American League Division Series facts for kids

The American League Division Series (ALDS) is an exciting part of Major League Baseball (MLB) playoffs. It's where the best teams in the American League compete to see who moves on to the American League Championship Series.

The ALDS is a "best-of-five" series. This means two teams play up to five games, and the first team to win three games wins the series! The teams that play in the ALDS are the winners of each of the three divisions in the American League, plus a special team called a wild-card team.

History of the ALDS

The idea for the Division Series first came about in 1981. There was a big strike that year, which split the season in half. To decide who would go to the next round, they had a special playoff series. For example, the New York Yankees played against the Milwaukee Brewers (who were in the American League back then) and won. The Oakland Athletics also won their series.

The Division Series became a regular part of the MLB playoffs in 1994. This happened when Major League Baseball (MLB) changed how its leagues were set up, creating three divisions in each league. Even though it was planned for 1994, the playoffs that year were cancelled because of another player strike.

The first official ALDS was played in 1995. The Seattle Mariners beat the New York Yankees, who were the wild-card team that year. The Cleveland Indians also won their series against the Boston Red Sox.

How the Wild Card Changed

From 1994 to 2011, the wild-card spot went to the best team that didn't win its division. But things changed in 2012! A second wild-card team was added. These two wild-card teams would play one game against each other. The winner of that game would then get to play in the ALDS.

In 2020, there was a special playoff format because the regular season was much shorter due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eight teams from the American League made it to the playoffs. They played a best-of-three series to decide who would go to the ALDS. The usual format returned in 2021.

As of 2022, the New York Yankees have played in and won the most Division Series. They have won thirteen times in twenty-two tries! The Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros were the last American League teams to play in the ALDS for the first time in 2015. The Astros are also special because they won the ALDS six years in a row! They broke the Yankees' record of four wins in a row when they won in 2021.

How Teams Play Each Other

The ALDS is a best-of-five series. 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 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 move on to the American League Championship Series, which is a best-of-seven series.

The team with the better record during the regular season usually gets "home-field advantage." This means they get to play more games at their home stadium. However, a wild-card team never gets home-field advantage.

Since 1998, the ALDS games have followed a "2-2-1" format. This means:

• The team with home-field advantage plays the first two games at home.
• The other team plays the next two games at their home stadium.
• If a fifth game is needed, it's played back at the higher-seeded team's home stadium.

For a short time in 2012, they used a "2-3" format because of scheduling. But they went back to the 2-2-1 format in 2013.

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
2024	New York Yankees	Boone, AaronAaron Boone	3–1	Kansas City Royals	Quatraro, MattMatt Quatraro
	Cleveland Guardians	Vogt, StephenStephen Vogt	3–2	Detroit Tigers	Hinch, A. J.A. J. Hinch

Appearances by Team

Years of Appearance

In the table below, teams are listed by how many times they've won, then by how many times they've appeared, and finally by when they first appeared. Bold years mean the team won the series that year.

Frequent Matchups

Here are some of the teams that have played against each other most often in the ALDS:

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