[Le Grande Orange]

Someone's pitching into my wheelhouse I see.

Originally Posted by bwburke94

Pre-1922 formats varied depending on the distance between the cities...

That, and also coin tosses. That is, the site where the first game(s) would be played, sometimes along with where the final game of the series would be played, were determined by coin tosses. This was true up to and including the 1924 World Series. The 2-3-2 pattern, with the start site alternating between leagues, wasn't formally adopted until 1925 (and even then there were apparently some exceptions permitted through 1934).

Originally Posted by bwburke94

**1994-1997: Home team is the winner of the series that did not contain the wild card

1994: AL West @ AL East, AL WC @ AL Central, NL Central @ NL East, NL WC @ NL West
1995: AL East @ AL Central, AL WC @ AL West, NL West @ NL Central, NL WC @ NL East
1996: AL Central @ AL West, AL WC @ AL East, NL East @ NL West, NL WC @ NL Central
1997: AL West @ AL East, AL WC @ AL Central, NL Central @ NL East, NL WC @ NL West

For those wondering how it really worked from 1994-97, certain divisions were assigned home field advantage for the playoffs. If a matchup had two clubs with neither having the assigned home field advantage, then the matchups were changed.

Here is how home field advantage was assigned to the divisions:

1994: AL East*, AL Central; NL Central, NL West*
1995: AL East, AL West*; NL East, NL Central*
1996: AL Central*, AL West; NL East*, NL West
1997: AL East*, AL Central; NL Central, NL West*

Divisions marked with an * also received home field advantage for the LCS, or it went to the club that defeated them (excluding the wild card).

Here's an example of how this arrangement affected the matchups for the Division Series. In 1995 the AL standings looked like this:

1. Cleveland  AL Central  .694
2. Boston     AL EAST     .597
3. Seattle    AL WEST*    .544
==============================
4. New York   AL East     .548

Under current rules, the matchups would be New York vs. Cleveland and Seattle vs. Boston, with Cleveland and Boston having home field advantage in the series, respectively.

But because home field advantage was assigned to the East and West divisions, New York can't play Cleveland since Cleveland doesn't have home field advantage. It can't play Boston either since they are both from the same division. So New York plays Seattle and Cleveland plays Boston, with Seattle and Boston having the home field advantage. If Seattle wins it gets home field advantage for the ALCS; if it loses then the winner of Boston/Cleveland gets home field advantage since New York, as a wild card, never gets home field advantage.

It is perhaps easier to see how the matchups work by rearranging the standings. First, order by record the two clubs from the divisions assigned home field advantage; third place goes to the remaining division winner; and fourth place goes to the wild card qualifier. The 1995 AL standings now look like this:

1. Boston     AL EAST     .597
2. Seattle    AL WEST*    .544
------------------------------
3. Cleveland  AL Central  .694
==============================
4. New York   AL East     .548

Now it's clear how the matchups work. #3 plays #2 and #4 plays #1, unless they are from the same division, in which case #4 plays #2 and #3 plays #1. Which is exactly how the matchups in 1995 actually proceeded.