History of the MLB Postseason (Part II: Divisional Play & League Championship Series Era - 1969-1993)

The World Series was instilled in 1903 as the championship contest, as well as the lone postseason round in Major League Baseball. The Series has been contested between the champions of the American and National Leagues, with each league's standings determining the pennant winners, which went to the first place teams. For five decades, MLB had 16 teams, eight in each league, though the 1950s and 1960s would see a wave of relocation and expansion, with more teams being place in western cities. By 1968, MLB had 20 teams, 10 in each league, though league standings still determine pennants.

The expansion wave continued in 1969, and there was history made with this batch of teams. Four teams were added into MLB, and were placed in Seattle, Kansas City, San Diego, and Montréal. Yes, a Canadian city was involved, as the Expos were placed in Montréal, Quebec, Canada, and served as one of the National League's two newest teams--the other being the San Diego Padres. The American League added the Seattle Pilots and the Kansas City Royals, and overall, that gave MLB a grand total of 24 teams, with 12 in each league. That's quite a lot, and given the locations and the fact that the current format at the time would leave 22 teams out while only two played for the championship, a huge change had to be made.

Beginning in 1969, the American and National Leagues were each split into two divisions, West and East, with six teams in each division. The original American League East consisted of the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators, Baltimore Orioles, and Cleveland Indians. The American League West consisted of the California Angels, Oakland Athletics, Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, and the expansion Seattle Pilots and Kansas City Royals. In the National League East: the Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, and the expansion Montréal Expos. In the National League West: the San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros, and the expansion San Diego Padres.

With two divisions in each league, that also meant two first place teams in each league, and it resulted in the addition of a new postseason round: the League Championship Series. The League Championship Series, or LCS for short, marked the official debut of the MLB playoffs, as it served as the opening and preceding round to the World Series. The LCS was contested between the East and West winners in each league, with the regular season standings determining the division winners. In its debut, the LCS was a best-of-five series, with the first to three wins taking the pennant and advancing to the World Series.

In 1969, the first division winners were the Baltimore Orioles (AL East), Minnesota Twins (AL West), New York Mets (NL East), and Atlanta Braves (NL West). 1969 is best known as the "Miracle Mets" season, as they were behind the Chicago Cubs by 10 games late in the season, but ended up winning the NL East by 8 games. Regarding the first LCSes, both of them ended in three game sweeps, with Orioles defeating the Twins while the Mets defeated the Braves. The Mets, who were in their eighth season, went on to win the World Series, four games to one, over the Orioles. A year later, the Seattle Pilots ended up moving to Milwaukee and becoming the Brewers, and two years after that in 1972, the second Washington Senators team moved to Arlington, Texas, and became the Texas Rangers. In 1977, baseball returned to Seattle with the Mariners, and branched out to Canada with the addition of the Toronto Blue Jays.

The rules regarding tiebreakers also changed in this era, as all tiebreakers were a single game, regardless of league. The first tiebreaker in this era was the famous one that took place in 1978 between the Yankees and the Red Sox, with the Yankees coming back from a 13.5 game deficit late in the season to end up tied with the Red Sox at 99-63. The game was played at Fenway and won by the Yankees by a score of 5-4, with Bucky Dent's three-run homer winning the game, and making his name an expletive in Boston even to this very day. The Yankees took the AL East, defeated the Kansas City Royals in the ALCS, and defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.

In 1981, a midseason players' strike resulted in a season that was split up into two halves, which also saw different first place teams in each half. In the interest of fairness, MLB decided to have the 1st half and 2nd half winners of each division face each other in a "Division Series" to determine the year's undisputed division winners. Among the teams who participated was the Expos, making it the first time that postseason games would emanate from Canada. The "Division Series" was played in a best-of-five format, with three of the four divisions needing the maximum five games except for the AL West, which saw the Athletics sweep the Royals (the defending American League champions). In the NL East, the Expos ousted the then-defending World Champion Phillies, the NL West saw the Dodgers defeat the Astros, and the AL East saw the Yankees defeat the Brewers (who were moved to the AL East in 1972). The Yankees swept the A's in the ALCS, while the Dodgers defeated the Expos in a five-game NLCS before beating the Yankees in the World Series (six games).

In 1985, the LCS was extended to a best-of-seven format, and that year saw the Royals return to the postseason as champions of the American League West, while the Blue Jays--in their ninth season--captured their first American League East crown. In the National League, the Cardinals took the East, while the Dodgers captured the West Division, and both LCSes went past five games. The Cardinals won theirs in six games, while the ALCS went the max and was won by the Royals, who went on to defeat the Cards in the Fall Classic. The Blue Jays continued to improve entering the early 1990s, and it was in 1992 that they defeated the Oakland A's in a six-game ALCS to become the first Canadian team to win a pennant. They later became the first Canadian team to win a World Series when they defeated the Atlanta Braves in six games, and the following year saw them defeat the Chicago White Sox in the ALCS, and beat the Philadelphia Phillies to repeat as World Champions.

1993 also saw two new teams added to the National League, as the Colorado Rockies and the Florida Marlins made their debuts. This gave MLB a grand total of 28 teams--14 in each league and seven in each division, and would lead to modifications in divisional play.

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