NLDS) determine which two teams from the National League will advance to the National League Championship Series. The Division Series consist of two best-of-five series, featuring the three division winners and a wild-card team.

Background

The Division Series was permanently created after the 1993 season when Major League Baseball restructured each league into three divisions, but their first regular playing was in 1995 due to the cancellation of the 1994 playoffs. Previously, because of a players' strike in 1981, a split-season format forced a divisional playoff series, in which the Montreal Expos won the Eastern Division series over the Philadelphia Phillies three games to two while the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros three games to two in the Western Division. The team with the best overall record in the major leagues, the Cincinnati Reds, failed to win their division in either half of that season and were controversially excluded, as were the St. Louis Cardinals, who finished with the NL's second-best record. The Atlanta Braves have currently played in the most N.L. division series with eleven appearances. One team has yet to play in an N.L. division series, the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Washington Nationals also have only appeared as the Montreal Expos.

Format

Since 1998, the wild-card team has been assigned to play the division winner with the best winning percentage in one series, and the other two division winners meet in the other series. However, if the wild-card team and the division winner with the best record are from the same division, the wild-card team plays the division winner with the second-best record, and the remaining two division leaders play. In any event, the two series winners move on to the best-of-seven NLCS. The winner of the wild card has won the first round 7 out of the 11 years since the re-alignment and creation of the NLDS. According to Nate Silver, the advent of this playoff series, and especially of the wild card, has caused teams to focus more on "getting to the playoffs" rather than "winning the pennant" as the primary goal of the regular season.¹

Currently, the Division Series follows a 2-2-1 format. ² The higher seed plays at home in Games 1 and 2. The lower seed plays at home in Game 3 and Game 4 (if necessary). If a Game 5 is needed, the teams return to the higher seed's field.

Historically, MLB had also used a 2-3 format in a best-of-5 series, but no longer uses that format.^{3 4}

Frequent matchups

Since the NLDS' inception, five matchups have occurred more than once. The Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros have played five division series, the Braves winning the first three series and the Astros the last two. The San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals have played three series, all of which the Cardinals won, and the Cardinals have also played the Arizona Diamondbacks twice. The Florida Marlins have played the San Francisco Giants twice, and won both series, 3 games to 0 and 3 games to 1. The Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta Braves have also met twice in the NLDS, with the Braves winning in 1998 and the Cubs winning in 2003.

Most Valuable Player awards

There is currently no award for the Most Valuable Player of the Division Series.

NLDS results

See also

• Division Series
• Division Series#Criticism of scheduling
• Baseball
• National League pennant winners 1876-1900
• National League pennant winners 1901-68
• American League pennant winners 1901-68
• American League Division Series (ALDS)
• National League Championship Series (NLCS)
• American League Championship Series (ALCS)
• World Series

External links

• Baseball-Reference.com - annual playoffs
• MLB.com - MLB's Division Series historical reference - box scores, highlights, etc.

Notes

• 1996, 1997, & 2007 are the years in which the National League Division Series finished in sweeps in both series.