American League Championship Series facts for kids

Boston Red Sox player David Ortiz celebrates winning a big game in 2004.

The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a special baseball playoff round. It's like a semi-final game in Major League Baseball (MLB). Two teams from the American League play against each other in a "best-of-seven" series. This means the first team to win four games wins the ALCS. The winner gets the AL pennant and moves on to the World Series. The World Series is the championship where they play against the winner of the National League's Championship Series. The ALCS started in 1969 as a "best-of-five" series (first to win three games). In 1985, it changed to the "best-of-seven" format we see today.

History of the ALCS

Before 1969, the best team in the American League was simply the one with the most wins at the end of the regular season. There weren't any playoffs like the ALCS back then.

The ALCS began in 1969 when the American League split into two groups: the East and the West divisions. The top team from each division would then play each other in the ALCS. This was a "best-of-five" series to decide who would go to the World Series. In 1985, they changed it to a "best-of-seven" series, making it longer and more exciting.

In 1994, MLB added more teams to the playoffs. They created three divisions in each league. The three division winners and a "Wild Card" team (the best team that didn't win its division) would play in a new round called the American League Division Series (ALDS). The winners of the ALDS would then move on to the ALCS. This new playoff system officially started in 1995. Later, in 2012 and 2022, even more Wild Card teams were added to the playoffs.

The ALCS games are played in a special order. The team with the better record during the regular season gets to play more games at their home stadium. They play Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 at home. The other team plays Games 3, 4, and 5 at their home stadium. The series ends as soon as one team wins four games.

Some baseball managers have led their teams to the ALCS many times. Joe Torre led the New York Yankees to four ALCS appearances in a row from 1998 to 2001. Dusty Baker also led the Houston Astros to four straight ALCS appearances from 2020 to 2023. The Houston Astros hold the record for a team, making it to the ALCS seven times in a row from 2017 to 2023!

Did you know that only two teams have played in both the ALCS and the National League Championship Series (NLCS)? The Milwaukee Brewers used to be in the American League, and the Houston Astros used to be in the National League. The Astros are the only team to have won both an NLCS (in 2005) and several ALCS (in 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2022). Every team currently in the American League has played in the ALCS at least once.

Championship Trophy

The team that wins the ALCS gets a special award called the William Harridge Trophy. It's named after Will Harridge, who was the president of the American League for many years.

Most Valuable Player Award

The best player in the ALCS gets the Lee MacPhail Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. This award is given to the player who performs the best throughout the series. The American League started giving out this MVP award in 1980. You can find the list of winners in the results table below.

ALCS Results

Key

	Wild Card team
*	MVP was on the losing team

Year	Winning team	Manager	Games	Losing team	Manager	Series MVP
1969	Baltimore Orioles	Weaver, EarlEarl Weaver	3–0	Minnesota Twins	Martin, BillyBilly Martin
1970	Baltimore Orioles	Weaver, EarlEarl Weaver	3–0	Minnesota Twins	Rigney, BillBill Rigney
1971	Baltimore Orioles	Weaver, EarlEarl Weaver	3–0	Oakland Athletics	Williams, DickDick Williams
1972	Oakland Athletics	Williams, DickDick Williams	3–2	Detroit Tigers	Martin, BillyBilly Martin
1973	Oakland Athletics	Williams, DickDick Williams	3–2	Baltimore Orioles	Weaver, EarlEarl Weaver
1974	Oakland Athletics	Dark, AlvinAlvin Dark	3–1	Baltimore Orioles	Weaver, EarlEarl Weaver
1975	Boston Red Sox	Johnson, DarrellDarrell Johnson	3–0	Oakland Athletics	Dark, AlvinAlvin Dark
1976	New York Yankees	Martin, BillyBilly Martin	3–2	Kansas City Royals	Herzog, WhiteyWhitey Herzog
1977	New York Yankees	Martin, BillyBilly Martin	3–2	Kansas City Royals	Herzog, WhiteyWhitey Herzog
1978	New York Yankees	Lemon, BobBob Lemon	3–1	Kansas City Royals	Herzog, WhiteyWhitey Herzog
1979	Baltimore Orioles	Weaver, EarlEarl Weaver	3–1	California Angels	Fregosi, JimJim Fregosi
1980	Kansas City Royals	Frey, JimJim Frey	3–0	New York Yankees	Howser, DickDick Howser	Frank White, Kansas City
1981	New York Yankees	Lemon, BobBob Lemon	3–0	Oakland Athletics	Martin, BillyBilly Martin	Graig Nettles, New York
1982	Milwaukee Brewers	Kuenn, HarveyHarvey Kuenn	3–2	California Angels	Mauch, GeneGene Mauch	Fred Lynn, California*
1983	Baltimore Orioles	Altobelli, JoeJoe Altobelli	3–1	Chicago White Sox	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	Mike Boddicker, Baltimore
1984	Detroit Tigers	Anderson, SparkySparky Anderson	3–0	Kansas City Royals	Howser, DickDick Howser	Kirk Gibson, Detroit
1985	Kansas City Royals	Howser, DickDick Howser	4–3	Toronto Blue Jays	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	George Brett, Kansas City
1986	Boston Red Sox	McNamara, JohnJohn McNamara	4–3	California Angels	Mauch, GeneGene Mauch	Marty Barrett, Boston
1987	Minnesota Twins	Kelly, TomTom Kelly	4–1	Detroit Tigers	Anderson, SparkySparky Anderson	Gary Gaetti, Minnesota
1988	Oakland Athletics	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	4–0	Boston Red Sox	Morgan, JoeJoe Morgan	Dennis Eckersley, Oakland
1989	Oakland Athletics	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	4–1	Toronto Blue Jays	Gaston, CitoCito Gaston	Rickey Henderson, Oakland
1990	Oakland Athletics	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	4–0	Boston Red Sox	Morgan, JoeJoe Morgan	Dave Stewart, Oakland
1991	Minnesota Twins	Kelly, TomTom Kelly	4–1	Toronto Blue Jays	Gaston, CitoCito Gaston	Kirby Puckett, Minnesota
1992	Toronto Blue Jays	Gaston, CitoCito Gaston	4–2	Oakland Athletics	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	Roberto Alomar, Toronto
1993	Toronto Blue Jays	Gaston, CitoCito Gaston	4–2	Chicago White Sox	Lamont, GeneGene Lamont	Dave Stewart, Toronto
1994	No Series due to a players' strike.
1995	Cleveland Indians	Hargrove, MikeMike Hargrove	4–2	Seattle Mariners	Piniella, LouLou Piniella	Orel Hershiser, Cleveland
1996	New York Yankees	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	4–1	Baltimore Orioles	Johnson, DaveyDavey Johnson	Bernie Williams, New York
1997	Cleveland Indians	Hargrove, MikeMike Hargrove	4–2	Baltimore Orioles	Johnson, DaveyDavey Johnson	Marquis Grissom, Cleveland
1998	New York Yankees	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	4–2	Cleveland Indians	Hargrove, MikeMike Hargrove	David Wells, New York
1999	New York Yankees	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	4–1	Boston Red Sox	Williams, JimyJimy Williams	Orlando Hernández, New York
2000	New York Yankees	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	4–2	Seattle Mariners	Piniella, LouLou Piniella	David Justice, New York
2001	New York Yankees	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	4–1	Seattle Mariners	Piniella, LouLou Piniella	Andy Pettitte, New York
2002	Anaheim Angels	Scioscia, MikeMike Scioscia	4–1	Minnesota Twins	Gardenhire, RonRon Gardenhire	Adam Kennedy, Anaheim
2003	New York Yankees	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	4–3	Boston Red Sox	Little, GradyGrady Little	Mariano Rivera, New York
2004	Boston Red Sox	Francona, TerryTerry Francona	4–3	New York Yankees	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	David Ortiz, Boston
2005	Chicago White Sox	Guillén, OzzieOzzie Guillén	4–1	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	Scioscia, MikeMike Scioscia	Paul Konerko, Chicago
2006	Detroit Tigers	Leyland, JimJim Leyland	4–0	Oakland Athletics	Macha, KenKen Macha	Plácido Polanco, Detroit
2007	Boston Red Sox	Francona, TerryTerry Francona	4–3	Cleveland Indians	Wedge, EricEric Wedge	Josh Beckett, Boston
2008	Tampa Bay Rays	Maddon, JoeJoe Maddon	4–3	Boston Red Sox	Francona, TerryTerry Francona	Matt Garza, Tampa Bay
2009	New York Yankees	Girardi, JoeJoe Girardi	4–2	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	Scioscia, MikeMike Scioscia	CC Sabathia, New York
2010	Texas Rangers	Washington, RonRon Washington	4–2	New York Yankees	Girardi, JoeJoe Girardi	Josh Hamilton, Texas
2011	Texas Rangers	Washington, RonRon Washington	4–2	Detroit Tigers	Leyland, JimJim Leyland	Nelson Cruz, Texas
2012	Detroit Tigers	Leyland, JimJim Leyland	4–0	New York Yankees	Girardi, JoeJoe Girardi	Delmon Young, Detroit
2013	Boston Red Sox	Farrell, JohnJohn Farrell	4–2	Detroit Tigers	Leyland, JimJim Leyland	Koji Uehara, Boston
2014	Kansas City Royals	Yost, NedNed Yost	4–0	Baltimore Orioles	Showalter, BuckBuck Showalter	Lorenzo Cain, Kansas City
2015	Kansas City Royals	Yost, NedNed Yost	4–2	Toronto Blue Jays	Gibbons, JohnJohn Gibbons	Alcides Escobar, Kansas City
2016	Cleveland Indians	Francona, TerryTerry Francona	4–1	Toronto Blue Jays	Gibbons, JohnJohn Gibbons	Andrew Miller, Cleveland
2017	Houston Astros	Hinch, A. J.A. J. Hinch	4–3	New York Yankees	Girardi, JoeJoe Girardi	Justin Verlander, Houston
2018	Boston Red Sox	Cora, AlexAlex Cora	4–1	Houston Astros	Hinch, A. J.A. J. Hinch	Jackie Bradley Jr., Boston
2019	Houston Astros	Hinch, A. J.A. J. Hinch	4–2	New York Yankees	Boone, AaronAaron Boone	Jose Altuve, Houston
2020	Tampa Bay Rays	Cash, KevinKevin Cash	4–3	Houston Astros	Baker, DustyDusty Baker	Randy Arozarena, Tampa Bay
2021	Houston Astros	Baker, DustyDusty Baker	4–2	Boston Red Sox	Cora, AlexAlex Cora	Yordan Alvarez, Houston
2022	Houston Astros	Baker, DustyDusty Baker	4–0	New York Yankees	Boone, AaronAaron Boone	Jeremy Peña, Houston
2023	Texas Rangers	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy	4–3	Houston Astros	Baker, DustyDusty Baker	Adolis García, Texas
2024	New York Yankees	Boone, AaronAaron Boone	4–1	Cleveland Guardians	Vogt, StephenStephen Vogt	Giancarlo Stanton, New York

Team Appearances and Wins

This table shows how many times each team has played in the ALCS, how many times they won, and how many times they lost.

Years Teams Appeared in the ALCS

This table lists all the years each team has appeared in the ALCS. Years in bold mean the team won the ALCS that year.

Common Matchups

Some teams have played against each other multiple times in the ALCS. Here are some of the most common matchups:

More About Baseball Playoffs

• List of American League pennant winners
• List of American League Wild Card winners
• American League Division Series
• National League Championship Series

See also

In Spanish: Serie de Campeonato de la Liga Americana para niños