National League Division Series facts for kids

The National League Division Series (NLDS) is an exciting baseball playoff event in Major League Baseball (MLB). It's where the best teams from the National League battle it out. The winners of these series get to move on to the National League Championship Series, getting one step closer to the World Series.

The NLDS is a "best-of-five" series. This means two teams play up to five games, and the first team to win three games moves forward. The teams that play in the NLDS are the top two division winners with the best records. They also play against the winners of the special "wild-card" games.

History of the NLDS

The idea for the Division Series first came about in 1981. This happened because of a midseason strike by the players. To make up for the lost games, the season was split into two parts. The teams that were in first place before the strike played against the teams in first place after the strike.

For example, in 1981, the Montreal Expos won their series against the Philadelphia Phillies. And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros. (The Astros were in the National League until 2012!)

The Division Series became a regular part of the playoffs in 1994. This was when MLB changed each league to have three divisions. The winners of each division, plus one "wild card" team, would play in the Division Series. However, the 1994 playoffs were canceled because of another player strike.

So, the first permanent Division Series actually happened in 1995. That year, the Atlanta Braves won their series. The Cincinnati Reds also won, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers.

How the Wild Card Changed

From 1994 to 2011, the "wild card" spot went to the best team that didn't win their division. But starting in 2012, a second wild card team was added. These two wild card teams now play a single game against each other. The winner of that game then gets to play in the NLDS.

In 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the season was much shorter. So, MLB expanded the playoffs for just that year. Eight teams from the National League qualified. They played a best-of-three series to decide who would go to the NLDS. The regular format returned in 2021.

Team Achievements

The Atlanta Braves have played in the most NL Division Series, with seventeen appearances. The St. Louis Cardinals have won the most series, winning eleven out of fourteen times they've played.

The Pittsburgh Pirates were the last team to make their first appearance in the NLDS. They joined the playoffs in 2013. The Milwaukee Brewers made history in 2008. They became the first team to play in the Division Series in both the National League and the American League. They had switched leagues in 1998.

How the NLDS Works

The NLDS is a best-of-five series. This means the first team to win three games wins the series.

The team with the best regular season record in their division gets to host the winner of the Wild Card Series. The division winner with the second-best record plays against the winner of the other Wild Card Series. The two teams that win their NLDS series then move on to the best-of-seven National League Championship Series.

Home-Field Advantage

The team with the better regular season record 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 2003, there's been a special rule. The league that wins the MLB All-Star Game gets a slight advantage. The team with the best record in that league can choose the schedule for their Division Series. They can pick a schedule with fewer or more off-days between games.

Game Format Changes

Initially, the best-of-five series used a "2–3 format." The lower-ranked team played the first two games at home, and the higher-ranked team played the last three at home.

Since 1998, the series has mostly used a "2–2–1 format." In this setup, the higher-ranked team plays games 1 and 2 at home. The lower-ranked team plays games 3 and 4 (if needed) at home. If a fifth game is necessary, the teams return to the higher-ranked team's stadium. This format was briefly changed back to 2–3 in 2012 due to scheduling, but it returned to 2–2–1 in 2013.

Results

Key

	Wild card

Year	Winning team	Manager	Games	Losing team	Manager
1981	Montreal Expos	Fanning, JimJim Fanning	3–2	Philadelphia Phillies	Green, DallasDallas Green
	Los Angeles Dodgers	Lasorda, TommyTommy Lasorda	3–2	Houston Astros	Virdon, BillBill Virdon
1994	No Series due to a players' strike.
1995	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	3–1	Colorado Rockies	Baylor, DonDon Baylor
	Cincinnati Reds	Johnson, DaveyDavey Johnson	3–0	Los Angeles Dodgers	Lasorda, TommyTommy Lasorda
1996	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	3–0	Los Angeles Dodgers	Russell, BillBill Russell
	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	3–0	San Diego Padres	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy
1997	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	3–0	Houston Astros	Dierker, LarryLarry Dierker
	Florida Marlins	Leyland, JimJim Leyland	3–0	San Francisco Giants	Baker, DustyDusty Baker
1998	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	3–0	Chicago Cubs	Riggleman, JimJim Riggleman
	San Diego Padres	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy	3–1	Houston Astros	Dierker, LarryLarry Dierker
1999	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	3–1	Houston Astros	Dierker, LarryLarry Dierker
	New York Mets	Valentine, BobbyBobby Valentine	3–1	Arizona Diamondbacks	Showalter, BuckBuck Showalter
2000	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	3–0	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox
	New York Mets	Valentine, BobbyBobby Valentine	3–1	San Francisco Giants	Baker, DustyDusty Baker
2001	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox	3–0	Houston Astros	Dierker, LarryLarry Dierker
	Arizona Diamondbacks	Brenly, BobBob Brenly	3–2	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa
2002	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	3–0	Arizona Diamondbacks	Brenly, BobBob Brenly
	San Francisco Giants	Baker, DustyDusty Baker	3–2	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox
2003	Chicago Cubs	Baker, DustyDusty Baker	3–2	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox
	Florida Marlins	McKeon, JackJack McKeon	3–1	San Francisco Giants	Alou, FelipeFelipe Alou
2004	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	3–1	Los Angeles Dodgers	Tracy, JimJim Tracy
	Houston Astros	Garner, PhilPhil Garner	3–2	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox
2005	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	3–0	San Diego Padres	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy
	Houston Astros	Garner, PhilPhil Garner	3–1	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox
2006	New York Mets	Randolph, WillieWillie Randolph	3–0	Los Angeles Dodgers	Tracy, JimJim Tracy
	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	3–1	San Diego Padres	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy
2007	Colorado Rockies	Hurdle, ClintClint Hurdle	3–0	Philadelphia Phillies	Manuel, CharlieCharlie Manuel
	Arizona Diamondbacks	Melvin, BobBob Melvin	3–0	Chicago Cubs	Piniella, LouLou Piniella
2008	Los Angeles Dodgers	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	3–0	Chicago Cubs	Piniella, LouLou Piniella
	Philadelphia Phillies	Manuel, CharlieCharlie Manuel	3–1	Milwaukee Brewers	Sveum, DaleDale Sveum
2009	Los Angeles Dodgers	Torre, JoeJoe Torre	3–0	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa
	Philadelphia Phillies	Manuel, CharlieCharlie Manuel	3–1	Colorado Rockies	Tracy, JimJim Tracy
2010	Philadelphia Phillies	Manuel, CharlieCharlie Manuel	3–0	Cincinnati Reds	Baker, DustyDusty Baker
	San Francisco Giants	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy	3–1	Atlanta Braves	Cox, BobbyBobby Cox
2011	St. Louis Cardinals	La Russa, TonyTony La Russa	3–2	Philadelphia Phillies	Manuel, CharlieCharlie Manuel
	Milwaukee Brewers	Roenicke, RonRon Roenicke	3–2	Arizona Diamondbacks	Gibson, KirkKirk Gibson
2012	San Francisco Giants	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy	3–2	Cincinnati Reds	Baker, DustyDusty Baker
	St. Louis Cardinals	Matheny, MikeMike Matheny	3–2	Washington Nationals	Johnson, DaveyDavey Johnson
2013	St. Louis Cardinals	Matheny, MikeMike Matheny	3–2	Pittsburgh Pirates	Hurdle, ClintClint Hurdle
	Los Angeles Dodgers	Mattingly, DonDon Mattingly	3–1	Atlanta Braves	González, FrediFredi González
2014	St. Louis Cardinals	Matheny, MikeMike Matheny	3–1	Los Angeles Dodgers	Mattingly, DonDon Mattingly
	San Francisco Giants	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy	3–1	Washington Nationals	Williams, MattMatt Williams
2015	New York Mets	Collins, TerryTerry Collins	3–2	Los Angeles Dodgers	Mattingly, DonDon Mattingly
	Chicago Cubs	Maddon, JoeJoe Maddon	3–1	St. Louis Cardinals	Matheny, MikeMike Matheny
2016	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts	3–2	Washington Nationals	Baker, DustyDusty Baker
	Chicago Cubs	Maddon, JoeJoe Maddon	3–1	San Francisco Giants	Bochy, BruceBruce Bochy
2017	Chicago Cubs	Maddon, JoeJoe Maddon	3–2	Washington Nationals	Baker, DustyDusty Baker
	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts	3–0	Arizona Diamondbacks	Lovullo, ToreyTorey Lovullo
2018	Milwaukee Brewers	Counsell, CraigCraig Counsell	3–0	Colorado Rockies	Black, BudBud Black
	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts	3–1	Atlanta Braves	Snitker, BrianBrian Snitker
2019	Washington Nationals	Martinez, DaveDave Martinez	3–2	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts
	St. Louis Cardinals	Shildt, MikeMike Shildt	3–2	Atlanta Braves	Snitker, BrianBrian Snitker
2020	Atlanta Braves	Snitker, BrianBrian Snitker	3–0	Miami Marlins	Mattingly, DonDon Mattingly
	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts	3–0	San Diego Padres	Tingler, JayceJayce Tingler
2021	Atlanta Braves	Snitker, BrianBrian Snitker	3–1	Milwaukee Brewers	Counsell, CraigCraig Counsell
	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts	3–2	San Francisco Giants	Kapler, GabeGabe Kapler
2022	San Diego Padres	Melvin, BobBob Melvin	3–1	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts
	Philadelphia Phillies	Thomson, RobRob Thomson	3–1	Atlanta Braves	Snitker, BrianBrian Snitker
2023	Philadelphia Phillies	Thomson, RobRob Thomson	3–1	Atlanta Braves	Snitker, BrianBrian Snitker
	Arizona Diamondbacks	Lovullo, ToreyTorey Lovullo	3–0	Los Angeles Dodgers	Roberts, DaveDave Roberts

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 teams that have played each other often in the NLDS:

NOTE: The Houston Astros moved to the American League after the 2012 season. So, the Braves vs. Astros series can't happen in the NLDS anymore.

See also