National League Championship Series facts for kids

Billy Bean NLCS logo at Dodger Stadium in 2016

The National League Championship Series (NLCS), also known as the National League Pennant, is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the winners of the two National League (NL) Division Series. The winner of the NLCS wins the NL pennant and advances to the World Series, MLB's championship series, to play the winner of the American League's (AL) Championship Series. The NLCS began in 1969 as a best-of-five playoff and used this format until 1985, when it changed to a best-of-seven format.

History

Prior to 1969, the National League champion (the "pennant winner") was determined by the best win–loss record at the end of the regular season. There were four ad hoc three-game playoff series due to ties under this formulation (in 1946, 1951, 1959, and 1962).

A structured postseason series began in 1969, when both the National and American Leagues were reorganized into two divisions each, East and West. The two division winners within each league played each other in a best-of-five series to determine who would advance to the World Series. In 1985, the format changed to best-of-seven.

The NLCS and ALCS, since the expansion to seven games, are always played in a 2–3–2 format: games 1, 2, 6, and 7 are played in the stadium of the team that has home field advantage, and games 3, 4, and 5 are played in the stadium of the team that does not. Home field advantage is given to the team that has the better record, except a division champion would always get home advantage over a Wild Card team. From 1969 to 1993, home field advantage was alternated between divisions each year regardless of regular season record and from 1995 to 1997 home field advantage was predetermined before the season.

In 1981, a one-off division series was held due to a split season caused by a players' strike.

In 1994, the league was restructured into three divisions, with the three division winners and a wild card team advancing to a best-of-five postseason round, the now-permanent National League Division Series (NLDS). The winners of that round advance to the best-of-seven NLCS; however, due to the player's strike later that season, no postseason was played and the new format did not formally begin until 1995. The playoffs were expanded in 2012 to include a second Wild Card team and in 2022 to include a third Wild Card team.

Seven managers have led a team to the NLCS in three consecutive seasons; however, the most consecutive NLCS appearances by one manager is held by Bobby Cox, who led the Atlanta Braves to eight straight from 1991 to 1999. The Braves (1991-1999) are also the only team in the National League to have made more than three consecutive National League Championship Series appearances. Tony La Russa and Jim Leyland are the only managers to lead their teams to three consecutive League Championship Series appearances in both leagues.

The Milwaukee Brewers, an American League team between 1969 and 1997, and the Houston Astros, a National League team between 1962 and 2012, are the only franchises to play in both the ALCS and NLCS. The Astros are the only team to have won both an NLCS (2005) and an ALCS (2017, 2019, 2021, and 2022). The Astros made four NLCS appearances before moving to the AL in 2013. Every current National League franchise has appeared in the NLCS and all teams except the Brewers have won an NL Pennant via the NLCS.

For the first time in history, two wild card teams played in the 2022 National League Championship Series.

Championship Trophy

The Warren C. Giles Trophy is awarded to the NLCS winner. Warren Giles served as president of the National League from 1951 to 1969.

Most Valuable Player Award

See: League Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award#National League winners

A Most Valuable Player (MVP) award is given to the outstanding player in the NLCS. No MVP award is given for Division Series play.

The MVP award has been given to a player on the losing team twice, in 1986 to Mike Scott of the Houston Astros and in 1987 to Jeffrey Leonard of the San Francisco Giants.

Although the National League began its LCS MVP award in 1977, the American League did not begin its LCS MVP award until 1980. The winners are listed in several locations:

• in the below NLCS results table, in the "Series MVP" column
• in the article League Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award
• on the MLB website

Results

Key

	Wild card
*	MVP did not play for winning team

Year	Winning team	Manager	Games	Losing team	Manager	Series MVP
1969	New York Mets	Hodges, GilGil Hodges	3–0	Atlanta Braves	Harris, LumLum Harris
1970	Cincinnati Reds	Anderson, SparkySparky Anderson	3–0	Pittsburgh Pirates	Murtaugh, DannyDanny Murtaugh
1971	Pittsburgh Pirates	Murtaugh, DannyDanny Murtaugh	3–1	San Francisco Giants	Fox, CharlieCharlie Fox
1972	Cincinnati Reds	Anderson, SparkySparky Anderson	3–2	Pittsburgh Pirates	Virdon, BillBill Virdon
1973	New York Mets	Berra, YogiYogi Berra	3–2	Cincinnati Reds	Anderson, SparkySparky Anderson
1974	Los Angeles Dodgers	Alston, WalterWalter Alston	3–1	Pittsburgh Pirates	Murtaugh, DannyDanny Murtaugh
1975	Cincinnati Reds	Anderson, SparkySparky Anderson	3–0	Pittsburgh Pirates	Murtaugh, DannyDanny Murtaugh
1976	Cincinnati Reds	Anderson, SparkySparky Anderson	3–0	Philadelphia Phillies	Ozark, DannyDanny Ozark
1977	Los Angeles Dodgers	Lasorda, TommyTommy Lasorda	3–1	Philadelphia Phillies	Ozark, DannyDanny Ozark	Dusty Baker, Los Angeles
1978	Los Angeles Dodgers	Lasorda, TommyTommy Lasorda	3–1	Philadelphia Phillies	Ozark, DannyDanny Ozark	Steve Garvey, Los Angeles
1979	Pittsburgh Pirates	Tanner, ChuckChuck Tanner	3–0	Cincinnati Reds	McNamara, JohnJohn McNamara	Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh
1980	Philadelphia Phillies	Green, DallasDallas Green	3–2	Houston Astros	Virdon, BillBill Virdon	Manny Trillo, Philadelphia
1981	Los Angeles Dodgers	Lasorda, TommyTommy Lasorda	3–2	Montreal Expos	Fanning, JimJim Fanning	Burt Hooton, Los Angeles
1982	St. Louis Cardinals	Herzog, WhiteyWhitey Herzog	3–0	Atlanta Braves	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	Darrell Porter, St. Louis
1983	Philadelphia Phillies	Owens, PaulPaul Owens	3–1	Los Angeles Dodgers	Lasorda, TommyTommy Lasorda	Gary Matthews, Philadelphia
1984	San Diego Padres	Williams, DickDick Williams	3–2	Chicago Cubs	Frey, JimJim Frey	Steve Garvey, San Diego
1985	St. Louis Cardinals	Herzog, WhiteyWhitey Herzog	4–2	Los Angeles Dodgers	Lasorda, TommyTommy Lasorda	Ozzie Smith, St. Louis
1986	New York Mets	Johnson, DaveyDavey Johnson	4–2	Houston Astros	Lanier, HalHal Lanier	Mike Scott, Houston*
1987	St. Louis Cardinals	Herzog, WhiteyWhitey Herzog	4–3	San Francisco Giants	Craig, RogerRoger Craig	Jeffrey Leonard, San Francisco*
1988	Los Angeles Dodgers	Lasorda, TommyTommy Lasorda	4–3	New York Mets	Johnson, DaveyDavey Johnson	Orel Hershiser, Los Angeles
1989	San Francisco Giants	Craig, RogerRoger Craig	4–1	Chicago Cubs	Zimmer, DonDon Zimmer	Will Clark, San Francisco
1990	Cincinnati Reds	Piniella, LouLou Piniella	4–2	Pittsburgh Pirates	Leyland, JimJim Leyland	Rob Dibble and Randy Myers, Cincinnati
1991	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	4–3	Pittsburgh Pirates	Leyland, JimJim Leyland	Steve Avery, Atlanta
1992	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	4–3	Pittsburgh Pirates	Leyland, JimJim Leyland	John Smoltz, Atlanta
1993	Philadelphia Phillies	Fregosi, JimJim Fregosi	4–2	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	Curt Schilling, Philadelphia
1994	No Series due to a players' strike.
1995	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	4–0	Cincinnati Reds	Johnson, DaveyDavey Johnson	Mike Devereaux, Atlanta
1996	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	4–3	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	Javy López, Atlanta
1997	Florida Marlins	Leyland, JimJim Leyland	4–2	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	Liván Hernández, Florida
1998	San Diego Padres	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy	4–2	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	Sterling Hitchcock, San Diego
1999	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	4–2	New York Mets	Valentine, BobbyBobby Valentine	Eddie Pérez, Atlanta
2000	New York Mets	Valentine, BobbyBobby Valentine	4–1	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	Mike Hampton, New York
2001	Arizona Diamondbacks	Brenly, BobBob Brenly	4–1	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	Craig Counsell, Arizona
2002	San Francisco Giants	Baker, DustyDusty Baker	4–1	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	Benito Santiago, San Francisco
2003	Florida Marlins	McKeon, JackJack McKeon	4–3	Chicago Cubs	Baker, DustyDusty Baker	Iván Rodríguez, Florida
2004	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	4–3	Houston Astros	Garner, PhilPhil Garner	Albert Pujols, St. Louis
2005	Houston Astros	Garner, PhilPhil Garner	4–2	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	Roy Oswalt, Houston
2006	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	4–3	New York Mets	Randolph, WillieWillie Randolph	Jeff Suppan, St. Louis
2007	Colorado Rockies	Hurdle, ClintClint Hurdle	4–0	Arizona Diamondbacks	Melvin, BobBob Melvin	Matt Holliday, Colorado
2008	Philadelphia Phillies	Manuel, CharlieCharlie Manuel	4–1	Los Angeles Dodgers	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	Cole Hamels, Philadelphia
2009	Philadelphia Phillies	Manuel, CharlieCharlie Manuel	4–1	Los Angeles Dodgers	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	Ryan Howard, Philadelphia
2010	San Francisco Giants	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy	4–2	Philadelphia Phillies	Manuel, CharlieCharlie Manuel	Cody Ross, San Francisco
2011	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	4–2	Milwaukee Brewers	Roenicke, RonRon Roenicke	David Freese, St. Louis
2012	San Francisco Giants	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy	4–3	St. Louis Cardinals	Matheny, MikeMike Matheny	Marco Scutaro, San Francisco
2013	St. Louis Cardinals	Matheny, MikeMike Matheny	4–2	Los Angeles Dodgers	Mattingly, DonDon Mattingly	Michael Wacha, St. Louis
2014	San Francisco Giants	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy	4–1	St. Louis Cardinals	Matheny, MikeMike Matheny	Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco
2015	New York Mets	Collins, TerryTerry Collins	4–0	Chicago Cubs	Maddon, JoeJoe Maddon	Daniel Murphy, New York
2016	Chicago Cubs	Maddon, JoeJoe Maddon	4–2	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts	Javier Báez and Jon Lester, Chicago
2017	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts	4–1	Chicago Cubs	Maddon, JoeJoe Maddon	Chris Taylor and Justin Turner, Los Angeles
2018	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts	4–3	Milwaukee Brewers	Counsell, CraigCraig Counsell	Cody Bellinger, Los Angeles
2019	Washington Nationals	Martinez, DaveDave Martinez	4–0	St. Louis Cardinals	Shildt, MikeMike Shildt	Howie Kendrick, Washington
2020	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts	4–3	Atlanta Braves	Snitker, BrianBrian Snitker	Corey Seager, Los Angeles
2021	Atlanta Braves	Snitker, BrianBrian Snitker	4–2	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts	Eddie Rosario, Atlanta
2022	Philadelphia Phillies	Thomson, RobRob Thomson	4–1	San Diego Padres	Melvin, BobBob Melvin	Bryce Harper, Philadelphia
2023	Arizona Diamondbacks	Lovullo, ToreyTorey Lovullo	4–3	Philadelphia Phillies	Thomson, RobRob Thomson	Ketel Marte, Arizona

Appearances by team

Years of appearance

In the sortable table below, teams are ordered first by number of wins, then by number of appearances, and finally by year of first appearance. In the "Season(s)" column, bold years indicate winning appearances.

Frequent matchups

See also

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

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