2005 World Series

The 2005 World Series, the 101st Major League Baseball championship series, saw the American League champion Chicago White Sox sweep the National League champion Houston Astros four games to none in the best-of-seven-games series, winning their third championship and first since 1917.

Home-field advantage was awarded to Chicago by virtue of the American League's 7–5 victory over the National League in the 2005 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. The Astros were attempting to become the fourth consecutive wild card team to win the Series, following the Anaheim Angels (2002), Florida Marlins (2003) and Boston Red Sox (2004). Both teams were attempting to overcome decades of disappointment: the Astros were making their first Series appearance in 44 years of play, while the White Sox waited exactly twice as long for a title, having last won the Series in 1917, and had not been in the Series since 1959.

Like the 1982 World Series, this is one of two World Series in the modern era (1903–present) that it is not possible to have a rematch, due to the Astros moving to the American League for 2013. This raises the possibility of the Astros eventually representing two different leagues in World Series competition. That has happened twice before, taking the 19th century contests into account: The Brooklyn Dodgers of 1889 and 1890, and the St. Louis Cardinals, who won the 1886 Series when they were in the American Association. The Milwaukee Brewers, who moved from the AL to the NL in 1998 (the Brewers were the AL representative in the 1982 Series), could also represent two different leagues in the World Series down the road.