During each MLB season, one American League (AL) team wins the pennant, indicating that they are the league champions and are eligible to play in the World Series against the National League (NL).
The pennant was presented to the team with the best win-loss record each year through the 1968 season, after which the AL Championship Series (ALCS) was introduced to decide the pennant winner.
There has been a modern World Series every year since 1903, except for 1994, when a players’ strike forced the postseason to be canceled. It was on October 22, 2021, that the Houston Astros won the AL pennant.
In 1969, the AL split into two divisions, and the teams with the best records in each division played one another in the five-game ALCS to determine the pennant winner, who received (and continues to receive) the William Harridge Trophy.
In the center of the trophy was an eagle atop a silver baseball and clutching the American League’s flag. The trophy has a pennant on top since 2017.
The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox to win their first pennant in franchise history in 2008.
American League (AL) Division Series winners Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Rays faced off in the 2020 AL Championship Series in a best of seven series for the American League (AL) title and the chance to compete in the next World Series. All games of the series were held behind closed doors at Petco Park in San Diego because of the COVID-19 outbreak. TBS aired the games nationally.
After a 4–3 victory over the Astros, the Rays claimed their second American League pennant.
List of All AL Pennants Titles Won By Tampa Bay Rays
2008
2020
