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In Major League Baseball , the American League Division Series ('''ALDS''') determines which two teams from the American League will advance to the American League Championship Series . The ALDS consists of two best-of-five series, featuring the three division winners and a Wild-card team. The Division Series was created after the 1993 season when Major League Baseball restructured each league into three divisions, but they were first played in 1995 due to The Cancellation Of The 1994 Playoffs . Incidentally, because of a Players' Strike in 1981 , a split-season format forced a divisional playoff series that year, where the New York Yankees won the Eastern Division series over the Milwaukee Brewers (who were in the American League until 1998 ) in five games while the Oakland Athletics swept the Kansas City Royals in three games in the Western Division. Typically, the wild-card team is assigned to play the division winner with the best winning percentage in one series, and the other two division winners play the other series. However, if the wild-card team and the division winner with the best record are from the same division, the wild-card team plays the division winner with the second-best record, and the remaining two division winners play. In any event, the two series winners move on to the best-of-seven ALCS. Since the ALDS's inception, several pairs of opponents have met more than once. The Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox played in 1995 , 1998 , and 1999 , and the Texas Rangers played the New York Yankees in 1996 , 1998 , and 1999 . Also, three matchups have occurred twice, all including the Yankees; they played the Oakland Athletics in 2000 and 2001 , the Anaheim-LA Angels in 2002 and 2005 , and the Minnesota Twins in 2003 and 2004 . There is currently no award for Division Series Most Valuable Player. ALDS RESULTS (1994-PRESENT) †''Denotes wild-card team.'' SEE ALSO
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