World Series Fast Facts
CNN Editorial Research
Here’s a look at Major League Baseball’s World Series.
November 5, 2022 – The Houston Astros win the World Series, defeating the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 in Game 6.
November 2, 2021 – The Atlanta Braves win the World Series for the first time since 1995, defeating the Houston Astros 7-0 in Game 6.
Other Facts
The annual championship series, referred to as the “Fall Classic,” is played between the American League and National League champions.
The first team to win four of the seven games wins the championship.
The World Series was played in a best-of-nine games format in 1903 and 1919-1921.
Through 2022, the American League has won 67 World Series championships, and the National League has won 51.
The New York Yankees have won the most World Series championships at 27, and the St. Louis Cardinals come in second with 11.
The Yankees have won back to back World Series more than any other team, six times: 1927 and 1928, 1936 through 1939, 1949 through 1953, 1961 and 1962, 1977 and 1978, and 1998 through 2000.
Only one current franchise has never appeared in the World Series: the Seattle Mariners.
Each year, the winning team receives the Commissioner’s Trophy, which is made of sterling silver, and features flags representing all 30 Major League teams.
Timeline
1903 – The first World Series is played. The Boston Pilgrims beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, five games to three.
1904 – The World Series is not played. The National League champions the New York Giants refuse to play the American League champions the Boston Pilgrims, due to rivalry between the leagues.
1905 – The World Series resumes after guidelines for the series are drawn up.
1918 – The Boston Red Sox win the World Series, but don’t win again until 2004. Legend has it the Red Sox are cursed after Boston trades Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees.
1919 – In five games to three, the Cincinnati Reds beat the heavily favored Chicago White Sox. Almost a year later in what is dubbed the Black Sox Scandal, eight White Sox players, including “Shoeless Joe” Jackson, are accused of conspiring with gamblers to lose on purpose. The eight players are later acquitted in a 1921 trial, but are banned for life from professional baseball by new commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. A ninth player, Joe Gedeon of the St. Louis Browns, is also banned for life for having prior knowledge of the fix.
1956 – The only no-hitter in World Series history, a perfect game: New York Yankees vs. Brooklyn Dodgers, Game 5 pitched by Yankees’ Don Larsen. Yankees win 2-0.
1992 – The Toronto Blue Jays become the first non-US team to win the World Series. They also win the 1993 World Series.
1994 – The players’ strike causes the World Series to be canceled.
2004 – The Boston Red Sox become the first team in history to come back from a 0-3 deficit in the playoffs and go on to win 4-3, landing them a spot in the World Series matchup. They win the World Series for the first time in 86 years in the fourth game by a score of 3-0.
October 28, 2009 – The latest date the World Series has ever started.
November 22, 2011 – MLB and the MLBPA announce that in 2012, postseason play will expand by a second wild card being awarded to the club in each league with the second-best overall record among clubs that do not win a division.
October 24, 2017 – At the start of Game 1 of the World Series, the temperature is 103 degrees, the warmest on record in World Series history.
October 23-30, 2019 – For the first time in World Series history, the road teams win every game. The Washington Nationals defeat the Houston Astros in the seven-game series.
March 12, 2020 – MLB announces the start of the 2020 season will be delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The abbreviated season begins on July 23.
September 30, 2020 – MLB announces it will allow up to 11,500 fans in the stands for the World Series and the National League Championship Series. The league’s announcement marks the first time that fans will be allowed en masse in a stadium since spring training in March.
March 10, 2022 – As part of a collective bargaining agreement to end a three-month lockout, a deal is reached to expand the postseason to 12 teams (from 10) and to eliminate the single wild-card game per league in favor of four best-of-three series.
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