Playoff seeds
The following teams qualified for the postseason:
American League
Baltimore Orioles – AL East champions, 98–64[2]
Cleveland Indians – AL Central champions, 86–75[3]
Seattle Mariners – AL West champions, 90–72[4]
New York Yankees – 96–66[5]
Home-field advantage priority order: East, Central, West
National League
Atlanta Braves – NL East champions, 101–61[6]
Houston Astros – NL Central champions, 84–78[7]
San Francisco Giants – NL West champions, 90–72[8]
Florida Marlins – 92–70[9]
Home-field advantage priority order: West, Central, East
American League Division Series
Cleveland Indians vs. New York Yankees
Cleveland won the series, 3–2.
This was the first postseason appearance between the Yankees and Indians. The Indians knocked out the defending World Series champion Yankees in five games to return to the ALCS for the second time in three years.
The Yankees and Indians would meet again in the post season five more times - in the 1998 ALCS (won by the Yankees), the 2007 ALDS (won by the Indians), the 2017 ALDS (won by the Yankees), the 2020 AL Wild Card Series (won by the Yankees), and the 2022 ALDS (won by the Yankees).
American League Championship Series
Baltimore Orioles vs. Cleveland Indians
Cleveland won the series, 4–2.
This was the second straight postseason meeting between the Indians and Orioles. The Indians defeated the Orioles in six games to return to the World Series for the second time in three years.
Both teams split the first two games in Baltimore. The Indians took Game 3 after 12 innings of play, and prevailed in a slugfest in Game 4, 8–7, to go up 3–1 in the series. The Orioles took Game 5 to send the series back to Baltimore. Game 6 remained scoreless after 10 innings of play until Cleveland's Tony Fernández hit a solo home run to put the Indians in the lead for good, effectively securing the pennant.
This would be the last time the Indians won the AL pennant until 2016, where they defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in six games before falling in the World Series. This was the last time the Orioles appeared in the postseason until 2012. The Orioles would not return to the ALCS again until 2014, where they were swept by the Kansas City Royals.
1997 World Series