Washington Senators, founding member, moved to the AL West as the Texas Rangers in 1972.Milwaukee Brewers, joined from the AL West, moved to the AL Central in 1994 (later moved to the NL Central in 1998).Detroit Tigers, founding member, moved to the AL Central in 1998.Cleveland Indians, founding member, moved to the AL Central in 1994.Toronto Blue Jays – Joined in 1977 as an expansion team.Known as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays before 2008 Tampa Bay Rays – Joined in 1998 as an expansion team.( September 2021)ĭivision membership The New York Yankees celebrating their 2009 World Series championship Current members This section needs expansion with: history after 1972. The White Sox' pleas notwithstanding, the Brewers, who began as the Seattle Pilots in 1969 and had to endure long divisional road trips to Oakland and Anaheim (and vice-versa) in the AL West, were moved to the AL East. The Twins also argued that the National Football League's Dallas Cowboys played (and still do play) in the NFC East despite being far from the Northeast. The Minnesota Twins went a step further and objected to switching either the White Sox or Brewers out of fear of losing their closest geographic rivals and the Twins, citing the National League's lack of geographic accuracy (which placed the Atlanta Braves in the NL West) in forming its divisions as a reason why the Rangers should not have been shifted out of the East. The Oakland Athletics (formerly from Kansas City and Philadelphia) objected to moving the White Sox to the East owner Charlie Finley was a Chicago native who wanted to continue to make three trips per season with his club to the Second City. The White Sox requested they be moved to the East under the argument of being an original AL franchise and playing most of their longtime rival teams, of which five were in the East. With the Rangers moving to the AL West, the owners then debated whether the Chicago White Sox or Milwaukee Brewers should move to the AL East for 1972. In September 1971, American League owners approved the move of the second Washington Senators franchise to Arlington, Texas, to become the Texas Rangers. ( September 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. The six teams then located in the Eastern Time Zone were all placed in the AL East, with the other six teams making up the AL West. When MLB split into divisions for the 1969 season, the American League, unlike the National League, split its 12 teams strictly on geography. Since the 1995 season, when the wild-card playoff berth was introduced, the AL East has produced 20 of the 32 wild-card teams for the American League, with the AL West sending seven teams, and only five coming from the AL Central. History īaseball writers have long posited that the American League East is the toughest division in MLB during its 50-year existence, an AL East team has gone on to play in the World Series 27 times, and 16 of those teams have been crowned World Series champions. At the end of the Major League Baseball season, the team with the best record in the division earns one of the AL's six playoff spots. It is currently the only division that contains a non-American team. Before that time, each league consisted of 10 teams without any divisions.įour of the division's five teams are located in the Eastern United States, with the other team, the Toronto Blue Jays, in Eastern Canada. This division was created before the start of the 1969 season along with the American League West division. MLB consists of an East, Central, and West division for each of its two 15-team leagues, the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The American League East is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. A partial view of the Green Monster at Fenway Park, with the final standings of the AL East at the conclusion of the 2007 season
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