World Series

The 2009 World Series is the 105th edition of Major League Baseball's championship series. The best-of-seven playoff is contested between the Philadelphia Phillies, champions of the National League (NL), and the New York Yankees, champions of the American League (AL). The Phillies are seeking to become the first team to repeat as World Series champions since the Yankees did so from 1998–2000, while the Yankees are seeking to extend their major-league record with a 27th World Series championship. The two franchises previously met in the 1950 World Series in which the Yankees swept the Phillies four games to none.
This is the fifth Series played between teams from New York and Philadelphia. The Giants and Athletics faced each other in 1905, 1911 and 1913 in addition to the Yankees–Phillies matchup in 1950.
The series is also the fourth consecutive time that the Phillies face a team from the AL East in the World Series. They faced the Baltimore Orioles in 1983, the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993, and the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008. The Yankees faced an NL East opponent in three of their last four World Series appearances: the Florida Marlins in 2003, the New York Mets in 2000, and the Atlanta Braves in 1999.
The Series started on October 28, 2009, which was the latest start in World Series history. For the first time ever, the World Series is regularly scheduled to end in November. Assuming no weather delays, Game 4 is scheduled for Sunday, November 1 and, if necessary, Game 7 will take place on November 5. Home field advantage for the Series went to the American League for the eighth straight year as a result of their 4–3 win in the All-Star Game.
The Series will be only the third one ever to end in a month other than October. The first was in 1918, which was played entirely in September after the regular season was cut short due to World War I. The other was in 2001, when the September 11 attacks on the United States caused a delay in the season that eventually forced the end of the Series into November.