What is a Pennant in Baseball?

In Major League Baseball, a pennant is the championship for either each division in baseball, or for one of the two leagues: the American League or the National League. The two league pennant winners face off in the World Series each year.

  1. No Playoffs

    • For most of MLB's history, each league only had eight teams. That precluded the need for a playoff system: the team in each league with the best record at the end of the season won the pennant.

    1969

    • Playoffs started in 1969, when the leagues expanded into two divisions. The pennant winners in each division then met in a playoff series to decide who won the league pennant.

    The Division Series

    • Baseball continued to add new teams, which necessitated creating further divisions in each league. A second round of league playoffs was added in 1993 to accommodate them. The best non-pennant winner in each league is considered a "wild card" and makes the playoffs.

    Great Pennant Chases

    • Great pennant chases have included the 1967 American League chase, in which four of the eight teams vied for supremacy, and the 1948 American League chase, which involved three teams.

    Collapses

    • A pennant collapse--in which a team with a huge lead in the standings blows it in the final weeks--ranks among the most painful incidents in sports. Notable collapses include the 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers, the 1964 Philadelphia Phillies, the 1978 Boston Red Sox and the 2007 New York Mets.