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2008 World Series

The World Series is the championship series of Major League Baseball and the culmination of the sport's postseason each October. Since the Series takes place in mid-autumn, sportswriters many years ago dubbed the event the Fall Classic; it is also sometimes known as the October Classic or simply "The Series."

The World Series is played between the champion clubs of the American League and the National League, which collectively include 29 clubs based in the United States and one club from Canada. The "modern" World Series has been an annual event since 1903, with the exceptions of 1904 and 1994. Baseball has employed various championship formulas since the 1860s. When the term "World Series" is used by itself, it is usually understood to refer to the "modern" World Series exclusively.

The World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff. Best-of-seven has been the format of all the modern World Series except in 1903, 1919, 1920 and 1921 when the winner was determined through a best-of-nine playoff. The Series winner is awarded the World Series Trophy, as well as individual World Series rings. The Series winner also receives a larger proportion of the gate receipts than does the Series loser.

Home Field Advantage

The American League (who won the 2008 All-Star Game 4-3) won its champion World Series home field advantage for the seventh consecutive season. This means the American League's team will be home during Games 1 and 2 and (if necessary) Games 6 and 7.

Structure

Home-field advantage is determined by the results of the All-Star Game. By virtue of the American League winning the 2008 All-Star Game, it gives home-field advantage to the 2008 AL Champions. The Series follows what is called a 2-3-2 format with the first two and last two games being played in the stadium of the club with home-field advantage. The other three games are played in the opponent's stadium.

This All-Star Game determination of home-field was instituted in 2003, following significant criticism after the 2002 All-Star Game ended in a tie. In order to prevent a future repeat of that situation, Commissioner Bud Selig decided to give the All-Star Game a more competitive element by making its result tangibly meaningful. For subsequent events Major League Baseball adopted the slogan "This one counts". Prior to 2003, home-field advantage had alternated between the leagues from year to year. The American League held the home-field edge in 2002, the last year of the "alternating" approach, and due to being unbeaten in the All-Star Game since 1997 will, in 2008, have home field advantage for the seventh staight season. The National League, on a twelve game winless streak since last winning in 1996, has yet to take advantage of the current format, not having had home field advantage since 2001.

Venue selection

The announcement of Yankee Stadium as the site of the game was made by MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on January 31, 2007 at New York's City Hall.

Though it will be the fourth game hosted at the Stadium, and the eighth held in New York City, it will be the first time since 1977 that the game was hosted by the Yankees or any New York team. It had been speculated for months that the game would be held in Yankee Stadium, accelerated by the announcement that the 2008 season will be the 84th and final one for the stadium before the team moves into the New Yankee Stadium in 2009. Thus, it was seen by some as a fitting tribute to the old stadium that it host an All-Star Game in its final season.

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