Division Series
October belongs to Major League Baseball. Why? Because that is when the postseason begins for the top teams that make the playoffs. Until 1969, when there were no divisions, the team finishing with the best record in each league won that league's pennant and faced the other league's pennant winner in the Fall Classic.
In 1969, however, the sport experienced a major shift in its post-season process after both the American and National Leagues were reorganized into two divisions, the East and West. As a result, the winners in each division were now required to play each other in a best-of-five Championship Series to determine who would advance to represent their respective leagues in the coveted World Series.
In 1985, the format was changed to a best-of-seven contest where it has remained to this day. In 1993, baseball added a third division, the Central, to accommodate the introduction of expansion teams and realignment. Two years later, the Divisional Series premiered adding another elimination round to the playoffs. With so much on the line, it's no wonder that both the American League Division Series and National League Division Series have given birth to some of the most memorable moments ever to take place on a baseball diamond.
How does it work? According to the official definition taken from the Wikipedia Encyclopedia of Sports: The MLB Divisional Series consists of two, best-of-five series, featuring the three division winners and a wild-card team. Typically, the wild-card team plays the division leader with the best winning percentage in one series, and the other two division leaders play the other series. However, if the wild-card team and the division leader with the best record are from the same division, the wild-card team plays the next winningest division leader, and the remaining two division leaders play. In any event, the two series winners move on to the best-of-seven Championship Series to determine who will represent their league in the World Series.
|
