Through 1993, home field advantage in the World Series alternated from year to year between the National League and the American League, with the AL pennant winner getting the extra home game in odd-numbered years and the NL pennant winner getting the extra home game in even-numbered years.
After there was no World Series at all in 1994 due to a strike, the format was reversed, and the National League champion got the home-field advantage in odd-numbered years and the American League champion got it in even-numbered years.
After the 2002 All-Star Game ended in a tie, Major League Baseball conducted its disastrous experiment under which the league that won the All-Star Game would have home-field advantage in the World Series.
After a steadily growing public outcry, the owners listened to the Major League Baseball Players' Association, who lobbied for the home field advantage in the World Series to be awarded to the team that finished with the better regular-season record, subject to tie-breakers (greatly simplified in 2023, when every team started playing one interleague opponent four times and the other 14 three times) if the two pennant winners had finished with the same record. This went into effect in 2017.
Since then, these are the teams that have finished with the best record in the majors:
Year--------------------Team---------------------------W----------L---------Pct.
2017--------------------L.A. Dodgers----------------104--------58--------.642
2018--------------------Boston------------------------108--------54--------.667
2019--------------------Houston----------------------107--------55--------.660
2020--------------------L.A. Dodgers-----------------43--------17--------.717
2021--------------------San Francisco--------------107--------55--------.660
2022--------------------L.A. Dodgers----------------111--------51--------.685
2023--------------------Atlanta------------------------104--------58--------.642
By contrast, as of Tuesday morning, the MLB "leader board" read as follows:
Team---------------------------------------W----------L----------Pct.-----------GB
L.A. Dodgers-----------------------------78---------53---------.595----------- -
N.Y. Yankees-----------------------------78---------54---------.591-----------0.5
Philadelphia------------------------------77---------54---------.588---------- 1.0
Milwaukee--------------------------------75---------55---------.577---------- 2.5
Baltimore----------------------------------76---------56---------.576----------2.5
Arizona------------------------------------75---------56---------.573-----------3.0
Cleveland---------------------------------75---------57---------.568-----------3.5
San Diego---------------------------------75---------58---------.564-----------4.0
Kansas City-------------------------------74---------58---------.561-----------4.5
That's nine teams within less than five games of each other — and it's coming up on September!
And not since 2014 has no team in either league managed even so much as a .600 winning percentage — and just think: the NFL, which has overtaken baseball as the national pastime, openly promotes "parity."
But right now, the Dodgers appear to be peaking at the right time — and they're a majors-best 43-23 at home, giving them all the incentive in the world to want to secure the home field edge throughout the postseason.
And to think that they had never won a World Series until 1955.
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