Baseball’s World Series has seen everything, from the breaking of curses to cheating scandals, to huge wins and dynasties, it has also seen almost every team. Here is the last time every team has been in the championship game.
The first World Series in six years to not feature the Astros or the Dodgers.
Throughout the season, the Rangers went from looking like a title team to one that would miss the playoffs — and back. Arizona had the third-longest odds to get there. In the end, Texas won its first-ever World Series, and the Diamondbacks made their second ever appearance in the Fall Classic.
The Astros won their first title since 2017 after thankfully being beaten in the 2019 and 2021 Fall Classics.
The city of Philadelphia saw three of its teams lose in the championship games of their respective sports — the Eagles fell to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl and Los Angeles FC beat Philadelphia Union in the MLS Cup.
The Braves looked broken going into the All-Star Break. Ronald Acuña Jr. had torn his ACL, and they were four and a half games behind the Mets.
They acquired six players at the trade deadline, including Adam Duvall, who provided some grand slams in the Braves’ pursuit of victory.
Atlanta thankfully prevented the Astros from winning another title.
The Dodgers won their first World Series since 1988 in the same year another Los Angeles team — the Lakers — won a title. (Though do we really count the Bubble Title?)
Only 60 regular season games were played during this COVID-shortened season.
The Nationals were down 12 games in the standings when the season started, and fans wanted manager Dave Martinez to be fired. All hope was lost, and somehow, they made it to the postseason with some magic by their guys on the mound.
It was the first baseball championship in Washington since 1924, and the same year the Capitals had won the Stanley Cup.
They turned D.C. into the District of Champions (at least for a year).
The Curse of the Billy Goat was finally broken, as the Cubs ended a 71-year championship drought over Cleveland in seven games.
The Royals became the first team since the 1989 Oakland Athletics to win a World Series after losing the year prior.
They had a 2.5 percent chance of winning the Fall Classic, and pulled it off due to Lorenzo Cain’s three-run homer and Wade Davis’ pitching in the 12th inning.
The Mets would lose in the Wild Card the following season and miss the playoffs until 2022.
The Giants won three titles in five years. All three came in even years.
The Cardinals couldn’t win their second title in three years — and third in seven years — losing to the Red Sox, 4 games to 2.
Boston had ended the Curse of the Bambino in 2004 and won titles in 2007, 2013, and 2018.
The Cardinals were in the NLCS again in 2014, but lost to the eventual champion Giants.
Despite having Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer atop the rotation, and Triple Crown-winning Miguel Cabrera, the Tigers were swept in the Fall Classic.
This is the most recent World Series to end in a sweep.
The Bronx Bombers ended their championship drought, winning No. 27 by defeating the previous year’s winner, the Philadelphia Phillies.
Hideki Matsui had only 13 at-bats, but had eight hits — three of them home runs — and eight RBI, earning MVP honors.
Oh, and the Governor of New York scammed his way to five tickets behind home plate during Game 1, and had to pay over $60,000 in fines.
The Rockies had won 21 of 22 games going into the World Series, but couldn’t win a single game against the Red Sox for the title. The FBI got involved when the Rockies claimed they were victims of a denial-of-service attack, when they announced all of their ticket sales would be online, but no one could buy any.
The White Sox won the World Series for the first time since 1917, but ESPN seems to have forgotten about it.
World Series titles: 2. Division titles: 0.
The fourth-ever all-California World Series.
The Angels entered the postseason as a wild card team.
Troy Glaus, who helped lead the Angels’ Game 6 comeback, was named MVP.
This was L.A.’s first and only World Series appearance and victory.
Nowadays, the team doesn’t even play meaningful games past June.
The Padres reached the Fall Classic for the second time in franchise history.
However, they were swept by the Yankees, who were in the midst of their late ‘90s dynasty.
This series featured several Hall of Famers on both squads: Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Tim Raines, Tony Gwynn, and Trevor Hoffmann.
Joe Carter clubbed a walk-off, three-run homer to cap off a championship repeat for the Jays.
“Touch ‘em all, Joe! You’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life,” Blue Jays radio announcer Tom Cheek said.
This marked just the second time the World Series was won on a walk-off.
Bill Mazeroski’s homer in the 1960 World Series against the Yankees was the first.
Oakland made three-straight World Series appearances from 1988-90, winning in 1989. The A’s — who won 103 regular season games — were swept in ‘90 by the Cincinnati Reds, thanks in large part to the “Nasty Boys.”
The Phillies emerged victorious in the I-95 Series. The O’s were the first visiting team to win Games 3-5 since the 1961 Yankees.
Perhaps with a new owner and the abundance of young talent, Baltimore can return to the Fall Classic in the near future. The Orioles were just in the ALCS, though they were swept by the eventual champion Rangers.
The lone World Series appearance for the Brew Crew. Milwaukee lost to St. Louis, 4 games to 3.
The Brewers would come close to returning in 2018, but lost to the Dodgers in the NLCS, also by 4 games to 3.
“We Are Family.” The Pirates came back from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the Baltimore Orioles.
The closest the Buccos would get to returning to the Fall Classic was in the three-year stretch of NLCS appearances from 1990-92.
