The penultimate round of the MLB postseason, a run to the LCS typically constitutes a deep playoff run in today’s format – although it wasn’t always that way.
While the calendar has yet to flip to October, the MLB postseason officially gets underway on Tuesday with the start of the Wild Card Round, pitting the bottom four playoff teams in each league against each other in an intense best-of-three meeting.
The 2026 season marks the fifth year that this playoff format is in use, which marked a discontinuation of the winner-take-all Wild Card Game that was used from 2012 to 2021, with a one-year interruption during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
In the modern playoff format, particularly for Wild Card teams that did not earn a first-round bye, getting to the World Series is an albatross of its own once reaching the postseason, requiring nine wins (seven wins for teams that go straight to the LDS) to merely reach the Fall Classic.
Seasoned baseball fans are likely familiar with the term “pennant race” – one that’s still used today despite the fact that its meaning has been long gone from the league. For essentially all of early MLB history, the World Series was the lone round of the playoffs, with the regular season league champion from the NL and AL meeting each other in the Fall Classic.
This was finally changed in 1969 as the league added divisions as a product of continued expansion. The League Championship Series was born that season, initially serving as a best-of-five round between the two division champions of each league with the winner advancing to the World Series. The LCS was switched to a best-of-seven format in 1985, and has remained that way since.
Of course, the playoffs have continued to expand in the years since. A third division to each league was added ahead of the strike-shortened 1994 season, making the 1995 playoffs the first instance of the Wild Card being in play and the existence of the League Division Series – which remains a best-of-five round today.
In many ways, the path to the LCS has become more difficult since its introduction in 1969 – but it’s also remarkably easier to make the playoffs in the first place, doing away with the concern that amazing teams could be blocked from the playoffs entirely due to an incredibly competitive division.
The final year of LCS exclusivity perhaps served as the perfect example for why two playoff teams were being added in each league, with the 1993 San Francisco Giants missing the playoffs despite finishing with a 103-59 record – one game behind the juggernaut Atlanta Braves who won the NL West that season.
On the opposite end of that spectrum, fans this year are treated to the worst playoff team we’ve ever seen in a 162-game season, with the 81-81 Houston Astros emerging as the best team in the very lackluster AL West of 2026.
While the paths to the LCS have widely varied, it remains a remarkable accomplishment for all but the most championship-hungry of teams – with the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers certainly fitting that bill this season.
Beginning with the most recent occurrences, here’s a look at the last time each MLB team made a run to a League Championship Series:
2025
- Los Angeles Dodgers
- Milwaukee Brewers
- Toronto Blue Jays
- Seattle Mariners
2024
- New York Mets
- New York Yankees
- Cleveland Guardians
2023
- Texas Rangers
- Houston Astros
- Arizona Diamondbacks
- Philadelphia Phillies
2022
- San Diego Padres
2021
- Boston Red Sox
- Atlanta Braves
2020
- Tampa Bay Rays
2019
- Washington Nationals
- St. Louis Cardinals
2017
- Chicago Cubs
2015
- Kansas City Royals
2014
- San Francisco Giants
- Baltimore Orioles
2013
- Detroit Tigers
2009
- Los Angeles Angels
2007
- Colorado Rockies
2006
- Athletics
2005
- Chicago White Sox
2003
- Miami Marlins
2002
- Minnesota Twins
1995
- Cincinnati Reds
1992
- Pittsburgh Pirates
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