The History of the Baseball Pennant Race

The pennant refers to baseball's division winners and the champions of the two leagues--American and National--that constitute Major League Baseball. Though overshadowed by the World Series, they are still a huge honor, and many of baseball's most exciting moments have come in pursuit of the pennant.

  1. Early Days

    • Before 1969, there were no playoff rounds like there are in 2009. The team in each league with the best record was declared the pennant winner (champion), and they faced off in the World Series.

    Famous Races

    • A number of pennant races before 1969 were quite close. In 1948, for instance, three different American League teams were in contention for the pennant, while in 1967 four American League teams--the Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox--finished within three games of each other in the final standings.

    Playoff Contention

    • The pennant race changed in 1969, when the Leagues divided into two divisions apiece. From then on, the division pennant winners would meet in a playoff to determine the League pennant winner, rather than it being decided by regular season victories.

    More Close Races

    • The advent of a playoff system didn't prevent tight races for the pennant. In 1993, for example, the Atlanta Braves caught the San Francisco Giants to win their division by one game, while the 1995 California Angels lost a one-game playoff to the Seattle Mariners after finishing the season in a tie.

    Collapses

    • Just as exciting as close pennant races were races in which a team held a seemingly insurmountable lead, only to blow it in the final few weeks of the year. The most famous was the 1978 Red Sox, who lost the American League East pennant after failing in the final stretch against their hated nemesis, the New York Yankees.