American vs. National League Baseball: The Success of Regular Season Champions

With the advent of the World Series in 1903, the regular season started to become less important in baseball. This trend of devaluing the regular season continued in 1969 with the creation of the League Championship Series and furthermore in 1994 with the creation of the wild card and the Divisional Series.

While the MLB has theoretically devalued the postseason, what has happened historically? Do the numbers support the fact that having the best record in all of baseball means less as the playoffs have expanded?

Taking it a step further, is there a difference in the success rate of MLB regular season champions based on the league in which they play? Does one league have an advantage over the other league? Is the success consistent as the playoffs have expanded? And if there is a difference, what could have caused it?

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Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/853301-al-vs-nl-the-success-of-regular-season-champions

Lars Eller Hal Gill John Madden Petr Kalus Colton Gilies Justin Falk