New York Yankees Looking for 41st Pennant: Number of Pennants (World Series Appearances) by Team

Long-Time Yankees Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera Celebrate the Yankees' 50th Postseason Appearance (Getty)

The New York Yankees have clinched yet another playoff berth.  That’s 16 of the last 17 years if you’re counting.  The franchise has the most postseason appearances, with a nice round 50…and also the most pennants (or World Series appearances if you prefer) with 40.

Who’s next?  The St. Louis Cardinals? Nope.  Think back to the heydey of baseball in New York City – Yankees and Dodgers and Giants. Oh my.  Back then a team won the pennant just by winning the league, and went straight to the World Series.

There were no playoffs until 1969.  Since then, a team must get through at least one additional same-league opponent to win the pennant and make it to the World Series.

Between 1969 and 1993 (excepting 1981), there was one round of league playoffs.  After the 1994 strike which cancelled the World Series, baseball instituted the Wild Card in 1995, adding another playoff round.

Don’t be surprised if yet another round is added in the near future.

Here are the number of pennants won by every team/franchise.  To see which older franchises roll up into the ones below, check out this earlier Sports List of the Day piece: History of Baseball Team Name Changes.

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