Division Series Playoff History

54 Division Series have had a team win the first two games in a row and 35 ended in sweeps, while nine took four games to decide. So far, 10 went the distance. Fans love it when the series go the distance. Of those last 10, seven were "nail-biters", where the team that was down 0-2 have comeback to win the series.

Since 1998, in one series, the wild-card team is assigned to play the division winner with the best winning percentage (of course, outside of their own division). The other two division winners meet in the other series. The two series winners then meet for the best-of-seven American League Championship Series. Home field advantage goes to the team with the better regular season record, except for the wild card team, which never receives the home field advantage.

Recently Major League Baseball has created a new rule to give the team from the league that wins the All-Star Game and has the best regular season record a slight advantage. Starting in 2007, Major League Baseball has allowed the team with the best American League record to choose whether to use the seven-day schedule (1-2-off-3-4-off-5) or the eight-day schedule (1-off-2-off-3-4-off-5).

The home field advantage

That team gets to choose the series schedule rotation. Their opponent is still determined by win-loss records. Currently, the Division Series follows a 2-2-1 format. The higher of the seeds plays at home in the first two games of the series. The lower seed plays at home in Game 3 (and 4 if necessary). And, if Game 5 is needed to determine a series champ, the teams return to the number 1 seed's home field.

Very uncommon and very fun to watch, a comeback from an 0-2 deficit is a cherished fan delight. Only one team has ever come back from losing the first two games of a best-of-five series at home: the 2001 Yankees. They came back against the A's in what fans call the "Jeter flip" game. That Yankees team was the only comeback team to also win their next series, beating the Mariners (who had won 116 games that season, a high amount), but they fell to the Diamondbacks in Game 7 of the World Series.