World Series 2010: Power Ranking the Last 50 World Series Winners

The San Francisco Giants took a commanding 3-1 lead in the World Series against the Texas Rangers on Sunday Night, riding the pitching of youngster Madison Bumgarner to a 4-0 victory. History tells us that the Giants are incredibly unlikely to lose the Series now, though, with at least one more Cliff Lee start remaining, nothing is certain.

If the Giants do go on to win the World Series, where will they rank amongst the last 50 World Series winners?

Let's have a look.

Honorable Mention/50: 1994 Montreal Expos

In the wake of a players strike, there was no 1994 World Series.  This does not mean, however, that there were no great teams in 1994.

There was at least one: the 1994 Montreal Expos.

By the time the 1994 season was put in hiatus, the Expos were 34 games over .500, at 74-40. The pitching staff, from the Pedro Martinez-Ken Hill-Jeff Fassero-Butch Henry rotation to the John Wetteland-Mel Rojas-Jeff Shaw bullpen, had a collective 120 ERA+.

The Expos team OPS+ was only 101, but Larry Walker, Moises Alou, Wil Cordero, and Marquis Grissom were all having great seasons.

At 74-40, the Expos had the best record in the NL by seven games, and in the majors by four games.

But that team never got to prove its mettle in the postseason.

In subsequent seasons, several members of the 1994 Expos would win World Series titles—for other teams. 

49. 2006 St. Louis Cardinals

Regular Season: 83-78 (.516), 1st Place, NL Central

World Series: 4-1 over Detroit Tigers

Historically, the St. Louis Cardinals of the last decade have been a great team. The Cards feature one of the greatest managers of all-time in Tony LaRussa, one of the greatest hitters of all-time in Albert Pujols, and have made four NLCS appearances and two in the World Series, winning one.

Nevertheless, the Cardinals had the worst record of any playoff team in 2007, lost nine of their final twelve, and very nearly blew the division after being up seven games on September 20th.

Adam Wainwright's strikeout of Carlos Beltran, looking on an 0-2 pitch, put the Cardinals into the World Series where they faced a flawed Detroit Tigers team.

48. 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates

Regular Season: 95-59, 1st Place, NL

World Series: 4-3 over New York Yankees

I hate to take anything away from a magical team, but consider:

 - The Pirates got outscored by the Yankees 55-27 in the World Series.

 - In three Yankees wins combined, the Yankees outscored the Pirates 38-3.

 - In a matchup between two home-field dominant teams, the Pirates had a worse record than the Yankees. But because it was an even-numbered year, under the old home-field advantage rules, the Pirates got the home field.

The 1960 Pirates might be the least-deserving World Series champs in history.

47. 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers

Regular Season: 63-47, 2nd Place, NL West

World Series: 4-2 over New York Yankees

In a strike-shortened 1981 season, the Dodgers became the first team to fail to win their division and yet still win the World Series, a feat we wouldn't see repeated until the invention of the Wild Card.

In a peculiar quirk of the 1981 season, the Dodgers won the first half of the season but finished fourth in the second half, entitling them to a spot in the first-ever National League Divisional Series.

In an underrated horrendous outcome, the Cincinnati Reds finished with the best record in baseball in 1981 and didn't go to the playoffs.

In the end, the Dodgers rode a dominant trio of pitchers, and not much else, to a World Series victory.

46. 1987 Minnesota Twins

Regular Season: 85-77, 1st Place AL West

World Series: 4-3 over St. Louis Cardinals

In an odd-numbered year, in which the AL team had home-field advantage by rule, an inferior AL team with a huge home-field advantage—the Twins were 56-25 at home, 29-52 on the road—beat the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games by winning all four games at home.

And get this: while the Twins were 85-77, their Pythagorean Projection (based on runs scored and runs allowed) had the Twins slated to go 79-83, a losing record. 

45. 2000 New York Yankees

Regular Season: 87-74, 1st Place, NL East

World Series: 4-1 over the New York Mets

The New York Yankees had the ninth-best record in Major League Baseball in 2000, then caught fire in the playoffs and won the World Series against a psyched-out Mets team in the Subway Series.

The Yankees were one of just three teams to win a World Series without winning at least 90 games in a non-strike season.

44. 1985 Kansas City Royals

Regular Season: 91-71, 1st Place AL West

World Series: 4-3 over St. Louis Cardinals

The Kansas City Royals had the seventh-best record in the majors in 1985, and would have finished in third place in two of the three other divisions in baseball.

The Royals barely won their division on the strength of taking three-of-four from the second-place Angels in the second-to-last series of the season.

In the playoffs, the Royals squeaked by the Toronto Blue Jays, a team that blew a 3-1 lead in the ALCS.

Then, despite having won 10 fewer games in the regular season than the St. Louis Cardinals, the Royals had home-field advantage in the World Series because of the old rule alternating home-field advantage each season.

Then, in Game 6, with the Cardinals three outs from the Series victory, Jorge Orta led off the inning with an infield single on a blown call by the first base umpire. The Royals then scored the go-ahead run to win Game 6 and go on to win the Series in seven games.

43. 2003 Florida Marlins

Regular Season: 91-71, 2nd Place NL East (Wild Card)

World Series: 4-2 over New York Yankees

A dropped fly ball by Jose Cruz Jr. in the NLDS, followed by the Steve Bartman snafu in the NLCS, got the Marlins into the World Series. There they faced off against a bloated and ill-prepared New York Yankees team.

Along the way, the Marlins played very well.

42. 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks

Regular Season: 92-70, 1st Place NL West

World Series: 4-3 over New York Yankees

An incredible World Series performance by Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, and Luis Gonzalez gave the Diamondbacks a championship in their fourth season of play. The team, however, had only the seventh-best record in baseball, had an inferior offense and a mediocre rotation.

What made the Diamondbacks a playoff team, and a great team in the playoffs, was the Johnson-and-Schilling combo, perhaps the best in history.

Nevertheless, without those two this would not have been a .500 squad.

41. 1973 Oakland Athletics

Regular Season: 94-68, 1st Place AL West

World Series: 4-3 over New York Mets

A good-not-great offense plus a good-not-great pitching staff led the A's to the AL West division title against a good-not-great division.

The A's needed all five game to get past the Orioles in the playoffs, then needed all seven games to squeak by the 82-win New York Mets to win the Series.

40. 2008 Philadelphia Phillies

Regular Season: 92-70, 1st Place NL East

World Series: 4-1 over Tampa Bay Rays

Certainly a very good, talented team. Nevertheless, the Phillies won the NL East after the Mets choked away the division for the second year in a row, then breezed through an inexperienced Brewers team in the playoffs.  

After knocking off the Dodgers in five games in the NLCS, the Phillies took on the "Happy to be Here" Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series. They took the series in five games in a rain-delayed World Series.

39. 1986 New York Mets

Regular Season: 108-54, 1st Place, NL East

World Series: 4-3 over Boston Red Sox

In the 1986 NLCS, the Houston Astros bullpen blew two ninth-inning leads to send the Mets to the World Series.  Then, in the ALCS, the California Angels blew the series on the final strike to send the Red Sox to the Series.

Then, the Red Sox bullpen and BIll Buckner blew the World Series in Game 6, after which the Mets came back to win the Series in Game 7.

After running away with the NL East—the race was over by June 1st—the Mets needed repeated breaks to win the 1986 World Series.

38. 1991 Minnesota Twins

Regular Season: 97-65, 1st Place AL West

World Series: 4-3 over Atlanta Braves

For the second time in five years, the Minnesota Twins won the AL West, got to the World Series, and then, because of the alternating home-field advantage rule, drew the home-field advantage and won a World Series in which the road team failed to win a single game.

37. 1997 Florida Marlins

Regular Season: 92-70, 2nd Place NL East (Wild Card)

World Series: 4-3 over Cleveland Indians

A great team composed of great players from other teams.  Played a great World Series, then disbanded.

Hard to put a lot of stock in a team that was only together for one year and whose fate was dictated by the druthers of a billionaire.

36. 1964 St. Louis Cardinals

Regular Season: 93-69, 1st Place NL

World Series: 4-3 over New York Yankees

After winning the National League in the wake of the Philadelphia Phillies' historic collapse—up by 6.5 games with 12 to play, the Phils lost 10 of their final 12—the Cardinals went to the World Series and bested the Yankees in seven games, in what would be the Yankees last World Series for 11 seasons.

35. 1983 Baltimore Orioles

Regular Season: 98-64, 1st Place AL East

World Series: 4-1 over Philadelphia Phillies

The last stand of the great Baltimore Orioles juggernaut that ran from the mid-1960's to the early 1980's, the 1983 Orioles bested a tough AL East division that featured five teams with 87 wins or more, and then toppled a dysfunctional Phillies team in its own final stand.

That 1983 team featured Baltimore legends Jim Palmer and Cal Ripken Jr. as ships passing in the night.

34. 1990 Cincinnati Reds

Regular Season: 91-71, 1nd Place NL West

World Series: 4-0 over Oakland A's

The Lou Piniella-led Reds went wire-to-wire, never trailing in the division but never putting the division away either. In the playoffs, they topped the the Pirates 4-2 despite losing Game 1 at home. And then the A's never knew what hit them in the World Series.

It is worth mentioning that the Reds won 12 fewer games than the A's but had home-field advantage because of the alternating home-field rule. But it is also worth noting that the A's never had a chance anyway.

33. 2009 New York Yankees

Regular Season: 103-59, 1st Place AL East

World Series: 4-2 over Philadelphia Phillies

Frustrated by a decade of failing to win the World Series, despite going to the playoffs every year and spending double what any other team was spending, the 2009 Yankees finally won another title.

And it only cost them $200 million.

32. 1978 New York Yankees

Regular Season: 100-63, 1st Place AL East

World Series: 4-2 over Los Angeles Dodgers

After eeking into the playoffs on Bucky Dent's home run against the Red Sox at Fenway Park, the Yankees subsequently wiped the Royals away handily before taking the Dodgers for the second year in a row, this time in six.

31. 1963 Los Angeles Dodgers

Regular Season: 99-63, 1st Place NL West

World Series: 4-0 over New York Yankees

Just as the 2001 Diamondbacks were a one-dimensional team with a dominant pitching duo well-suited to playoff dominance, the Dodgers of the 1960's were the prototype for the D'backs.  With Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and not a lot else, the Dodgers won the 1963 NL Pennant and then swept the Yankees out of the World Series on the strength of one Drysdale start and two Koufax starts.

30. 1962 New York Yankees

Regular Season: 96-66, 1st Place AL

World Series: 4-3 over San Francisco Giants

Sometimes experience is what matters.

Despite giving up seven wins, and home-field advantage, to the 103-win San Francisco Giants, the Yankees nevertheless took Game 1 on the road and then won the Series in Game 7 on the road, when Ralph Terry pitched a 1-0 four hitter.

29. 2007 Boston Red Sox

Regular Season: 96-66, 1st Place AL East

World Series: 4-0 over Colorado Rockies

For the second time in four years, the Red Sox had to play comeback to get into the Fall Classic. After winning a rare division title, the Red Sox swept the Angels in the NLDS before going down 3-1 to the juggernaut Cleveland Indians.

Asked about the pressure of playing Game 5 down 3-1, Manny Ramirez famously said, and I paraphrase, "If we lose, so what? We go home."

But lose they did not, coming all the way back to beat the Indians before sweeping Colorado. The Rockies had swept their own LCS, but then had to wait 11 days to play another game and never got back on track.

28. 1977 New York Yankees

Regular Season: 100-62, 1st Place AL East

World Series: 4-2 over Los Angeles Dodgers

After a franchise-record 15 years (those poor Yankees fans) without a World Series win, the 1977 Yankees rode the bats and arms of six former players from the A's and Orioles teams that had supplanted them in the playoffs for the last decade to a title of their own.

27. 1974 Oakland Athletics

Regular Season: 90-72, 1st Place AL West

World Series: 4-1 over Los Angeles Dodgers

The A's had a worse record than their ALCS opponent, the Baltimore Orioles, and were giving up 12 wins to their World Series opponent, the Los Angeles Dodgers. And the Dodgers had home-field advantage in the Series.

Nevertheless, the experienced A's out-foxed the Dodgers, winning Game 1 of the series on the road and taking the title, their third straight, in five games.

The final score through five games: 16-11.

26. 1982 St. Louis Cardinals

Regular Season: 92-70, 1st Place NL East

World Series: 4-3 over Milwaukee Brewers

The Team That Whitey Built, composed of speedsters, contact hitters, and defensive specialists, posted the best record in a competitive National League before outlasting the wonderful 1982 Milwaukee Brewers, whose time in the sun was too brief.

25. 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers

Regular Season: 97-65, 1st Place NL

World Series: 4-3 over Minnesota Twins

Had this Dodgers team—whose incredibly pitcher-friendly ballpark helped their pitching staff but killed their hitters—used home-field advantage to get past a very talented Twins team in the World Series, they would have been much lower.

But the Dodgers beat the Twins in Minnesota in Game 7 of the Series, with Sandy Koufax pitching a road-hostile three-hit shutout.

And that is special.

24. 1999 New York Yankees

Regular Season: 98-64, 1st Place AL East

World Series: 4-0 over Atlanta Braves

En route to their incredible third World Series title in four years, the Yankees lost only one playoff game, in the ALCS to the Red Sox.

By now, we were really starting to take notice of a great dynasty. And only a few of us were getting annoyed.

23. 1993 Toronto Blue Jays

Regular Season: 95-67, 1st Place AL East

World Series: 4-2 over Philadelphia Phillies

An incredibly well-built lineup—including acquisitions from recent years like Joe Carter, Roberto Alomar, Paul Molitor, Rickey Henderson, and Devon White—combined with solid pitching and a great bullpen allowed the Blue Jays to capitalize on a down period in Yankees history. The Jays won their second of two straight World Series on Joe Carter's dramatic Game 6 walk-off home run against Mitch Williams.

22. 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates

Regular Season: 97-65, 1st Place AL East

World Series: 4-3 over Baltimore Orioles

They seem like simpler times, don't they?

Sometimes it is difficult to remember that there was a time when the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Baltimore Orioles fielded two of the best teams in baseball.

21. 1972 Oakland Athletics

Regular Season: 93-62, 1st Place AL West

World Series: 4-3 over Cincinnati Reds

A battle royale between the two teams that would win the next five World Series.

20. 1966 Baltimore Orioles

Regular Season: 97-63, 1st Place AL

World Series: 4-0 over Los Angeles Dodgers

The year the Orioles swindled the Reds out of Frank Robinson, and Robinson won the Triple Crown and the AL MVP, they also had their way with the rest of baseball, winning the American League by nine games and then sweeping the Dodgers in the World Series.

19. 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers

Regular Season: 94-67, 1st Place NL West

World Series: 4-1 over Oakland Athletics

The Dodgers featured the 1988 NL MVP and Cy Young Award winner. The MVP, Kirk Gibson, gave us one of the most dramatic moments in sports history, while the Cy Young, Orel Hershiser, pitched dominantly as a starter and a reliever, and the Dodgers shocked the mighty Oakland A's despite giving up 10 wins to the 104-win Athletics.

18. 1996 New York Yankees

Regular Season: 92-70, 1st Place AL East

World Series: 4-2 over Atlanta Braves

Imagine, there was a time when a generation of New York kids didn't know what it was like to win a World Series.

17. 1980 Philadelphia Phillies

Regular Season: 91-71, 1st Place NL East

World Series: 4-2 over Kansas City Royals

Imagine, there was a time when people would look at the Philadelphia Phillies and the Kansas City Royals and consider the Phillies to be the team with tortured fans.

16. 1995 Atlanta Braves

Regular Season: 90-54, 1st Place NL East

World Series: 4-2 over Cleveland Indians

The Atlanta Braves were giving up 10 wins to the slightly-unbelievable 100-44 Cleveland Indians, but still won the World Series in six games.

The Braves and Indians would lose three of the next four World Series combined. This title would go down as the lone championship of the Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz rotation.

15. 1992 Toronto Blue Jays

Regular Season: 96-66, 1st Place AL East

World Series: 4-2 over Atlanta Braves

For the second year in a row, a Jack Morris-led team topped the Atlanta Braves in the World Series.

The 1992 Blue Jays featured three pitchers–David Cone, David Wells, Jimmy Key–who would feature prominently in Yankees championship teams in the 1990's.

14. 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates

Regular Season: 98-64, 1st Place NL East

World Series: 4-3 over Baltimore Orioles

Only one team won more games than the We Are Family Pittsburgh Pirates in 1979: the 102 win Baltimore Orioles.  The Pirates had the honor of facing the Orioles in the World Series that year, with the added bonus of spotting the Orioles home-field advantage.

Nevertheless, the Pirates prevailed in seven games thanks to lights-out hitting. The Pirates batted .323 as a team on the series.

13. 2002 Anaheim Angels

Regular Season: 99-63, 2nd Place AL East (Wild Card)

World Series: 4-3 over San Francisco Giants

A very talented pitching staff and a chemistry-rich offense led the Angels to 99 wins and a Wild Card appearance.

Say what you will about the Angels being a Wild Card team: in the first round of the playoffs, the Angels beat the Yankees, one of the teams with a better record, and then in the second round beat the Twins, who had beaten the AL West winning A's.

In the World Series, the Angels were five outs from losing the World Series in Game 6 before rallying from a 5-0 deficit to win Game 6 and then the series in Game 7.

12. 1970 Baltimore Orioles

Regular Season: 108-54, 1st Place AL East

World Series: 4-1 over Cincinnati Reds

The pitching staff had three 20-game winners and featured former-and-future Cy Young winners. The infield was one of the greatest defensive infields of all-time and featured the 1970 AL MVP along with the former 1964 AL MVP. The bullpen was dominant.

The result? The best record in baseball and seven wins in eight games on the way to the World Series title.

11. 1967 St. Louis Cardinals

Regular Season: 101-60, 1st Place NL

World Series: 4-3 over Boston Red Sox

A strangely great team defined as much by the classic Cardinals as by the players we don't associate with the Cardinals. St. Louis featured Tim McCarver, Lou Brock, Curt Flood, and Bob Gibson, but also Steve Carlton, Orlando Cepeda, and Roger Maris.

In the Series, the Cardinals beat the Impossible Dream Red Sox, who triumphed in the final weekend of the season over the Tigers and Twins to make their first World Series since 1946.

10. 1976 Cincinnati Reds

Regular Season: 102-60, 1st Place NL East

World Series: 4-0 over New York Yankees

A great team at the peak of its powers, the 1976 Reds were the last team to sweep its way through the playoffs, knocking off the Philadelphia Phillies in three games and then taking out the Yankees in four.

The obvious response to this, by the way, is "they only played two rounds of playoffs back then."  True.

The 1976 Reds were also the last team to sweep both the LCS and the World Series.

9. 2005 Chicago White Sox

Regular Season: 99-63, 1st Place AL Central

World Series: 4-0 over Houston Astros

The 2005 White Sox were either tied for first place or alone in first place in the AL Central from start to finish, holding off a late run by the Cleveland Indians.

There were so many subplots on the 2005 team: the Scott Podsednik-for-Carlos Lee trade that worked out way better for the White Sox than it seemed like it would; the cobbled together rotation that pitched like a staff of aces; the subpar offense that nevertheless scored enough runs to produce the best record in the American League.

After going wire-to-wire in the regular season, the White Sox swept the Red Sox in three games, took out the Angels in five, then swept the Astros in the World Series.

8. 1968 Detroit Tigers

Regular Season: 103-59, 1st Place AL

World Series: 4-3 over St. Louis Cardinals

The 1968 Tigers featured a dynamic pitching duo of Mickey Lolich and 31-game winner Denny McLain, plus a fantastic offense consisting of Bill Freehan, Al Kaline, Willie Horton, Jim Northrup, and Dick McAuliffe.

In the World Series, the Tigers faced off against Bob Gibson and the defending-champion Cardinals, which came down to a Game 7 classic between Lolich and Gibson. The Tigers took that one thanks to a three-run seventh inning.

If being the best is defined as beating the best, then the 1968 Tigers must have been one of the best.

7. 1961 New York Yankees

Regular Season: 109-53, 1st Place AL

World Series: 4-1 over Cincinnati Reds

With the memory of Bill Mazeroski still lingering, the Yankees came out and played great ball all season, with Roger Maris breaking Babe Ruth's home run record and Mickey Mantle enjoying an outstanding season as well.

The Yankees won the World Series handily over the Cincinnati Reds, who featured Frank Robinson and Vada Pinson, one of the best young outfield duos in history.

6. 1989 Oakland Athletics

Regular Season: 99-63, 1st Place AL West

World Series: 4-0 over San Francisco Giants

Ironically, of the three straight Oakland A's World Series teams, the 1989 squad finished with the fewest wins but were also the only one to win the Fall Classic.

The A's won 104 games in 1988 and got beat in the series by the Dodgers. In the middle of the 1989 season, the A's added Rickey Henderson, who gave the team an added dimension. The A's went 47-27 in the second half of the season and then breezed through the playoffs, losing only one game to the Blue Jays in the ALCS before sweeping the Giants in the World Series.

5. 1984 Detroit Tigers

Regular Season: 104-58, 1st Place AL East

World Series: 4-1 over San Diego Padres

In a season in which no other team won more than 89 games, the Tigers won 104, then swept the Royals in three games and took the Padres in five in the World Series.

Score another one for Sparky Anderson. And unlike his Reds teams, which were full of superstars, the Tigers dominated the AL on the strength of the hitting of Chet Lemon, Kirk Gibson, and Alan Trammell, and the pitching of Jack Morris, Dan Petry, and Juan Berenguer.

Wow.

4. 2004 Boston Red Sox

Regular Season: 98-64, 2nd Place AL East (Wild Card)

World Series: 4-0 over St. Louis Cardinals

The Red Sox couldn't top the Yankees in the regular season, but finished with the second-best record in the AL and the third best in baseball.

In the playoffs, the Red Sox swept the Angels, rammed a historic comeback down the throats of the Yankees—coming back from down 3-0 to take the ALCS—then swept the 105-win Cardinals to take the Series and exorcise the demons of the Curse of the Bambino.

3. 1969 New York Mets

Regular Season: 100-62, 1st Place NL East

World Series: 4-1 over Baltimore Orioles

You know, we call them the Miracle Mets. But the notion that their victory over the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series was somehow a miracle in-and-of itself is somewhat far-fetched.

This is a team that won 100 games, giving them the best record in the National League and second best in the majors. And then it swept through the playoffs, beating the Braves 3-0 before topping the Orioles in the series 4-1.

Of course, they also finished the season on a 21-5 run, indicating that they got hot at the right time.

2. 1975 Cincinnati Reds

Regular Season: 108-54, 1st Place, NL West

World Series: 4-3 over Boston Red Sox

One of the greatest teams of all-time, the Reds took a 12.5 game lead into the All-Star break and never looked back.

The Reds swept through the Pittsburgh Pirates and then won a war of attrition with the Boston Red Sox in the World Series, even surviving Carlton Fisk's dramatic Game 6 home run.

1. 1998 New York Yankees

Regular Season: 114-48, 1st Place, AL East

World Series: 4-0 over San Diego Padres

With Andy Pettitte, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Mariano Rivera all either emerging or coming into their prime, the Yankees also featured a peaking Tino Martinez and Chuck Knoblauch, an underrated Scott Brosius, a dominant outfield of Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neill, and Darryl Strawberry/Tim Raines platoon.

The pitching staff was positively stacked with Pettitte, David Wells, David Cone, Orlando Hernandez, and Hideki Irabu in the rotation, and Mariano Rivera, Mike Stanton, Jeff Nelson, Ramiro Mendoza, and Graeme Lloyd in the bullpen.

The result? A 116 OPS+ and a 116 ERA+ resulted in 114 wins, and then the Yanks stormed through the playoffs, topping the Rangers in three straight, the Indians in six, and sweeping the Padres in the Series.

The greatest World Series team of the last 50 years? It isn't a question of "if," but rather "by how much?"