After the unusual circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic created a one-off situation in 2020, the home advantage rules for the World Series are back up to scratch.
The host privileges for the autumn classics 2021 go to the team with the best profit share of the regular season. If each World Series team has the same percentage of wins in the regular season, the tiebreakers will be performed in the following order:
• Which league champions had the better record in direct duels against the other champions during the regular season
• The league champion with the better record against teams in their own league
• The league champion with the better record against teams in his own league (record of the National League club against NL teams and the American League teams against AL teams)
The 2021 postseason holds a potential quirk as the Dodgers finished second with 106 wins behind the Giants with 107 wins in the National League West division. That forced the Dodgers to beat the Cardinals in the NL Wild Card Game in order to be promoted to the NLDS against San Francisco. Should Los Angeles prevail in Winner-Take-All-NLDS Game 5 on Thursday, it would be not enjoys the home advantage against the NL Ostmeister Braves (88-73 regular season record) in the best-of-seven NLCS due to his wild card status.
However, should the Dodgers get past the Braves in this hypothetical Los Angeles? want enjoy the home advantage against the AL champion in the World Series due to the Fall Classic rule that the team with the best percentage of the regular season wins games 1, 2, 6 and 7.
Remaining post-season teams in 2021, after regular win of the season in%
- Giants: .660
- Dodger: .654
- Astros: .586
- Red Sox: .568
- Braves: .547
This current format wasn’t installed until 2017, and in fact there were four different sets of World Series home advantage rules in the 21st century alone.
The coronavirus pandemic naturally brought with it numerous changes in the 2020 MLB season that extend through to the ultimate phase of the sport. The 116th World Series between the Dodgers and Rays took place at a neutral venue for the first time in history – the brand new Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas – as part of the MLB’s efforts to minimize exposure to the coronavirus. It was also the first Fall Classic played in a single stadium since 1944, when the Browns and Cardinals competed at their shared home, Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis.
Fortunately, this was a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon as publicly available vaccinations against COVID-19 allowed MLB stadiums to return to full capacity in 2021 for the first time in 2017.
From 2003-16, the team from the league that won the All-Star Game of the Year received World Series home advantage, a rule introduced after a 7-7 tie in the 2002 Midsummer Classic. And in the previous 98 editions of the World Series, home advantage simply switched between AL and NL depending on whether it was an odd or an even year.
Now that the real home edge is back, how much of a difference does that make? According to Elias Sports Bureau, 63 of the 106 teams (59%) who played the first two World Series games before 2020 at home won the championship, and 17 of the 25 (68%) teams who played World Series home games. Field advantage in the wild card era (since 1995) also increased the Commissioner’s Trophy.
But on the flip side, the home teams have a record loss (19-21) when the series goes to a crucial winner-take-all competition (aka Game 7 in Modern Times) – and fans have just seen a one-off – a-kind Fall Classic in 2019, when the Nationals beat the Astros in a seven-game series in which the home team didn’t win a single competition.
