Gaddafi's family flees to Algeria
The Times of India
Dr. King and When Monuments Distort the Messenger and Message
WorldNews.com
La nuova vita di Diego Forlan riparte da Milano: "Era giunto il momento di cambiare, ...
Goal
Hurricane Irene among the costliest catastrophes in the U.S.
Seattle Times
Hurricane Irene: Barack Obama warns effects will be 'felt for some time'
The Daily Telegraph
| Logo | AL logo.png |
|---|---|
| Pixels | 150px |
| Sport | Baseball |
| Founded | January 28, 1901 |
| Teams | 14 |
| Champion | Texas Rangers |
| Most champs | New York Yankees (40) |
| Country |
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, that eventually aspired to major league status. The league is often called the Junior Circuit because it was elevated to Major League status in 1901, 24 years after the formation of the National League (the "Senior Circuit"). The American League champion plays in the World Series against the National League champion after the end of every season. Through the 2010 season, American League teams have won 62 of the 106 World Series played since 1903, with 27 of those coming from the New York Yankees alone. The Texas Rangers are currently the defending American League champions. The New York Yankees have won 40 American League titles, the most in the league's history, followed by the Oakland Athletics (15) and the Boston Red Sox (12).
In 1977, the league expanded to fourteen teams, when the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays were enfranchised. The Toronto franchise was the AL's attempt to compete with the National League's Montreal Expos while the Mariners were added in an attempt to settle a pending $90 million lawsuit against the league by the city of Seattle over the quick departure of the Pilots in 1970.
In 1994, the league, along with the National League, reorganized again, into three divisions (East, West, and Central) and added a third round to the playoffs in the form of the League Divisional Series, with the best second-place team advancing to the playoffs as a wild-card team, in addition to the three divisional champions. In 1998, the newly franchised Tampa Bay Devil Rays joined the league, and the Arizona Diamondbacks joined the National League: i.e., each league each added a fifteenth team. An odd number of teams per league meant that at least one team in each league would have to be idle on any given day, or alternatively that odd team out would have had to play an interleague game against its counterpart in the other league. The initial plan was to have 3 five-team divisions per league with interleague play year-round—possibly as many as 30 interleague games per team each year. For various reasons, it soon seemed more practical to have an even number of teams in both leagues. So, the Milwaukee Brewers agreed to change leagues, moving from the AL Central to the NL Central. (This was the first time since the 1890s that a team had moved from one major league to another.) At the same time, the Detroit Tigers shifted over to the AL Central,making room for the Devil Rays in the East.)
For the first 96 years, American League teams faced their National League counterparts only in exhibition games or in the World Series. Beginning in 1997, interleague games have been played during the regular season and count in the standings. As part of the agreement instituting interleague play, the designated-hitter rule is used only in games where the American League team is the home team. Through the 2009 season, the Yankees have won the most American League pennants (40), followed by the Athletics (15), Red Sox (12), and Tigers (10). Likewise, the Yankees have also won the most World Series (27), with the Athletics second with nine, the Red Sox third with seven and the Tigers fourth with four.
(*)See commentary on Western League page. The Indianapolis and Minneapolis teams were replaced by teams in Baltimore and Philadelphia in 1901, but it is unclear and disputed as to which team went where.
Office eliminated in 1999. Jackie Autry, widow of Los Angeles Angels founder Gene Autry, currently holds the title of Honorary American League President.
Category:Major League Baseball Category:Organizations established in 1901 1
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
