List of National League pennant winners


The National League pennant winner of a given Major League Baseball season is the team that wins the championship — the pennant — of MLB's National League. This team receives the Warren C. Giles Trophy and the right to play in the World Series against the champion of the American League. The current NL pennant winners are the Washington Nationals, who won the franchise's first NL pennant in October 2019.
The trophy is named for Warren Giles, the league president from 1951 to 1969, and is presented immediately after each NL Championship Series by Warren's son Bill Giles, the honorary league president and owner of the Philadelphia Phillies.
From 1876 through 1968, the pennant was awarded to the team with the best regular-season record. Beginning in 1969, the league was divided into East and West divisions, with the champions of each playing for the pennant in the League Championship Series. From 1995 there have been three divisions and a two-round playoff bracket which begins with two Division Series.
The pennant has been awarded every year since 1876, except for 1994, when a players' strike forced the cancellation of the postseason. Until 1969, the pennant was presented to the team with the best win–loss record at the end of the season. In 1969, the league split into two divisions, and the teams with the best records in each division played one another in the NLCS to determine the pennant winner. The format of the NLCS was changed from a best-of-five to a best-of-seven format for the 1985 postseason. In 1995, an additional playoff series was added when MLB restructured the two divisions in each league into three., the winners of the Eastern, Central, and Western Divisions, as well as one wild card team, play in the NL Division Series, a best-of-five playoff to determine the opponents who will play for the pennant.
By pennants, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants are tied for the winningest teams in the NL. In third place is the St. Louis Cardinals, followed by the Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Cubs. The Philadelphia Phillies were NL champions in back-to-back seasons in 2008 and 2009, becoming the first NL team to do so since the Braves in 1995 and 1996. The Dodgers were also league champions in back-to-back seasons in 2017 and 2018. The modern World Series began in 1903, when the National League recognized the upstart American League, founded in 1901. There was an earlier "World's Championship Series" played between the pennant winners of the NL and the American Association 1884-1890; from 1894-1897 the NL's first- and second-place teams played a postseason series for the Temple Cup, which was considered to be the league championship. As of 2018, the Giants and the Dodgers have the most modern-era World Series appearances at 20, followed by the St. Louis Cardinals with 19.
The team with the best record to win the NL pennant was the 1906 Cubs, who won 116 of 152 games during that season and finished 20 games ahead of the New York Giants. The best record by a pennant winner in the Championship Series era is 108–54, which was achieved by the Cincinnati Reds in 1975 and the New York Mets in 1986; both of these teams went on to win the World Series.
NL champions have gone on to win the World Series 49 times, most recently in 2019. Pennant winners have also won the Temple Cup and the Chronicle-Telegraph Cup, two pre-World Series league championships, although second-place teams won three of the four Temple Cup meetings. The largest margin of victory for a pennant winner, before the league split into two divisions in 1969, is games; the Pittsburgh Pirates led the Brooklyn Superbas by that margin on the final day of the 1902 season.
The only currently existing National League franchise to have never won an NL pennant are the Milwaukee Brewers; however, they did win a pennant during their time in the American League.

Key

Single table era (1876–1968)

YearTeamManagerRecordGAAhead ofManagerRef
Chicago St. Louis
Boston Louisville
Boston Cincinnati
ProvidenceBoston
Chicago 15Providence
Chicago Providence
Chicago Providence
BostonChicago
ProvidenceBoston
Chicago New York
Chicago Detroit
DetroitPhiladelphia
New York Chicago
New York Boston
BrooklynChicago
BostonChicago
Boston102–48Cleveland
BostonPittsburgh
Baltimore OriolesNew York
Baltimore OriolesCleveland
Baltimore OriolesCleveland
BostonBaltimore Orioles
Boston102–47Baltimore Orioles
Brooklyn 101–47Boston
Brooklyn Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Philadelphia
Pittsburgh 103–36Brooklyn
Pittsburgh New York
New York 106–4713Chicago
New York 106–47Pittsburgh
Chicago 116–3620New York
Chicago Cubs107–4517Pittsburgh
Chicago CubsPittsburgh
Pittsburgh 110–42Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs104–5013New York
New York GiantsChicago Cubs
New York Giants103–4810Pittsburgh Pirates
New York Giants101–51Philadelphia Phillies
Boston BravesNew York Giants
Philadelphia PhilliesBoston Braves
Brooklyn DodgersPhiladelphia Phillies
New York Giants10Philadelphia Phillies
Chicago CubsNew York Giants
Cincinnati RedsNew York Giants
Brooklyn DodgersNew York Giants
New York GiantsPittsburgh Pirates
New York GiantsCincinnati Reds
New York GiantsCincinnati Reds
New York GiantsBrooklyn Dodgers
Pittsburgh PiratesNew York Giants
St. Louis CardinalsCincinnati Reds
Pittsburgh PiratesSt. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis CardinalsNew York Giants
Chicago CubsPittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis CardinalsChicago Cubs
St. Louis Cardinals101–5313New York Giants
Chicago CubsPittsburgh Pirates
New York GiantsPittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis CardinalsNew York Giants
Chicago Cubs100–54St. Louis Cardinals
New York GiantsSt. Louis Cardinals
New York GiantsChicago Cubs
Chicago CubsPittsburgh Pirates
Cincinnati RedsSt. Louis Cardinals
Cincinnati Reds100–5312Brooklyn Dodgers
Brooklyn Dodgers100–54St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals106–48Brooklyn Dodgers
St. Louis Cardinals105–4918Cincinnati Reds
St. Louis Cardinals105–49Pittsburgh Pirates
Chicago CubsSt. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis CardinalsBrooklyn Dodgers
Brooklyn DodgersSt. Louis Cardinals
Boston BravesSt. Louis Cardinals
Brooklyn DodgersSt. Louis Cardinals
Philadelphia PhilliesBrooklyn Dodgers
New York GiantsBrooklyn Dodgers
Brooklyn DodgersNew York Giants
Brooklyn Dodgers105–4913Milwaukee Braves
New York GiantsBrooklyn Dodgers
Brooklyn DodgersMilwaukee Braves
Brooklyn DodgersMilwaukee Braves
Milwaukee BravesSt. Louis Cardinals
Milwaukee BravesPittsburgh Pirates
Los Angeles DodgersMilwaukee Braves
Pittsburgh PiratesMilwaukee Braves
Cincinnati RedsLos Angeles Dodgers
San Francisco Giants103–62Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles DodgersSt. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis CardinalsPhiladelphia Phillies
Los Angeles DodgersSan Francisco Giants
Los Angeles DodgersSan Francisco Giants
St. Louis Cardinals101–60San Francisco Giants
St. Louis CardinalsSan Francisco Giants

League Championship Series era (1969–present)

NL pennants won by franchise

TeamPennants wonPlayoff appearancesRef
Los Angeles Dodgers2333
San Francisco Giants2326
St. Louis Cardinals1929
Atlanta Braves1725
Chicago Cubs1720
Pittsburgh Pirates917
Cincinnati Reds915
Philadelphia Phillies714
New York Mets59
Baltimore Orioles 35
San Diego Padres25
Miami Marlins22
Providence Grays25
Houston Astros3*9
Arizona Diamondbacks16
Washington Nationals16
Colorado Rockies15
Detroit Wolverines12
Milwaukee Brewers04

*The Astros have only won 1 NL Pennant; the other 2 were in the AL