Current Playoff Teams Will Find World Series Marks Tough To Top

Dodgers slugger Freddie Freeman celebrates after hitting the first walkoff grand-slam in World Series history — in last year’s opener against the Yankees. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

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Unless last year, when the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees met in the World Series, critics of the 12-team baseball playoff system insisted the best teams didn’t always meet in the final round.

In the days when each team had eight teams and no scheduled playoffs, champions of each league went directly to the Fall Classic in the one and only inter-league competition outside of spring training.

Now it’s much more difficult, which accounts for the reason no team has won consecutive world championships since the Yankees won three straight from 1998-2000.

Only one of the six playoff teams per league will advance to the final round – after surviving a best-of-three Wild Card series, best-of-five Division Series, and best-of-seven Championship Series. The two division champions with the best records in each league get “byes” that enable them to “bye-pass” the Wild Card match-ups and start their postseasons in the Divisional round.

Many Memorable Moments

World Series history is filled with memorable moments, including a spectacular catch by Willie Mays in 1954, Don Larsen’s perfect game in 1956, Bill Mazeroski’s Game 7 ninth-inning walkoff home run that ended the 1960 matchup, and Bob Gibson’s 17-strikeout game in 1968.

Because of the scheduled playoffs compounding the difficulty of reaching the final round, many World Series records seem safe.

Great Yankees Records

Those include Yogi Berra’s 10 World Series rings, Mickey Mantle’s 18 Series homers, and Whitey Ford’s 33 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings. All played for the Yankees, who won more pennants (41), more World Series (27), and more American League East titles (21) than any other team.

They could add one more pennant and another world championship this year after finishing in a flat-footed tie with the Toronto Blue Jays at 94-68 – the best record in the AL. The division crown went north of the border, however, because the Jays won the season’s series from the Yankees, taking 8 out of 13.

After coming from behind to win the Wild Card Series against the Boston Red Sox, the Yankees headed to the Rogers Centre to face the cantankerous Blue Jays, who completed a rare worst-to-first season during the 162-game schedule.

Toronto has been absent from the Series since 1993, when Joe Carter duplicated Mazeroski’s feat with a one-out, three-run homer that ended Game 6 and the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. It was Toronto’s second straight world title but also its last World Series appearance.

Another expansion team, the Seattle Mariners, has had an even longer void: forever. They are the only team that has never appeared in the Fall Classic but could do so this year, especially if Cal Raleigh continues the sudden power surge that propelled him to a 60-homer season.

Whichever team survives will not only be shooting for a financial windfall (last year’s winning shares were $477,441 each) but also for baseball immortality – if they can reach new plateaus of performance. The winning 2024 Dodgers received the biggest portion of a record $129.1 million post-season player pool – the largest playoff in baseball history.

Entering play Sunday, the eight teams still alive in the playoffs were hoping to cash in again. To do that, however, they might have to create new World Series memories or top old ones. That won’t be easy.

Top 20 Moments

According to multiple baseball historians, these are among the Top 20 World Series moments:

1. Mazeroski’s homer (1960) – In a seven-game classic, the Yankees outscored the Pirates, 55-27, but won when the light-hitting Mazeroski led off the last inning of the last game with a solo home run, ending the game with a 10-9 score.

2. Larsen’s perfect game (1956) – After the Dodgers knocked him out in the second inning of the second game, journeyman right-hander Don Larsen returned in Game 5 to pitch the game of his life. Throwing only 97 pitches, he retired all 27 Brooklyn batters for the first and only no-hitter in Series history.

3. Mathewson’s shutouts (1905) – The ace of John McGraw’s New York Giants pitched and won three shutouts against Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics. With Joe (Iron Man) McGinnity also pitching a shutout in his only start, the Giants compiled a Series record 0.00 earned run average.

Willie’s Catch

4. Willie’s catch (1954) – The horseshoe-shaped configuration of the Polo Grounds featured a deep center field but short foul lines. With his back to the plate in the eighth inning of the opener against the Indians, Mays hauled down a 460-foot drive by Vic Wertz, stifling a Cleveland rally as the underdog Giants swept the World Series.

5. Gibson’s shot (1988) – Kirk Gibson, idled by bad knees, was on the bench for the 1988 World Series when asked to pinch-hit against the heavily-favored Oakland Athletics. He hobbled to the plate, then turned a 3-2 pitch from future Hall of Fame closer Dennis Eckersley into a two-out, two-run homer that gave the Dodgers a 5-4 victory and gave them needed momentum for a Series sweep. It was the first come-from-behind, game-winning homer in the history of the Fall Classic.

6. Freddie’s slam (2024) – Slow to recover from a sprained ankle, Freddie Freeman delivered the first walkoff grand-slam in World Series history at Dodger Stadium in the 10th inning of Game 1 against the Yankees. With runners on first and second, New York had intentionally walked Mookie Betts, a right-handed batter, so that left-handed pitcher Nestor Cortes, normally a starter, could face the lefty-hitting Freeman. Los Angeles won the game, 6-3, and the Series in five games.

7. Babe’s Called Shot (1932) – During Game 3 of the 1932 World Series at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, Babe Ruth allegedly pointed to right field before hitting a home run against Charlie Root of the Cubs. Ruth and Lou Gehrig both homered twice in the game as the Yankees won, 7-5, en route to the world championship.

Slaughter’s Surprise

8. Slaughter’s Dash (1946) – Although he was the RBI champion of the National League that year, Enos Slaughter won the World Series for St. Louis with his legs. In the eighth inning of Game 7, he led off with a single. One out later, he and Harry Walker worked a perfect hit-and-run play, with Slaughter bolting from first with the pitch, reaching second while Walker’s Texas Leaguer was in the air, and scoring ahead of a weak relay throw from stunned shortstop Johnny Pesky. The shortstop, taking the throw from left field, had his back to the plate and was surprised to see Slaughter racing home that he hesitated just for a split second. That was all the time the outfielder needed to score the winning run in a 4-3 game.

9. Gashouse Gang-Busters (1934) – Brothers Dizzy and Paul Dean won two games each as the Gashouse Gang Cardinals took their only World Series, beating the favored Detroit Tigers. Dizzy won Game 7, 11-0, after telling Tiger hitters he would use only fastballs against them.

10. A’s for the A’s (1929) – Connie Mack’s 1929 Philadelphia A’s outplayed the Murderer’s Row Yankees to win the American League pennant, then went on to win a five-game World Series against the powerful Chicago Cubs. They erupted for 10 runs in the seventh inning of Game 4 – the biggest outburst in Fall Classic annals – to erase an 8-0 deficit and win, 10-8.

11. Mickey’s Magic (1968) – Although teammate Denny McLain won 31 games during the regular season, lefty Mickey Lolich pitched three complete-game World Series victories – including Game 7 on two days’ rest – as the Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Cardinals. No pitcher has done that since.

12. Unexpected Relief (1926) – In Game 7 of the 1926 Fall Classic at Yankee Stadium, the Cardinals called on Grover Cleveland Alexander – who had pitched and won Game 6 the day before – with the bases loaded and two men out in the seventh. Though hung over from his post-game celebration of the night before, the veteran struck out Tony Lazzeri, then retired five more hitters before walking Babe Ruth in the ninth. With Lou Gehrig at bat, Ruth was caught stealing – giving the Cards a 3-2 win and their first world championship.

13. Miracle Mets (1969) – A 1962 expansion team that spent its first seven seasons at or near the bottom of the standings, the pitching-rich Mets went 21-10 in August and 23-7 in September, taking the NL East title by eight games before beating Atlanta in the NLCS and Baltimore in a five-game World Series.

14. Triple Play (1920) – Cleveland second baseman Bill Wambsganss made the only unassisted triple play in World Series history, helping the Indians beat the Brooklyn Robins, five games to two, in a best-of-nine format (used only in 1903 and from 1919-21).

Fenway Frenzy

15. Carlton’s Clout (1975) – In the 12th inning of World Series Game 6 between the Reds and Red Sox at Fenway Park, Carlton Fisk hit a towering fly ball that he “waved” to stay fair – and got his wish with a game-winning home run to keep Boston alive for another day. The score was 7-6.

16. Legal Thefts (1967) – St. Louis speedster Lou Brock stole seven bases, a World Series record, as the Cardinals won a seven-game set against the “Impossible Dream” Boston Red Sox, a surprise opponent. Brock duplicated the feat the following fall even though St. Louis fell to Detroit.

17. Strikeout Star (1968) – Bob Gibson fanned 17 men in a game and 35 overall in the ‘68 Series even though his Cardinals could not beat the Tigers. Gibson pitched eight straight complete games, winning the first seven, in World Series play.

18. Palmer’s Persistence (1983) – Working in a rare relief role, Jim Palmer won a game in the 1983 World Series, becoming the only pitcher to do that in three different decades. The Baltimore right-hander also won Series games in 1966, 1970, and 1971.

Sudden Star

19. Tenacious Tenace (1973) – Backup catcher Gene Tenace, who hit .225 with five homers during the regular season, became the first player to clear the fences in his first two World Series at-bats – helping the Oakland A’s beat the favored Big Red Machine. A classic example of a surprise star who happened to get hot at the right time, Tenace hit two more home runs in that seven-game Series. Atlanta’s Andruw Jones duplicated the Tenace feat in 1996.

20. Five Straight (1953) – Powered by Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra, the Yankees won a record fifth straight World Series by beating the Brooklyn Dodgers in six games. No team has won more than three in a row since (the Yankees were the last, in 1998-99-2000).