Division Series

From BR Bullpen

A 5 game series that began play in 1995 with the introduction of the Wild Card. The first Division Series under this format should have been played in 1994, but were cancelled by the 1994 strike. There are four Division Series, two in each league. The division winner with the best record plays the wild card team and the other two division winners play to go to the League Championship Series. In the case that the Wild Card team is in the same division as the top division winner then the team with the second best record would play the Wild Card team.

There were also Division Series played on a one-off basis in 1981 as a result of the 1981 Split Season Schedule. These opposed the first half and second half winners in each of the four divisions which existed at the time.