The New York Yankees are one of the most recognisable and valuable sports brands on the planet, no doubt in part due to their success on the baseball field. The New York franchise has won the World Series championships a record 27 times, with their closest rivals in terms of titles, the St. Louis Cardinals, having lifted the trophy 11 times. However, the Yankees fans have been starved of success in recent years as the team's last World Series title came back in 2009. MLB World Series Baseball in North America has a long history, dating back at least to the 1850s, when it was already referred to as the national game or national pastime. In the late 1800s, the National Association of Base Ball Players, the sport's first governing body, was formed in the New York area. Today, Major League Baseball (MLB) is the governing body of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, uniting two leagues — the American League (AL) and the National League (AL), each with 15 teams and three divisions. Every October, the winners of each league championship series meet in order to play the MLB World Series, the most important event of the baseball season. New York Yankees The Yankees, who play in the American League East, were established in 1901 under the name The Orioles in Baltimore and were rebranded in 1913 in New York. The New York Yankees are the most valuable franchise in Major League Baseball. As of 2024, the team’s brand value was estimated at some 7.55 billion U.S. dollars, far ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers in second place with a value of 5.45 billion U.S. dollars. The Yankees play their home games at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx area of New York City. The stadium has a capacity of just over 47,000 for baseball games, and the average attendance for a Yankees game during the 2024 season stood at just under 42,000. As a result, a total of 3.3 million spectators passed through the gates of Yankee Stadium across the season.