National League Division Series facts for kids

In Major League Baseball, the National League Division Series (NLDS) determines which two teams from the National League will advance to the National League Championship Series. The Division Series consists of two best-of-five series, featuring each of the two division winners with the best records and the winners of the wild-card play-offs.

History

The Division Series was implemented in 1981 as a one-off tournament because of a midseason strike, with the first place teams before the strike taking on the teams in first place after the strike. In 1981, a split-season format forced the first ever divisional playoff series, in which the Montreal Expos won the Eastern Division series over the Philadelphia Phillies in five games while in the Western Division, the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Houston Astros, also in five games (the Astros were members of the National League until 2012).

In 1994, it was returned permanently when Major League Baseball (MLB) restructured each league into three divisions, but with a different format than in 1981. Each of the division winners, along with one wild card team, qualify for the Division Series. Despite being planned for the 1994 season, the post-season was cancelled that year due to the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike. In 1995, the first season to feature a division series, the Eastern Division champion Atlanta Braves defeated the wild card Colorado Rockies three games to one, while the Central Division champion Cincinnati Reds defeated the Western Division champion Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-game sweep.

From 1994 to 2011, the wild card was given to the team in the National League with the best overall record that was not a division champion. Beginning with the 2012 season, a second wild card team was added, and the two wild card teams play a single-game playoff to determine which team would play in the NLDS. For the 2020 Major League Baseball season only, there was an expanded playoff format, owing to an abbreviated 60-game regular season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eight teams qualified from the National League: the top two teams in each division plus the next two best records among the remaining teams. These eight teams played a best-of-three-game series to determine placement in the NLDS. The regular format returned for the 2021 season.

As of 2021, the Atlanta Braves have currently played in the most NL division series with seventeen appearances. The St. Louis Cardinals have currently won the most NL division series, winning eleven of the fourteen series in which they have played. The Pittsburgh Pirates (who finished with a losing record from 1993 to 2012) were the last team to make their first appearance in the NL division series, making their debut in 2013 after winning the 2013 National League Wild Card Game. In 2008, the Milwaukee Brewers became the first team to play in division series in both leagues when they won the National League wild card, their first postseason berth since winning the American League East Division title in 1982 before switching leagues in 1998. Milwaukee had competed in an American League Division Series in the strike-shortened 1981 season.

Format

The NLDS is a best-of-five series where the divisional winner with the best winning percentage in the regular season hosts the winner of the Wild Card Series between the top two wild card teams in one matchup, and the divisional winner with the second best winning percentage hosts the winner of the other Wild Card Series between the lowest-seeded divisional winner and the lowest-seeded wild card team. (From 2012 to 2021, the wild card team was assigned to play the divisional winner with the best winning percentage in the regular season in one series, and the other two division winners met in the other series. From 1998 to 2011, if the wild-card team and the division winner with the best record were from the same division, the wild-card team played the division winner with the second-best record, and the remaining two division leaders played each other.) The two series winners move on to the best-of-seven NLCS. 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.

From 2012 to 2021, the wild card team that advances to the Division Series was to face the number 1 seed, regardless whether or not they are in the same division. The two series winners move on to the best-of-seven NLCS. Beginning with the 2022 season, the winner between the lowest-ranked division winner and lowest-ranked wild card team faces the #2 seed division winner in the Division Series, while the 4 v. 5 wild card winner faces the #1 seed, as there is no reseeding even if the 6 seed wild card advances. Home-field advantage goes to the team with the better regular season record (or head-to-head record if there is a tie between two or more teams), except for the wild-card team, which never receives the home-field advantage.

Beginning in 2003, MLB has implemented a new rule to give the team with the best regular season record from the league that wins the All-Star Game a slightly greater advantage. In order to spread out the Division Series games for broadcast purposes, the two NLDS series follow one of two off-day schedules. Starting in 2007, after consulting the MLBPA, MLB has decided to allow the team with the best record in the league that wins the All-Star Game to choose whether to use the seven-day schedule (1-2-off-3-4-off-5) or the eight-day schedule (1-off-2-off-3-4-off-5). The team only gets to choose the schedule; the opponent is still determined by win–loss records.

Initially, the best-of-5 series played in a 2–3 format, with the first two games set at home for the lower seed team and the last three for the higher seed. Since 1998, the series has followed a 2–2–1 format, where the higher seed team plays at home in Games 1 and 2, the lower seed plays at home in Game 3 and Game 4 (if necessary), and if a Game 5 is needed, the teams return to the higher seed's field. When MLB added a second wild card team in 2012, the Division Series re-adopted the 2–3 format due to scheduling conflicts. However, it reverted to the 2–2–1 format starting the next season, 2013.

Results

Key

	Wild card

Year	Winning team	Manager	Games	Losing team	Manager
1981	Montreal Expos	Fanning, JimJim Fanning	3–2	Philadelphia Phillies	Green, DallasDallas Green
	Los Angeles Dodgers	Lasorda, TommyTommy Lasorda	3–2	Houston Astros	Virdon, BillBill Virdon
1994	No Series due to a players' strike.
1995	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	3–1	Colorado Rockies	Baylor, DonDon Baylor
	Cincinnati Reds	Johnson, DaveyDavey Johnson	3–0	Los Angeles Dodgers	Lasorda, TommyTommy Lasorda
1996	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	3–0	Los Angeles Dodgers	Russell, BillBill Russell
	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	3–0	San Diego Padres	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy
1997	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	3–0	Houston Astros	Dierker, LarryLarry Dierker
	Florida Marlins	Leyland, JimJim Leyland	3–0	San Francisco Giants	Baker, DustyDusty Baker
1998	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	3–0	Chicago Cubs	Riggleman, JimJim Riggleman
	San Diego Padres	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy	3–1	Houston Astros	Dierker, LarryLarry Dierker
1999	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	3–1	Houston Astros	Dierker, LarryLarry Dierker
	New York Mets	Valentine, BobbyBobby Valentine	3–1	Arizona Diamondbacks	Showalter, BuckBuck Showalter
2000	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	3–0	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox
	New York Mets	Valentine, BobbyBobby Valentine	3–1	San Francisco Giants	Baker, DustyDusty Baker
2001	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	3–0	Houston Astros	Dierker, LarryLarry Dierker
	Arizona Diamondbacks	Brenly, BobBob Brenly	3–2	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa
2002	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	3–0	Arizona Diamondbacks	Brenly, BobBob Brenly
	San Francisco Giants	Baker, DustyDusty Baker	3–2	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox
2003	Chicago Cubs	Baker, DustyDusty Baker	3–2	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox
	Florida Marlins	McKeon, JackJack McKeon	3–1	San Francisco Giants	Alou, FelipeFelipe Alou
2004	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	3–1	Los Angeles Dodgers	Tracy, JimJim Tracy
	Houston Astros	Garner, PhilPhil Garner	3–2	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox
2005	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	3–0	San Diego Padres	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy
	Houston Astros	Garner, PhilPhil Garner	3–1	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox
2006	New York Mets	Randolph, WillieWillie Randolph	3–0	Los Angeles Dodgers	Tracy, JimJim Tracy
	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	3–1	San Diego Padres	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy
2007	Colorado Rockies	Hurdle, ClintClint Hurdle	3–0	Philadelphia Phillies	Manuel, CharlieCharlie Manuel
	Arizona Diamondbacks	Melvin, BobBob Melvin	3–0	Chicago Cubs	Piniella, LouLou Piniella
2008	Los Angeles Dodgers	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	3–0	Chicago Cubs	Piniella, LouLou Piniella
	Philadelphia Phillies	Manuel, CharlieCharlie Manuel	3–1	Milwaukee Brewers	Sveum, DaleDale Sveum
2009	Los Angeles Dodgers	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	3–0	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa
	Philadelphia Phillies	Manuel, CharlieCharlie Manuel	3–1	Colorado Rockies	Tracy, JimJim Tracy
2010	Philadelphia Phillies	Manuel, CharlieCharlie Manuel	3–0	Cincinnati Reds	Baker, DustyDusty Baker
	San Francisco Giants	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy	3–1	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox
2011	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	3–2	Philadelphia Phillies	Manuel, CharlieCharlie Manuel
	Milwaukee Brewers	Roenicke, RonRon Roenicke	3–2	Arizona Diamondbacks	Gibson, KirkKirk Gibson
2012	San Francisco Giants	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy	3–2	Cincinnati Reds	Baker, DustyDusty Baker
	St. Louis Cardinals	Matheny, MikeMike Matheny	3–2	Washington Nationals	Johnson, DaveyDavey Johnson
2013	St. Louis Cardinals	Matheny, MikeMike Matheny	3–2	Pittsburgh Pirates	Hurdle, ClintClint Hurdle
	Los Angeles Dodgers	Mattingly, DonDon Mattingly	3–1	Atlanta Braves	González, FrediFredi González
2014	St. Louis Cardinals	Matheny, MikeMike Matheny	3–1	Los Angeles Dodgers	Mattingly, DonDon Mattingly
	San Francisco Giants	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy	3–1	Washington Nationals	Williams, MattMatt Williams
2015	New York Mets	Collins, TerryTerry Collins	3–2	Los Angeles Dodgers	Mattingly, DonDon Mattingly
	Chicago Cubs	Maddon, JoeJoe Maddon	3–1	St. Louis Cardinals	Matheny, MikeMike Matheny
2016	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts	3–2	Washington Nationals	Baker, DustyDusty Baker
	Chicago Cubs	Maddon, JoeJoe Maddon	3–1	San Francisco Giants	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy
2017	Chicago Cubs	Maddon, JoeJoe Maddon	3–2	Washington Nationals	Baker, DustyDusty Baker
	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts	3–0	Arizona Diamondbacks	Lovullo, ToreyTorey Lovullo
2018	Milwaukee Brewers	Counsell, CraigCraig Counsell	3–0	Colorado Rockies	Black, BudBud Black
	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts	3–1	Atlanta Braves	Snitker, BrianBrian Snitker
2019	Washington Nationals	Martinez, DaveDave Martinez	3–2	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts
	St. Louis Cardinals	Shildt, MikeMike Shildt	3–2	Atlanta Braves	Snitker, BrianBrian Snitker
2020	Atlanta Braves	Snitker, BrianBrian Snitker	3–0	Miami Marlins	Mattingly, DonDon Mattingly
	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts	3–0	San Diego Padres	Tingler, JayceJayce Tingler
2021	Atlanta Braves	Snitker, BrianBrian Snitker	3–1	Milwaukee Brewers	Counsell, CraigCraig Counsell
	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts	3–2	San Francisco Giants	Kapler, GabeGabe Kapler
2022	San Diego Padres	Melvin, BobBob Melvin	3–1	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts
	Philadelphia Phillies	Thomson, RobRob Thomson	3–1	Atlanta Braves	Snitker, BrianBrian Snitker
2023	Philadelphia Phillies	Thomson, RobRob Thomson	3–1	Atlanta Braves	Snitker, BrianBrian Snitker
	Arizona Diamondbacks	Lovullo, ToreyTorey Lovullo	3–0	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts

Appearances by team

Years of appearance

In the sortable table below, teams are ordered first by number of wins, then by number of appearances, and finally by year of first appearance. In the "Season(s)" column, bold years indicate winning appearances.

Frequent matchups

NOTE: With the Houston Astros move to the American League at the conclusion of the 2012 season, the Braves vs. Astros series is not currently possible.

See also