TSNumber 7

Sporting News, The, Nov 1, 1999

The consecutive World Series championships that East Division teams will have won at the conclusion of this year's fall classic. Not since the A.L. West Twins' 1991 Series title has a non-East team taken home the big prize. (There was no Series in 1994.) The A.L. Central's Indians posed the biggest threat from an "outsider," taking a lead into the ninth inning of Game 7 in 1997 before losing to the Marlins in 11 innings.

The East divisions could want no better representation than the Braves, the team that won the most major league games in the '90s, and the Yankees, who entered this season's World Series with 24 titles. The West and Central divisions, meanwhile, were represented by historically challenged franchises this year--the expansion Diamondbacks, the Indians (last Series title in '48) and the playoff-sorry Astros and Rangers, neither of whom have won a postseason series.