American League East

The American League East is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. MLB consists of an East, Central, and West division for each of its two 15-team leagues, the American League (AL) and National League (NL). This division was created before the start of the season along with the American League West division. Before that time, each league consisted of 10 teams without any divisions. Four of the division's five teams are located in the Eastern United States, with the other team, the Toronto Blue Jays, in Eastern Canada. It is currently the only division that contains a non-American team. At the end of the Major League Baseball season, the team with the best record in the division earns one of the AL's six playoff spots. History Baseball writers have long posited that the American League East is the toughest division in MLB; during its 50-year existence, an AL East team has gone on to play in the World Series 27 times, and 16 of those teams have been crowned World Series champions. Since the season, when the wild-card playoff berth was introduced, the AL East has produced 20 of the 32 wild-card teams for the American League, with the AL West sending seven teams, and only five coming from the AL Central. When MLB split into divisions for the season, the American League, unlike the National League, split its 12 teams strictly on geography. The six teams then located in the Eastern Time Zone were all placed in the AL East, with the other six teams making up the AL West.