The Babe Ruth Award is given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) player with the best performance in the postseason . The award, created in honor of Babe Ruth , was first awarded in 1949 to New York Yankee pitcher, Joe Page , the MVP of the World Series , one year after Ruth's death. The award was created by the New York City chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). It continued to be awarded exclusively for performances in the World Series until 2007, when the New York chapter of the BBWAA changed the award to cover the entire postseason. Though it is older than the World Series Most Valuable Player Award , which was not created until 1955 (as the " SPORT Magazine Award "), the Babe Ruth Award is considered less prestigious, because it is not sanctioned by MLB and is awarded several weeks after the World Series.
12-815: MLB expanded its postseason to include the League Championship Series (LCS) in 1969 , the League Division Series (LDS) in 1995 , and the Wild Card round in 2012. The Wild Card Series is a best-of-three playoff format , the LDS follows a best-of-five playoff format , and the LCS and World Series follow a best-of-seven playoff format. In 2020, the Los Angeles Dodgers , won the 2020 World Series , but Randy Arozarena of
24-768: The Kansas City Royals defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in the seventh game of the I-70 World Series . Bret Saberhagen , the regular season Cy Young Award winner, was named MVP of the Series. The National League won the All-Star Game for the second straight year. The League Championship Series playoffs were expanded to a best-of-seven format beginning this year, and both leagues ended up settling their pennant winners in more than five games, with
36-601: The Tampa Bay Rays was named winner of the Babe Ruth Award. Ruth was a noted slugger who batted .326 with 15 home runs and three wins in three games started as a pitcher during World Series play. However, the Babe Ruth Award does not only go to sluggers or pitchers. Dick Green won the award for the 1974 World Series , in which he batted 0-for-13, but helped the Oakland Athletics win
48-451: The LCS was allocated on a rotating basis between the two (three from 1995 through 1997 ) division champions; since 1998, that advantage is given to the team with the better regular season record, except that if a division champion faces a wild card team, the division champion always gets home-field advantage regardless of record. As of 2024 , all thirty MLB teams have reached the LCS at least once. The Houston Astros and Milwaukee Brewers are
60-585: The Royals beating the Toronto Blue Jays in seven games, and the Cardinals beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games. This was the first full season for Peter Ueberroth as commissioner. There was a brief interruption during the regular season. The 1985 Major League Baseball strike occurred August 6 and 7, lasting only two days. The 25 cancelled games were for the most part made up later on in
72-605: The World Series–losing team. Two players, Sandy Koufax and Jack Morris , have won the award twice. League Championship Series The League Championship Series ( LCS ) is the semifinal round of postseason play in Major League Baseball which has been conducted since 1969 . In 1981 , and since 1995 , the two annual series have matched up the winners of the Division Series , and
84-610: The former and the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots (now the Milwaukee Brewers of the NL) to the latter. Both leagues then formed Eastern and Western Divisions, the first-place teams from which faced off in the LCS. For its first sixteen seasons, the League Championship Series were best-of-five , using the 2–3 format in which the team without home field advantage hosted the first two games, and
96-720: The only teams to have played in both the ALCS and NLCS. Four teams have never lost an LCS: the Colorado Rockies (won in 2007 ), the Miami Marlins (won as the Florida Marlins in 1997 and 2003 ), the Tampa Bay Rays (won in 2008 and 2020 ), and the Texas Rangers (won in 2010 , 2011 , and 2023 ). 1985 Major League Baseball season The 1985 Major League Baseball season ended with
108-418: The series at home and playing the next three games on the road, before returning home for two more possible games. The disadvantaged team would have had more games played at home than on the road if the series ends in five games. Since 1995 , the LCS has matched up the winners of the Division Series , which were added when both leagues realigned into three divisions. Until 1998 , the home-field advantage in
120-586: The series with his defense. Joe Page of the New York Yankees was the first winner of the Babe Ruth Award, and Jonathan Papelbon of the Boston Red Sox was the first winner since the award criteria changed to cover the entire postseason. In all, members of the Yankees have won the award sixteen times. Luis Tiant and Randy Arozarena are the only winners of the Babe Ruth Award to play for
132-443: The team with it hosted the rest of the LCS, making it impossible for the disadvantaged team to win the series at home. It also allowed those teams the unusual luxury of starting a series at home, possibly having home-field advantage in a three-game series, and a guarantee that they play two games at home. In 1985 , the LCS was lengthened to best-of-seven games in the 2–3–2 format with the team holding home-field advantage opening
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#1732775304848144-752: The winners advance to meet in the World Series . The LCS comprises the American League Championship Series (ALCS) and National League Championship Series (NLCS). The League Championship Series was created in 1969 , when both the National League and the American League increased in size from ten teams to twelve with the addition, via expansion , of the Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres to
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