The wild card was established for

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

's playoffs in with the intention of helping the best teams that did not win their division to still have a chance to win the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

. The restructuring of both the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

and

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

from two to three divisions each made it necessary to either give one team a bye in the first round of playoffs, or create the wild card for the best second-place team. In addition, the wild card guaranteed that the team with the second-best record in each league would qualify for the playoffs, even if they were in the same division with the team having the best record. As the 1994 postseason was canceled due to the

1994–95 Major League Baseball strike The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike was the eighth and longest work stoppage in baseball history, as well as the fourth in-season work stoppage in 22 years. The strike began on August 12, 1994, and resulted in the remainder of that seaso ...

, was the first postseason with a wild card team. Beginning in 2012, a second wild card team was added to each league. The two wild card teams in each league face each other in a one-game playoff, the Wild Card Game, with the winner advancing to meet the number one seed in the

Division Series The Division Series is the quarterfinal round of the Major League Baseball playoffs. Four series are played in this round, two each for both the American League and the National League. 1981 season The first use of the term "Division Series" date ...

. For the 2020 postseason only, the field expanded to include three second-place teams per division, followed by the wild card teams represented by the next two best records from each league. All eight teams played in a best-of-three Wild Card Series. Starting in 2022, a third wild card team was added to each league. The lowest-seeded wild card team (#6 seed) would then face the lowest-seeded division winner (#3 seed) in the best-of-three Wild Card round, with the remaining two Wild Card teams (#4 and #5 seed) squaring off in the other bracket. The Division Series will then have the top-seed play the fourth-fifth winner, while the runner-up plays the third-sixth winner. The brackets remain fixed, with no re-seeding.

NL Wild Card qualifiers by year

Through the 2022 postseason, every National League team has qualified as a wild card at least once, with the Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres the last teams to do so. (However, the Padres did win the postseason wild card round in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

, under MLB's modified playoff format that year, though not having the best record in the NL West.) The Colorado Rockies have been a wild card qualifier an NL record five times, followed by the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals with four each. Through the 2020 postseason, five NL wild card teams have gone on to win the World Series (Florida in 1997 and 2003, St. Louis in 2011, San Francisco in 2014 and Washington in 2019). Four teams won the NL pennant but lost the World Series (New York in 2000, San Francisco in 2002, Houston in 2005, and Colorado in 2007). Four other teams won a division series but lost the championship series, most recently Chicago in 2015.

Most NL Wild Card appearances

Notes: * The Houston Astros have competed in the American League since 2013. * The Miami Marlins were known as the Florida Marlins before 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:National League Wild Card Winners National Wild Card

NL Wild Card qualifiers by year

Most NL Wild Card appearances

See also

References