National League

The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league.

Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, it is sometimes called the Senior Circuit.

The other league of Major League Baseball is the American League, founded in 1901 (sometimes called the "Junior Circuit," or "Junior Loop" because it started 25 years after the NL).

The two league champions of 1903 arrange to meet in the World Series and, after the 1904 champions fail to do likewise, the two leagues arrange to meet in that annual culmination of the American baseball season, failing to do so only in the strike-shortened 1994 season.

National League teams have won 45 and lost 62 of the 107 World Series played between these two leagues from 1903 to 2011.

The St. Louis Cardinals are the reigning League Champions.

The St. Louis Cardinals and the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers lead the league with 22 National League titles each, with the St. Louis Cardinals leading the NL with 11 World Series championships.