American League Division Series facts for kids

The American League Division Series (ALDS) is an exciting baseball playoff round in Major League Baseball (MLB). It's where the best teams from the American League compete to see who will move on to the American League Championship Series.

In the ALDS, two different series happen at the same time. Each series is a "best-of-five," meaning a team needs to win three games to advance. The teams playing are the top two division winners and the winners of the special "wild-card" games.

==How the ALDS Started== The Division Series wasn't always a regular part of baseball. It first appeared in 1981 because of a mid-season strike. The league decided to split the season into two parts. The teams that were in first place before the strike played against the teams that were in first place after the strike.

For example, in 1981, the New York Yankees won their series against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers were in the American League back then. In another series, the Oakland Athletics easily beat the Kansas City Royals.

===The ALDS Becomes Permanent=== The Division Series returned for good in 1994. This happened when MLB changed each league to have three divisions instead of two. The plan was for the winner of each division, plus one special "wild card" team, to play in the Division Series.

However, the 1994 playoffs were canceled because of another player strike. So, the first official Division Series under the new format happened in 1995. That year, the Seattle Mariners beat the New York Yankees (who were a wild card team). Also, the Cleveland Indians swept the Boston Red Sox.

===Changes to the Wild Card Rule=== From 1994 to 2011, the "wild card" spot went to the American League team with the best record that didn't win its division.

In 2012, MLB added a second wild card team. These two wild card teams now play a single, sudden-death game. The winner of that game gets to play in the ALDS.

For just the 2020 season, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the playoffs were much bigger. Eight teams from the American League qualified. They played a best-of-three series to decide who would move on to the ALDS. The regular format returned in 2021.

===Most ALDS Wins=== As of 2022, the New York Yankees have played in and won the most ALDS series. They have won thirteen series in twenty-two appearances. The Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros were the last American League teams to make their first ALDS appearances in 2015. The Astros are also the only team to win the ALDS in six years in a row!

==How ALDS Matchups Are Decided== The ALDS is a best-of-five series. This means the first team to win three games moves on. The team with the best regular season record usually gets to play at home more often.

===Who Plays Whom?=== Here's how the teams are matched up: * The division winner with the best record plays against the winner of the Wild Card Series (the game between the top two wild card teams). * The division winner with the second-best record plays against the winner of the series between the lowest-ranked division winner and the lowest-ranked wild card team.

The two teams that win their ALDS series then go on to play in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series.

===Home Field Advantage=== The team with the better record during the regular season usually gets to play more games at their home stadium. However, a wild card team never gets home field advantage over a division winner.

Since 1998, the series has followed a "2-2-1" format. This means the team with the better record plays games 1 and 2 at home. The other team plays games 3 and 4 (if needed) at their home stadium. If a fifth game is necessary, the teams return to the higher-ranked team's home field.

==Results==

Key

	Wild card

Year	Winning team	Manager	Games	Losing team	Manager
1981	New York Yankees	Lemon, BobBob Lemon	3–2	Milwaukee Brewers	Rodgers, BuckBuck Rodgers
	Oakland Athletics	Martin, BillyBilly Martin	3–0	Kansas City Royals	Howser, DickDick Howser
1994	No Series due to a players' strike.
1995	Cleveland Indians	Hargrove, MikeMike Hargrove	3–0	Boston Red Sox	Kennedy, KevinKevin Kennedy
	Seattle Mariners	Piniella, LouLou Piniella	3–2	New York Yankees	Showalter, BuckBuck Showalter
1996	New York Yankees	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	3–1	Texas Rangers	Oates, JohnnyJohnny Oates
	Baltimore Orioles	Johnson, DaveyDavey Johnson	3–1	Cleveland Indians	Hargrove, MikeMike Hargrove
1997	Baltimore Orioles	Johnson, DaveyDavey Johnson	3–1	Seattle Mariners	Piniella, LouLou Piniella
	Cleveland Indians	Hargrove, MikeMike Hargrove	3–2	New York Yankees	Torre, JoeJoe Torre
1998	New York Yankees	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	3–0	Texas Rangers	Oates, JohnnyJohnny Oates
	Cleveland Indians	Hargrove, MikeMike Hargrove	3–1	Boston Red Sox	Williams, JimyJimy Williams
1999	New York Yankees	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	3–0	Texas Rangers	Oates, JohnnyJohnny Oates
	Boston Red Sox	Williams, JimyJimy Williams	3–2	Cleveland Indians	Hargrove, MikeMike Hargrove
2000	Seattle Mariners	Piniella, LouLou Piniella	3–0	Chicago White Sox	Manuel, JerryJerry Manuel
	New York Yankees	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	3–2	Oakland Athletics	Howe, ArtArt Howe
2001	New York Yankees	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	3–2	Oakland Athletics	Howe, ArtArt Howe
	Seattle Mariners	Piniella, LouLou Piniella	3–2	Cleveland Indians	Manuel, CharlieCharlie Manuel
2002	Minnesota Twins	Gardenhire, RonRon Gardenhire	3–2	Oakland Athletics	Howe, ArtArt Howe
	Anaheim Angels	Scioscia, MikeMike Scioscia	3–1	New York Yankees	Torre, JoeJoe Torre
2003	New York Yankees	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	3–1	Minnesota Twins	Gardenhire, RonRon Gardenhire
	Boston Red Sox	Little, GradyGrady Little	3–2	Oakland Athletics	Macha, KenKen Macha
2004	New York Yankees	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	3–1	Minnesota Twins	Gardenhire, RonRon Gardenhire
	Boston Red Sox	Francona, TerryTerry Francona	3–0	Anaheim Angels	Scioscia, MikeMike Scioscia
2005	Chicago White Sox	Guillén, OzzieOzzie Guillén	3–0	Boston Red Sox	Francona, TerryTerry Francona
	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	Scioscia, MikeMike Scioscia	3–2	New York Yankees	Torre, JoeJoe Torre
2006	Detroit Tigers	Leyland, JimJim Leyland	3–1	New York Yankees	Torre, JoeJoe Torre
	Oakland Athletics	Macha, KenKen Macha	3–0	Minnesota Twins	Gardenhire, RonRon Gardenhire
2007	Boston Red Sox	Francona, TerryTerry Francona	3–0	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	Scioscia, MikeMike Scioscia
	Cleveland Indians	Wedge, EricEric Wedge	3–1	New York Yankees	Torre, JoeJoe Torre
2008	Boston Red Sox	Francona, TerryTerry Francona	3–1	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	Scioscia, MikeMike Scioscia
	Tampa Bay Rays	Maddon, JoeJoe Maddon	3–1	Chicago White Sox	Guillén, OzzieOzzie Guillén
2009	New York Yankees	Girardi, JoeJoe Girardi	3–0	Minnesota Twins	Gardenhire, RonRon Gardenhire
	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	Scioscia, MikeMike Scioscia	3–0	Boston Red Sox	Francona, TerryTerry Francona
2010	Texas Rangers	Washington, RonRon Washington	3–2	Tampa Bay Rays	Maddon, JoeJoe Maddon
	New York Yankees	Girardi, JoeJoe Girardi	3–0	Minnesota Twins	Gardenhire, RonRon Gardenhire
2011	Texas Rangers	Washington, RonRon Washington	3–1	Tampa Bay Rays	Maddon, JoeJoe Maddon
	Detroit Tigers	Leyland, JimJim Leyland	3–2	New York Yankees	Girardi, JoeJoe Girardi
2012	Detroit Tigers	Leyland, JimJim Leyland	3–2	Oakland Athletics	Melvin, BobBob Melvin
	New York Yankees	Girardi, JoeJoe Girardi	3–2	Baltimore Orioles	Showalter, BuckBuck Showalter
2013	Detroit Tigers	Leyland, JimJim Leyland	3–2	Oakland Athletics	Melvin, BobBob Melvin
	Boston Red Sox	Farrell, JohnJohn Farrell	3–1	Tampa Bay Rays	Maddon, JoeJoe Maddon
2014	Baltimore Orioles	Showalter, BuckBuck Showalter	3–0	Detroit Tigers	Ausmus, BradBrad Ausmus
	Kansas City Royals	Yost, NedNed Yost	3–0	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	Scioscia, MikeMike Scioscia
2015	Toronto Blue Jays	Gibbons, JohnJohn Gibbons	3–2	Texas Rangers	Banister, JeffJeff Banister
	Kansas City Royals	Yost, NedNed Yost	3–2	Houston Astros	Hinch, A. J.A. J. Hinch
2016	Cleveland Indians	Francona, TerryTerry Francona	3–0	Boston Red Sox	Farrell, JohnJohn Farrell
	Toronto Blue Jays	Gibbons, JohnJohn Gibbons	3–0	Texas Rangers	Banister, JeffJeff Banister
2017	Houston Astros	Hinch, A. J.A. J. Hinch	3–1	Boston Red Sox	Farrell, JohnJohn Farrell
	New York Yankees	Girardi, JoeJoe Girardi	3–2	Cleveland Indians	Francona, TerryTerry Francona
2018	Houston Astros	Hinch, A. J.A. J. Hinch	3–0	Cleveland Indians	Francona, TerryTerry Francona
	Boston Red Sox	Cora, AlexAlex Cora	3–1	New York Yankees	Boone, AaronAaron Boone
2019	New York Yankees	Boone, AaronAaron Boone	3–0	Minnesota Twins	Baldelli, RoccoRocco Baldelli
	Houston Astros	Hinch, A. J.A. J. Hinch	3–2	Tampa Bay Rays	Cash, KevinKevin Cash
2020	Tampa Bay Rays	Cash, KevinKevin Cash	3–2	New York Yankees	Boone, AaronAaron Boone
	Houston Astros	Baker, DustyDusty Baker	3–1	Oakland Athletics	Melvin, BobBob Melvin
2021	Boston Red Sox	Cora, AlexAlex Cora	3–1	Tampa Bay Rays	Cash, KevinKevin Cash
	Houston Astros	Baker, DustyDusty Baker	3–1	Chicago White Sox	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa
2022	Houston Astros	Baker, DustyDusty Baker	3–0	Seattle Mariners	Servais, ScottScott Servais
	New York Yankees	Boone, AaronAaron Boone	3–2	Cleveland Guardians	Francona, TerryTerry Francona
2023	Texas Rangers	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy	3–0	Baltimore Orioles	Hyde, BrandonBrandon Hyde
	Houston Astros	Baker, DustyDusty Baker	3–1	Minnesota Twins	Baldelli, RoccoRocco Baldelli

===Team Appearances and Wins=== This table shows how many times each team has appeared in the ALDS, how many times they've won, and their winning percentage.

===Years of Appearance by Team=== This table lists all the years each team has appeared in the ALDS. Years in bold mean the team won their series that year.

===Common Matchups=== Some teams play each other often in the ALDS. Here are some of the most frequent matchups:

==See also==

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