division due to the 1994 realignment into three divisions (with Chicago, Pittsburgh and St. Louis from NL East, and Cincinnati and Houston from NL West) Milwaukee switched leagues due to the 1998 expansion, moving in from AL Central Houston switched leagues after the 2012 season, and joined the AL West Champions by year Team names link to the season in which each team played § – Due to the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike on August 12, no official winner was awarded. Cincinnati was leading by half a game over Houston at the time of the strike. * – The Astros and Cardinals finished with identical regular season records. Because the Astros won the season series 9–7 against the Cardinals, they were awarded the National League Central division title, and the Cardinals were declared the National League Wild Card team. † – Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season was shortened to 60 games. By virtue of the eight-team postseason format used for that season, division runner-up St. Louis (30–28, .517) also automatically qualified for the playoffs. National League Championships The division has produced six National League Pennant winners: St. Louis in 2004, 2006, 2011 and 2013, Houston in 2005, and Chicago in 2016. Other postseason teams The wild card was introduced in 1994 and was initially assigned to the team with the best record in each league that did not win its division. The first year of implementation was 1995 as a player strike prematurely ended the 1994 season. Since implementation, each of the NL Central teams has won the wild card. In 2012, a second wild card was added to post-season play, and in 2022, a third was also added. * – Defeated the San Francisco Giants in a one game playoff for the Wild Card, 5–3. † – Finished with the same record as the Houston Astros, but Houston won the season series vs. the Cardinals that year, and were given the higher seed in the playoffs. ** – From 2012 to 2019, and in 2021, the Wild Card was expanded to two teams. Those teams faced each other in the Wild Card Game to determine the final participant in the National League Division Series. In 2020 only, eight teams, including the three division winners, played in a best-of-three Wild Card Series, with the winners advancing to the Division Series. Starting in 2022, the Wild Card field