League Championship Series

The League Championship Series (LCS) is the semifinal round of postseason play in Major League Baseball which has been conducted since 1969. In 1981, and since 1995, the two annual series have matched up the winners of the Division Series, and the winners advance to meet in the World Series. The LCS comprises the American League Championship Series (ALCS) and National League Championship Series (NLCS).

NLCS 2008 Game 3 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies played at Dodger Stadium
For the eSports league, see League of Legends Championship Series.
Part of a series on the
Major League Baseball postseason
Wild Card
  • ALWCG
  • NLWCG
Division Series
League Championship Series
World Series
Teams

History

The League Championship Series was created in 1969, when both the National League and the American League increased in size from ten teams to twelve with the addition, via expansion, of the Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres to the former and the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots (now the Milwaukee Brewers of the NL) to the latter. Concomitant with this, both leagues formed Eastern and Western Divisions, the first-place teams from which faced off in the LCS.

For its first sixteen seasons, the League Championship Series were best-of-five, using the 2–3 format in which the team without home field advantage hosted the first two games and the team with it hosted the remaining game(s), making it impossible for the disadvantaged team to win the series at home. It also allowed those teams the unusual luxury of starting a series at home, possibly having home field advantage in a three-game series, and a guarantee that they play the maximum number of 2 games at home.

In 1985,[1][2] the LCS was lengthened to best-of-seven games in the 2–3–2 format with the team holding home-field advantage opening the series at home and playing the next three games on the road, before returning home for two more possible games. The disadvantaged team would have had more games played at home than on the road if the series ends in five games.

Since 1995, the LCS has matched up the winners of the Division Series, which were added when both leagues realigned into three divisions.

Until 1998, the home-field advantage in the LCS was allocated on a rotating basis between the two (and from 1995 through 1997, among the three) division champions; since 1998 the team with the better record has had this advantage, but the wild card team never secures the extra home game, regardless of regular season records.

As of 2020, all thirty MLB teams have reached the LCS at least once. The Houston Astros and Milwaukee Brewers are the only teams to have played in both the ALCS and NLCS.[3]

See also

References
  1. "Owners propose best-of-7 league playoffs". Times Daily. (Florence, Alabama). Associated Press. March 22, 1985. p. 4B.
  2. "League playoffs expand to seven games". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). staff and wire reports. April 4, 1985. p. C2.
  3. "Team Batting Game Finder:In the LCS Game 1, From 1903 to 2018, Team Won, sorted by most recent date". Baseball Reference. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
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