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.

History

The Division Series was implemented in 1981 as a result of a midseason strike with first place teams before the strike taking on the first place teams after. After 1993, it was implemented for good when Major League Baseball restructured each league into three divisions, but their next 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 NL division series with eleven appearances. One team has yet to play in an NL 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. 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]}

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

Frequent matchups

Count	Matchup	Record	Years
5	Atlanta Braves vs. Houston Astros	Braves, 3-2	1997, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005
3	San Diego Padres vs. St. Louis Cardinals	Cardinals, 3-0	1996, 2005, 2006
2	St. Louis Cardinals vs. Arizona Diamondbacks	Tied, 1-1	2001, 2002
2	Florida Marlins vs. San Francisco Giants	Marlins, 2-0	1997, 2003
2	Chicago Cubs vs. Atlanta Braves	Tied, 1-1	1998, 2003
2	St. Louis Cardinals vs. Los Angeles Dodgers	Tied, 1-1	2004, 2009
2	Philadelphia Phillies vs. Colorado Rockies	Tied, 1-1	2007, 2009
2	San Francisco Giants vs. Atlanta Braves	Giants, 2-0	2002, 2010

NLDS results

• Team names link to the season in which each team played

Year	Winner	Loser	Wins	Losses	Notes
1981	Montreal Expos	Philadelphia Phillies	3	2	Specially-formed series due to split-season format. Included first post-season games in Canada
	Los Angeles Dodgers	Houston Astros	3	2
1994	Not held due to player strike.
1995	Atlanta Braves	Colorado Rockies†	3	1
	Cincinnati Reds	Los Angeles Dodgers	3	0
1996	Atlanta Braves	Los Angeles Dodgers†	3	0
	St. Louis Cardinals	San Diego Padres	3	0
1997	Atlanta Braves	Houston Astros	3	0
	Florida Marlins†	San Francisco Giants	3	0
1998	Atlanta Braves	Chicago Cubs†	3	0
	San Diego Padres	Houston Astros	3	1
1999	Atlanta Braves	Houston Astros	3	1	Series included last two games played at Astrodome
	New York Mets†	Arizona Diamondbacks	3	1	Todd Pratt hit a home run in the 10th inning of Game 4 to win series for Mets
2000	St. Louis Cardinals	Atlanta Braves	3	0
	New York Mets†	San Francisco Giants	3	1	Bobby Jones pitched a 1-hit shutout in Game 4 to clinch series for Mets
2001	Atlanta Braves	Houston Astros	3	0
	Arizona Diamondbacks	St. Louis Cardinals†	3	2
2002	St. Louis Cardinals	Arizona Diamondbacks	3	0
	San Francisco Giants†	Atlanta Braves	3	2
2003	Chicago Cubs	Atlanta Braves	3	2
	Florida Marlins†	San Francisco Giants	3	1
2004	St. Louis Cardinals	Los Angeles Dodgers	3	1
	Houston Astros†	Atlanta Braves	3	2
2005	St. Louis Cardinals	San Diego Padres	3	0
	Houston Astros†	Atlanta Braves	3	1	Game 4 was the longest postseason game in MLB history (18 innings)
2006	New York Mets	Los Angeles Dodgers†	3	0
	St. Louis Cardinals	San Diego Padres	3	1
2007	Colorado Rockies†	Philadelphia Phillies	3	0
	Arizona Diamondbacks	Chicago Cubs	3	0
2008	Los Angeles Dodgers	Chicago Cubs	3	0
	Philadelphia Phillies	Milwaukee Brewers†	3	1	Shane Victorino's grand slam in Game 2 was key moment in Phils' win
2009	Los Angeles Dodgers	St. Louis Cardinals	3	0
	Philadelphia Phillies	Colorado Rockies †	3	1
2010	Philadelphia Phillies	Cincinnati Reds	3	0	In his playoff debut, Roy Halladay threw the second no-hitter in MLB post season history
	San Francisco Giants	Atlanta Braves†	3	1	In his playoff debut, Tim Lincecum threw a 2-hit, 14 strikeout complete game shutout
2011	St. Louis Cardinals†	Philadelphia Phillies	3	2
	Milwaukee Brewers	Arizona Diamondbacks	3	2

See also

• American League Division Series (ALDS)
• MLB division winners
• MLB postseason
• List of American League pennant winners
• List of National League pennant winners
• List of World Series champions

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.

1. ^ Nate Silver, "Selig's Dream: The Wild Card as Enabler of Pennant Races," in Steven Goldman, Ed., It Ain't Over 'til It's Over (New York: Basic Books): 170-178.
2. ^ pressbox.mlb.com
3. ^ 1984 NLCS - Baseball References
4. ^ 1997 ALDS1 - Baseball References