The World Series

By Dee Dee Smith

The World Series is the biggest competition of the year in Major League Baseball.  Founded in 1876, MLB is the organizing and managing body of professional baseball in North America.  The league itself is made up of a total of 30 teams from both the United States and Canada.  The MLB divides into the National League and the American League.  Each league splits into the East, Central and West divisions.   

The MLB's regular season begins in early April and continues through late September.  At the completion of the regular season, each league holds a playoff tournament or division championship series.  The Division Series is a competition between the three divisional winners and one wild card team (the team that had the best record amongst the non-division winners). This series is a best of five, so the first team to win three games takes the series.  The final two teams from each league will compete to become their league’s champion. This is a best of seven contest, with the winner advancing to the World Series. 

The World Series is held in early October and is also a best of seven series.  Sometimes the series will go the entire seven games, while other times there is a sweep that ends the contest in four straight games.

The champions of the World Series are awarded the World Series or "Commissioners" Trophy.  This beautiful trophy is made by Tiffany & Company and reproduced each year allowing for the winning team to take possession of the trophy.  Consequently, trophies are typically housed somewhere in the teams home office or stadium.  In a formal presentation, the Commissioner of Baseball presents the trophy to the owner of the winning team at the close of the series. 

As with other major sporting events, both individual gifts and trophies are awarded in the series     First off, every winning player, general manager and coach is given a World Series ring.  Further, the Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award is given to the player deemed as having contributed the most to their team in the World Series competition.  A group of sports writers and MLB officials vote on the winner of the MVP award.  Past winners of this award include Pete Rose, Derek Jeter and Mike Lowell.  Left-handed pitcher Sandy Koufax and right-fielder Reggie Jackson (who made three home runs on first pitches in one game) were named MVP more than once. 

To date, the  New York Yankees have the most World Series wins with 26 championships. 

Did you mean:  The Word Series, The World Serious, The World Seris?