List of World Series champions
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) and concludes the MLB postseason. First played in 1903, the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and is a contest between the champions of baseball's National League (NL) and American League (AL). Often referred to as the "Fall Classic", the modern World Series has been played every year since 1903 with two exceptions: in 1904, when the NL champion New York Giants declined to play the AL champion Boston Americans; and in 1994, when the series was canceled due to the players' strike.
2012 World Series
The 2012 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2012 season. The 108th edition of the World Series, the series was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion San Francisco Giants and the American League (AL) champion Detroit Tigers; the Giants won in a four-game sweep. This marked the Giants' seventh World Series title in franchise history, their second in San Francisco (they won five in New York), and their second in a three-year period (2010–2012). Their World Series sweep was the first by an NL team since the Cincinnati Reds swept the Oakland Athletics in the 1990 series and the first NL sweep not by the Reds since 1963, when the Los Angeles Dodgers swept the New York Yankees. This was also the first World Series since 1988 to feature both of that year's League MVPs. The Giants' Pablo Sandoval, who in Game 1 tied a record by hitting three home runs in one World Series game, two off Tigers' ace pitcher Justin Verlander, was named the World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP).