The 2014 Major League Baseball postseason was the playoff tournament of Major League Baseball for the 2014 season. The winners of the Division Series would move on to the League Championship Series to determine the pennant winners that face each other in the World Series.
In the American League, the Detroit Tigers made their fourth straight postseason appearance, the Oakland Athletics made their third straight appearance, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim made their first postseason appearance since 2009, the Baltimore Orioles returned for the second time in three years, and the Kansas City Royals ended almost three decades of futility by returning to the postseason for the first time since 1985.
In the National League, the St. Louis Cardinals made their fourth straight postseason appearance, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates made their second straight appearance, the Washington Nationals returned for the second time in three years, and the San Francisco Giants made their third postseason appearance in the past five years.
2014 marks the most recent postseason appearances for both the Tigers and Angels, who both now share the longest active postseason droughts in the majors.
2014 is the only postseason since interleague play began in 1997 to see all teams in one league and their respective interleague rivals in the other enter the playoffs.
The postseason began on September 30, and ended on October 29, with the Giants narrowly defeating the Royals in seven games in the 2014 World Series. It was the Giants' eighth title in franchise history. The 2014 Giants became the first and still only fifth-seeded team to win a World Series title.
Playoff seeds
The following teams qualified for the postseason:
American League
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – AL West champions, 98–64
Baltimore Orioles – AL East champions, 96–66
Detroit Tigers – AL Central champions, 90–72
Kansas City Royals – 89–73
Oakland Athletics – 88–74
National League
Washington Nationals – NL East champions, 96–66
Los Angeles Dodgers – NL West champions, 94–68
St. Louis Cardinals – NL Central champions, 90–72
Pittsburgh Pirates – 88–74 (4–2 head-to-head record vs. SF) San Francisco Giants – 88–74 (2–4 head-to-head record vs. PIT)
Playoff bracket
American League Wild Card
(4) Kansas City Royals vs. (5) Oakland Athletics
This was the first postseason meeting between these teams since the 1981 ALDS, which the Athletics won in a sweep. The Athletics went up 7–3 going into the eighth inning, until the Royals rallied in the bottom of the eighth and ninth innings, scoring 4 runs to send the game into extra innings. In the 12th inning, the Athletics again took the lead and were two outs away from reaching the ALDS for the third straight year, but the lead wouldn't hold and the Royals scored two runs to secure the victory and advance to the ALDS.
National League Wild Card
(4) Pittsburgh Pirates vs. (5) San Francisco Giants
This was the first postseason meeting between the Giants and Pirates since the 1971 NLCS, which the Pirates won in four games en route to a World Series title. The Giants shut out the Pirates 8–0 and advanced to the NLDS.
The Pirates returned to the postseason again the next year, but fell in the Wild Card game again to the Chicago Cubs.
American League Division Series
(1) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim vs. (4) Kansas City Royals
The Royals unexpectedly swept the top-seeded Angels to return to the American League Championship Series for the first time since 1985. In Anaheim, the Royals stole Games 1 and 2 on the road after two 11-inning contests to go up 2–0 in the series headed to Kansas City. In Game 3, the Royals blew out the Angels to advance to the ALCS.
As of 2023, this is the last postseason appearance by the Angels, who now hold the longest postseason appearance drought in the MLB alongside the Detroit Tigers.