Talk of expanding the Major League Baseball Playoffs to 10 teams by adding a wild card team in the American and National Leagues takes us back to the first League Championship Series’ of 1969.
Before that season, MLB had been divided into two leagues for almost 70 years. Beginning in 1903, the winners of each met in the World Series. All of this changed in 1969.
Because of expansion from 16 to 24 teams between 1960 and 1969, baseball decided it was time to add an extra round of post season play. Thus, the baseball playoffs were born with the League Championship Series. This was done by splitting the American and National Leagues into two 6 team divisions of East and West with the winners playing each other in a best of five championship series.
Baseball purists were none too happy. They claimed that splitting the leagues into two divisions would ruin the game. To them a second place team should never get a chance to play in the World Series. Not to mention, the times when a team with the third best record got into the post season.
But the League Championship Series’ were here to stay and baseball playoffs have expanded since.
The 1969 League Championship Series’ were interesting in many ways. First, the two best teams in both leagues would have cruised into the World Series under the old system. The Baltimore Orioles won the AL East by winning 109 games which was 13 better than the AL West champion Minnesota Twins. The New York Mets won the NL East by winning 100 games which was seven better than the NL West champion Atlanta Braves. The disparity in records may have been one of the reasons why none of the American League games sold out.
Second, the Orioles and Mets staved off the purists by sweeping their League Championship Series’ over the Twins and Braves respectively. Though Baltimore had to win the first two games in extra innings, they still got the sweep.
Third, the Mets were the first expansion team to make it to the post season. They had been born in 1962. They would go on to become the first expansion team to win the World Series.
The 1969 NLCS was also the last post season playoff appearance for the Braves Henry Aaron. He batted .357 with three home runs and seven runs batted in. Not too shabby.
Another interesting thing about the 1969 League Championship Series’ is when they were played and the television coverage.
NBC had the rights to major league broadcasts at that time. Since sports in prime time had not become popular yet all of the games were played during the day. This was okay for the first games as they were played on a Saturday. NBC naturally showed a double header.
However, on Sunday the network could only show one game, because of their contract with the American Football League. So instead of both games being televised nationally they were shown regionally.
The third games of the League Championship Series’ overlapped by an hour and a half on Monday and would have on Tuesday and Wednesday if they had gone the distance. This is nothing major today, but in 1969 baseball fans used to having every post season game on TV didn’t like it at all.
Despite the new playoff format the focus was still on the World Series. Most people remember the Mets beating the Orioles for the championship.
Though started in 1969, it would take a few years before the League Championship Series became popular.