World Series appeared in 9 and won 5. As of 2018, no team has won consecutive World Series championships since the New York Yankees in , , and —the longest such drought in Major League Baseball history. Until the formation of the American Association in 1882 as a second major league, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (1871–1875) and then the National League (founded 1876) represented the top level of organized baseball in the United States. All championships were awarded to the team with the best record at the end of the season, without a postseason series being played. From
1997 World Series longest championship drought, having last won in 1948. This marked the first time since that NBC televised a World Series in its entirety. In , NBC televised Games 2, 3, and 6, while rival ABC televised Games 1, 4, and 5, having split that series since ABC was promised the strike-cancelled 1994 World Series. Both networks had announced prior to the 1995 season, that they were bailing out what was initially a six-year-long revenue sharing joint venture with Major League Baseball called "The Baseball Network". Starting with the 1996 World Series, Fox and NBC would alternate World Series broadcast rights