All-expansion team World Series will be a first

The expansionists are having their World Series.

No matter what team emerges from the American League, the World Series will match teams that entered Major League Baseball through expansion, which started in the early 1960s.

The National League champion New York Mets await the Kansas City Royals or Toronto Blue Jays. The Mets entered baseball along with the Houston Colt 45s, now the Astros, in 1962, a year after the American League added the California Angels and the Washington Senators.

Washington was granted an expansion team after the original Senators moved to Minnesota to become the Twins. The expansion Senators later became the Texas Rangers.

The next round, and the single biggest year, of expansion happened in 1969, when the Royals, Seattle Pilots, San Diego Padres and Montreal Expos arrived. The Pilots became the Milwaukee Brewers the next year and the Expos eventually became the Washington Nationals.

In all, 14 teams have been added to baseball since 1961, joining the 16 original franchises. It seems two newbies would have found each other before now.

The Mets were the first expansion team to play in the World Series, beating the Baltimore Orioles in 1969 and falling to the Oakland A’s in 1973.

The Royals were next, losing to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980.

In all, 12 of the expansion teams have reached the World Series, all but the Seattle Mariners and Nationals (Expos).

This story was originally published October 23, 2015 at 4:00 PM with the headline "All-expansion team World Series will be a first."