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The "World" appellation has stuck despite the fact that only teams in the United States and Canada participate. While some would contend that there is no reason to believe that the World Series winner is a significantly better team than any club team outside Major League Baseball, no challenges have been made by other leagues. Attempts to pit the North American champions against champions in the Japanese or Latin American leagues have, so far, not succeeded.

A persistent myth is that the "World" in "World Series" came about because the New York World newspaper sponsored it. Baseball researcher Doug Pappas refutes that claim, demonstrating a linear progression from the phrase "World's Championship Series" (used to describe the 1903 series) to "World's Series" to "World Series". Furthermore, investigation of the New York World for the relevant years revealed no evidence of the supposed sponsorship. (For details, see Mr. Pappas's web page on the subject).