National League Championship Series facts for kids

Billy Bean standing with the NLCS logo at Dodger Stadium in 2016

The National League Championship Series (NLCS) is a big baseball playoff event. It's a series where two teams play against each other, and the first team to win four games wins the series. This series is one of the last steps in Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason before the final championship.

The NLCS is played between the two winning teams from the National League (NL) Division Series. The team that wins the NLCS gets the NL pennant. This means they get to go to the World Series, which is MLB's biggest championship. In the World Series, they play against the winner of the American League's (AL) Championship Series. The NLCS started in 1969. Back then, teams played a best-of-five series (first to win three games). In 1985, it changed to a best-of-seven series (first to win four games).

History of the NLCS

Before 1969, the National League champion was simply the team with the best win-loss record at the end of the regular season. Sometimes, if two teams had the same record, they would play a special three-game series to decide the winner. This happened a few times, like in 1946 and 1951.

A structured playoff series began in 1969. This was when both the National and American Leagues were split into two groups: East and West. The winners of these two groups in each league would play each other. This best-of-five series decided who would move on to the World Series. In 1985, the NLCS changed to a best-of-seven format, making it longer and more exciting.

Since 1985, the NLCS games are played in a 2-3-2 pattern. This means the team with the "home field advantage" (usually the team with a better regular season record) plays games 1, 2, 6, and 7 at their home stadium. The other team plays games 3, 4, and 5 at their home stadium. From 1969 to 1993, home field advantage just switched between divisions each year.

In 1981, there was a special "division series" because a players' strike split the season.

In 1994, the league changed again, creating three divisions. Three division winners and a "wild card" team (a team that didn't win their division but had a great record) would go to a new best-of-five playoff round called the National League Division Series (NLDS). The winners of the NLDS then play in the best-of-seven NLCS. However, a players' strike in 1994 meant these new playoffs didn't actually start until 1995. The playoffs expanded even more in 2012 and 2022 to include more Wild Card teams.

Some managers have led their teams to the NLCS many times. Bobby Cox holds the record for the most consecutive appearances. He led the Atlanta Braves to eight straight NLCS from 1991 to 1999! The Braves are also the only National League team to make more than three NLCS appearances in a row.

The Milwaukee Brewers and the Houston Astros are the only teams that have played in both the NLCS and the ALCS. The Astros are the only team to have won both an NLCS (in 2005) and an ALCS (in 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2022). The Astros played in four NLCS before moving to the American League in 2013. Every team currently in the National League has played in the NLCS. All of them, except the Brewers, have won an NL pennant through the NLCS.

In 2022, for the first time ever, two wild card teams played against each other in the NLCS.

The Championship Trophy

The team that wins the NLCS gets a special award called the Warren C. Giles Trophy. This trophy is named after Warren Giles, who was the president of the National League from 1951 to 1969.

Most Valuable Player Award

A special award is given to the best player in the NLCS. This is called the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. There isn't an MVP award for the earlier Division Series games.

Sometimes, a player from the losing team has won the MVP award. This happened twice: in 1986 to Mike Scott of the Houston Astros and in 1987 to Jeffrey Leonard of the San Francisco Giants.

The National League started its LCS MVP award in 1977. The American League started theirs later, in 1980. You can find the winners listed in the NLCS results table below, in the "Series MVP" column.

NLCS Results and Team Appearances

Here are the results of past NLCS games and how many times each team has appeared.

Key

	Wild card team (a team that didn't win their division but still made the playoffs)
*	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
2024	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts	4–2	New York Mets	Mendoza, CarlosCarlos Mendoza	Tommy Edman, Los Angeles

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. In the "Season(s)" column, bold years mean the team won the NLCS that year.

Frequent Matchups

This table shows which teams have played each other most often in the NLCS.

More Baseball Playoff Information

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

See also

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