The 1994 World Series was the scheduled championship series of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

's (MLB) 1994 season. It was canceled due to a

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...

by the MLB Players Association. The cancelation marked the second time (and to date last) a World Series was not played in a given season and the first since

1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system. * ...

Canceled playoffs

This was supposed to have been the first year of an expanded eight-team playoff system, with the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

(AL) and

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

(NL) realigning into three divisions each (East, Central, and West) at the start of the 1994 season, and the addition of a wild card spot in each league. The NL champion was then intended to be assigned

home-field advantage In team sports, the term home advantage – also called home ground, home field, home-field advantage, home court, home-court advantage, defender's advantage or home-ice advantage – describes the benefit that the home (sports), home team ...

in the 1994 World Series, based on an annual rotation dating back to the mid-1930s in which the World Series opened in the NL city in even-numbered years and opened in the AL city in odd-numbered years. With the postseason canceled, the new playoff system did not go into effect until the 1995 postseason, and the annual World Series rotation (which continued until 2003) was then reversed so that home-field advantage for the

1995 World Series The 1995 World Series was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1995 Major League Baseball season, 1995 season. The 91st edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National Lea ...

was assigned to the NL champion.

Atlanta Braves' run of division titles

At the time that the strike began, the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...

had a six game lead in the

NL East The National League East is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. Along with the American League Central, it is one of two divisions to have every member win at least one World Series title. After having internal, informal divisions for ...

over the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

, while the Braves had a 2 game lead over the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

for the NL wild card. As there were no division champions in 1994, the Braves are officially credited with winning 14 consecutive division titles from 1991 to 2005, winning the NL West in the final three years of the two–division system and then winning 11 consecutive NL East titles from 1995 to 2005.

Television coverage

1994 was the first season that national telecasts were produced by ''

The Baseball Network The Baseball Network was an American television broadcasting joint venture between ABC, NBC and Major League Baseball (MLB). Under the arrangement, beginning in the 1994 season, MLB produced its own broadcasts in-house which were then broker ...

'', a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

between MLB,

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, and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

. Under the original arrangement, ABC would have broadcast the World Series in even-numbered years (included 1994) and NBC would have televised the series in odd-numbered years. Because the 1994 World Series was cancelled, ABC and NBC shared broadcast rights to the

, after which the joint venture was ended.

Canceled playoffs

Atlanta Braves' run of division titles

Television coverage

See also

References

Further reading