The National League Championship Series (NLCS) is the biggest stage in NL baseball, with the two best teams in the league battling out a seven game series to move on to represent the league in the World Series, and if you have NLCS tickets you are in for quite a time. The two teams are decided by who wins out in the NLDS and is widely understood to be the best two teams in the league, at that moment at any rate. The NLCS dates back to 1969, before which the World Series representative was decided by the team with the best record. However in 1969 the National League was reorganized into two divisions, east and west, and division winners would meet in the NLCS.

At first the NLCS was a best of five series, however in 1985 it became a best of seven series. The team with the better regular season is given home field advantage, unless that team is the wild card, who can never be given home field advantage. The first two games are played at the team with home field advantage, after which the series moves to the visitor for three games. When necessary, the series comes back to the home field for games six and seven. Prior to 1993, the teams in the NLCS were the two teams with that won their divisions, however starting with the 1995 season the NL was rearranged to have three divisions, who would compete in the NLDS, along with the wild card. The first team to win the NLCS was the New York Mets in 1969. That year the Mets were also the first team to sweep a best of five series. In 1977, the league began awarding Most valuable Player Awards, and Dusty Baker of the LA Dodgers was the first to win the NLCS MVP.

Year	Winner	Loser	Wins	Losses
1969	New York Mets	Atlanta Braves	3	0
1970	Cincinnati Reds	Pittsburgh Pirates	3	0
1971	Pittsburgh Pirates	San Francisco Giants	3	1
1972	Cincinnati Reds	Pittsburgh Pirates	3	2
1973	New York Mets	Cincinnati Reds	3	2
1974	Los Angeles Dodgers	Pittsburgh Pirates	3	1
1975	Cincinnati Reds	Pittsburgh Pirates	3	0
1976	Cincinnati Reds	Philadelphia Phillies	3	0
1977	Los Angeles Dodgers	Philadelphia Phillies	3	1
1978	Los Angeles Dodgers	Philadelphia Phillies	3	1
1979	Pittsburgh Pirates	Cincinnati Reds	3	0
1980	Philadelphia Phillies	Houston Astros	3	2
1981	Los Angeles Dodgers	Montreal Expos	3	2
1982	St. Louis Cardinals	Atlanta Braves	3	0
1983	Philadelphia Phillies	Los Angeles Dodgers	3	1
1984	San Diego Padres	Chicago Cubs	3	2
1985	St. Louis Cardinals	Los Angeles Dodgers	4	2
1986	New York Mets	Houston Astros	4	2
1987	St. Louis Cardinals	San Francisco Giants	4	3
1988	Los Angeles Dodgers	New York Mets	4	3
1989	San Francisco Giants	Chicago Cubs	4	1
1990	Cincinnati Reds	Pittsburgh Pirates	4	2
1991	Atlanta Braves	Pittsburgh Pirates	4	3
1992	Atlanta Braves	Pittsburgh Pirates	4	3
1993	Philadelphia Phillies	Atlanta Braves	4	2
1994	Players Strike
1995	Atlanta Braves	Cincinnati Reds	4	0
1996	Atlanta Braves	St. Louis Cardinals	4	3
1997	Florida Marlins	Atlanta Braves	4	2
1998	San Diego Padres	Atlanta Braves	4	2
1999	Atlanta Braves	New York Mets	4	2
2000	New York Mets	St. Louis Cardinals	4	1
2001	Arizona Diamondbacks	Atlanta Braves	4	1
2002	San Francisco Giants	St. Louis Cardinals	4	1
2003	Florida Marlins	Chicago Cubs	4	3
2004	St. Louis Cardinals	Houston Astros	4	3
2005	Houston Astros	St. Louis Cardinals	4	2
2006	St. Louis Cardinals	New York Mets	4	3
2007	Colorado Rockies	Arizona Diamondbacks	4	0
2008	Philadelphia Phillies	Los Angeles Dodgers	4	1

Get back to the MLB Playoff tickets.