In Major League Baseball, the National League Division Series (NLDS) determines which two teams from the National League will advance to the National League Championship Series. The Division Series consists of two best-of-five series, featuring each of the two division winners with the best records and the winners of the wild-card play-offs.
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the American League's eight charter teams in 1901, the franchise spent its first year as a major league club in Milwaukee as the Milwaukee Brewers before moving to St. Louis to become the St. Louis Browns in 1902. After 52 years in St. Louis, the franchise was purchased in 1953 by a syndicate of Baltimore business and civic interests, led by attorney and civic activist Clarence Miles and Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro Jr. The team's current owner is David Rubenstein. The Orioles' home ballpark is Oriole Park at Camden Yards, which opened in 1992 in downtown Baltimore. The oriole is the official state bird of Maryland; the name has been used by several baseball clubs in the city, including another AL charter member franchise which folded after the 1902 season and was replaced the next year by the New York Highlanders, later the Yankees. Nicknames for the team include the "O's" and the "Birds".
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major league status. It is sometimes called the Junior Circuit because it claimed Major League status for the 1901 season, 25 years after the formation of the National League.
William Nathaniel "Buck" Showalter III is an American professional baseball manager. He served as manager of the New York Yankees (1992–1995), Arizona Diamondbacks (1998–2000), Texas Rangers (2003–2006), Baltimore Orioles (2010–2018) and New York Mets (2022–2023). He also is a former professional Minor League Baseball player and television analyst for ESPN and the YES Network.
John Rikard Dempsey is an American former professional baseball player. He played for 24 seasons as a catcher in Major League Baseball from 1969 to 1992, most prominently for the Baltimore Orioles where he played for 10 years and was a member of the 1983 World Series winning team. Dempsey was known for being one of the best defensive catchers of his era. In 1997, he was inducted into the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame.
The 1909 major league baseball season began on April 12, 1909. The regular season ended on October 7, with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Detroit Tigers as regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the sixth modern World Series on October 8 and ended with Game 7 on October 16. The Pirates defeated the Tigers, four games to three.
The 1951 major league baseball season began on April 16, 1951. The regular season ended on October 3, with the New York Giants and New York Yankees as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The Giants defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in a regular season best-of-three tiebreaker, for the National League title, after both teams finished their 154-game schedules with identical 96–58 records. This was the third regular season tie-breaker, and saw a reversion from the single-game tie-breaker featured in 1948 to the three-game format featured in the 1946 tie-breaker series. After splitting the first two games, the stage was set for a decisive third game, won in dramatic fashion on a walk-off home run from the bat of Giant Bobby Thomson, one of the most famous moments in the history of baseball, commemorated as the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" and "The Miracle at Coogan's Bluff". The postseason began with Game 1 of the 48th World Series on October 4 and ended with Game 6 on October 10. The Yankees defeated the Giants, four games to two, capturing the 14th championship in franchise history, in the midst of a 5-year World Series winning streak.
The 1946 major league baseball season began on April 16, 1946. The regular season ended on October 3, with the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The Cardinals defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in a regular season best-of-three tiebreaker, for the National League title, after both teams finished their 154-game schedules with identical 96–58 records. It was Major League Baseball's first-ever regular season tie-breaker. The postseason began with Game 1 of the 43rd World Series on October 6 and ended with Game 7 on October 15. The Cardinals defeated the Red Sox, four games to three.
The Wild Card Series are games that serve as the opening round of the Major League Baseball (MLB) postseason. A single wild card game was instituted in 2012. This became a best-of-three playoff wild card series in 2020 as a one-off, and became permanent starting in the 2022 season.
The 2016 American League Wild Card Game was a play-in game during Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2016 postseason played between the American League's (AL) two wild card teams, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Baltimore Orioles. As both teams finished with identical 89–73 records, a tiebreaker was used to determine the host team. In accordance with MLB tiebreaking rules, the Blue Jays earned the right to host the game by winning their season series against the Orioles 10–9.
The Wichita Indians were a minor league baseball franchise based in Wichita, Kansas. The "Indians" played as members of the Class A level Western League from 1950 to 1955, winning the 1955 league Championship. The Wichita Indians were an affiliate of the 1950 St. Louis Browns in 1950, Cleveland Indians from 1951 to 1952, St. Louis Browns in 1953 and Baltimore Orioles in 1954 and 1955.
The Ada Herefords was a minor league baseball team based in Ada, Oklahoma. From 1947 to 1954, the Herefords played exclusively as a member of the Class D level Sooner State League, winning the league pennant in 1950. The Herefords were a minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Browns from 1947 to 1953 and remained an affiliate when St. Louis relocated to become the Baltimore Orioles in 1954. Ada Hosted minor league home games at Hereford Park.
The 2012 Major League Baseball postseason was the playoff tournament of Major League Baseball for the 2012 season. The winners of the Division Series moved on to the League Championship Series to determine the pennant winners that face each other in the World Series. A new Wild Card Game was introduced as the opening round of the postseason, which features the #4 and #5 seeds of each league, and the winner faced the team with the best record in the Division Series, marking the first expansion of the postseason since 1995. As a result of this new format, two teams from the same division can now meet in the Division Series. In the past, if the team with the best record in their league and the wild card resided in the same division, the wild card would instead be assigned to face the second-seeded division champion while the team with the best record in their league to face the third-seeded division champion. This meant that the only way two teams in the same division could meet in the postseason would be the League Championship Series, provided both teams won their respective Division Series.
The 2014 Major League Baseball postseason was the playoff tournament of Major League Baseball for the 2014 season. The winners of the Division Series would move on to the League Championship Series to determine the pennant winners that face each other in the World Series.
The 2024 American League Wild Card Series were the two best-of-three playoff series in Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2024 postseason that determined the participating teams of the 2024 American League Division Series (ALDS). Matching with the NL Wild Card, both matchups began on October 1, with Game 2s on October 2. ESPN broadcast both Wild Card Series in the United States together with ESPN Radio.
