World Series

Precursors to the modern World Series (1857–1902)

The original World Series

1892–1900: "The Monopoly Years"

Modern World Series (1903–present)

First attempt

Boycott of 1904

1919 Black Sox Scandal

New York Yankees dynasty (1920–1964)

1947–1964: New York City teams dominate World Series play

The World Series in California

1969: League Championship Series

1970s

1971: World Series at night

1972–1978: Threepeat, repeats, and Fisk's home run

1976: The designated hitter comes to the World Series

1980s

1984: Anderson becomes first to win in both leagues

1985: Umpiring controversy

1987: Twins First World Series champion to win every home game

1988: Kirk Gibson's home run

1989: Earthquake

1990s

1991: "The Greatest of All Time"

1992–1993: The World Series enters Canada

1994: League Division Series

1994–1995 strike

2000s

All-Star Game and home-field advantage (2003–2016)

2010s

Modern World Series appearances by franchise

World Series record by team or franchise, 1903–2019

Team patterns in the World Series

Streaks and droughts

1. Since their first championship in 1923, the New York Yankees have won two or more World Series titles in every decade except the 1980s and the 2010s, when they won none. They won at least one American League pennant in every decade from the 1920s until the 2000s; the streak ended in the 2010s. The Yankees are the only team in MLB to win more than three series in a row, winning in four consecutive seasons from 1936–1939, and an MLB record five consecutive seasons from 1949–1953. The Yankees also won three consecutive World Series from 1998–2000. The Oakland Athletics are the only other team to have won three straight titles, doing so from 1972–1974.
2. The New York Giants' four World Series appearances from 1921–1924 are the most consecutive appearances for any National League franchise. The Yankees are the only American League franchise to appear in four or more consecutive World Series, doing so from 1936–1939, 1949–1953, 1955–1958, 1960–1964, and 1998–2001.
3. The 1907–1908 Cubs, 1921–1922 Giants and the 1975–1976 Reds are the only National League teams to win back-to-back World Series. No National League team has ever won three consecutive World Series.
4. The 1907–1909 Detroit Tigers and the 1911–1913 New York Giants are the only teams to lose three consecutive World Series.
5. The Chicago Cubs hold the record for the longest World Series championship drought of all time, with no titles between 1908 and 2016. They also hold the longest ever pennant drought of all time, which stretched from 1945 to 2016 and ended with a 4–2 series victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2016 NLCS. With the Cubs' subsequent victory in the 2016 World Series, the longest active World Series championship drought belongs coincidentally to their opponents in that series, the Cleveland Indians, who have not won a World Series since 1948. The Indians' drought is the second longest active championship drought among all four major professional sports leagues in North America ; only the NFL's Arizona Cardinals, who last won a league championship in 1947, when the team still operated as the Chicago Cardinals, have a longer active championship drought. The team with the longest active pennant drought among AL teams that have played in a World Series at least once is the Baltimore Orioles, who have not reached the World Series since their 1983 title. The team with the longest active pennant drought among NL teams that have played in a World Series at least once is the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have not played in a World Series since winning it in 1979. This also means that the Pirates hold the second longest active World Series title drought among all teams that have at least one Series and longest championship drought among NL teams that have won a Series.
6. Twenty-four of the 29 teams who have played in the World Series have won it at least once. The only exceptions are the Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies, Tampa Bay Rays, and Texas Rangers. The Padres and Rangers have both lost two World Series; the remaining teams have all lost one Series. As of 2019, every team that has appeared in at least three World Series has won at least one title.
7. Only one team has never played in the World Series: the American League's Seattle Mariners. The Mariners have competed in a League Championship Series three times.
8. The Boston Red Sox have the most World Series titles before their first World Series loss, winning the championship in their first five appearances—1903, 1912, 1915, 1916, and 1918—before losing the next series they played, in 1946.
9. The American League's Toronto Blue Jays and National League's Miami Marlins hold the record for most appearances without ever losing a Series. Three other franchises have won their lone appearance: the National League's Arizona Diamondbacks and Washington Nationals and the American League's Los Angeles Angels.
10. The Boston Red Sox have the longest active streak of World Series victories since the last time they lost a series. They have won titles in 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018 after their last loss in 1986.
11. The Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants, and Cincinnati Reds have the longest active World Series wins streak by National League teams, with each team having won 3 times since their last losses. Since their last defeat in 1927, the Pirates have won the Series in 1960, 1971 and 1979. After their loss in 2002, the Giants won the Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014. Finally, since their loss in 1972, the Reds have won the Series in 1975, 1976 and 1990.
12. The Yankees have the most World Series victories between World Series losses. After losing the 1926 World Series to the Cardinals, the Yankees won in their next eight appearances, before losing in 1942 to the Cardinals, who are the National League leader in this category, with four titles between series losses in 1943 and 1968.
13. The Cubs and Dodgers are tied at seven apiece for most World Series losses between World Series victories. The Dodgers lost their first seven appearances in the Fall Classic in before winning their first title in 1955. The Cubs' situation was the opposite: between winning their second and third titles, they lost in 1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938, and 1945. The Cleveland Indians have four World Series losses since their last crown in 1948, more than any other team in the American League.
14. The longest duration without back-to-back World Series champions is currently active at 19 years, from after the 2000 New York Yankees to the present. The previous record of 14 years was broken when the Toronto Blue Jays won in 1992 and 1993.
15. The longest sequence of World Series in which each was won by a different franchise is 10, from 1978 through 1987. This streak was broken when the Dodgers, which had won in 1981, won again in 1988.

    Game-by-game

16. During the 1960s and 1970s, eight of the 11 World Series to go seven games saw Game 7 won by the road team: the road team won Game 7 in 1962, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, and 1979, while the home team won Game 7 in 1960, 1964, and 1973. Since 1980, the home team has won Game 7 in nine of the thirteen World Series between 1980 and 2013 that went to seven games. The first nine series to go seven games since 1980 all saw the home team win Game 7 before the San Francisco Giants won game 7 on the road in 2014. The three World Series that have gone the full seven games since 2014 have also seen the road team win Game 7.
17. To date, only six teams have come back to win a World Series when facing elimination going into Game 5 of a best-of-seven contest: the 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates, who defeated the reigning champion Washington Senators; the 1958 New York Yankees, who defeated the reigning champion Milwaukee Braves in a re-match of the 1957 World Series; the 1968 Detroit Tigers, who defeated the St. Louis Cardinals; the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, who defeated the Baltimore Orioles; the 1985 Kansas City Royals, who defeated the St. Louis Cardinals; and the 2016 Chicago Cubs, who defeated the Cleveland Indians. Only the Pirates have accomplished the feat twice. By contrast, only the St. Louis Cardinals have blown a 3 games to 1 lead twice. The 1958 Yankees, 1968 Tigers, 1979 Pirates, and 2016 Cubs all accomplished the feat by winning Games 6 & 7 on the road.
18. The 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers are the most recent team to win a World Series after losing the first two games on the road. The recent tendency of a team winning the first two games at home and then winning the Series suggests the theoretical advantage to gaining home-field advantage.
19. The Pittsburgh Pirates won all five of their World Series championships in seven games.
20. The Minnesota Twins/Washington Senators won all three of their World Series championships in seven games.
21. The Boston Red Sox have lost four World Series, all of which were in Series that went seven games.
22. There have been 19 World Series four-game sweeps, the most recent of which occurred in 2012 when the Giants swept the Tigers. Nine teams have swept a World Series at least once, the Yankees having done so most often. The Red Sox, Reds, and Giants have all done it twice. The Braves, Orioles, White Sox, Dodgers, and Athletics have each swept one Series. Six of these teams have also been swept 0–4 in at least one World Series. The Red Sox have the most World Series sweeps of any team that has never been swept in one, with two. The Reds and Yankees are the only teams to have swept each other. The Giants are the only team to record World Series sweeps in two cities: New York and San Francisco. The 1999 Yankees are the last team to date, and the only one since 1966, to sweep a World Series that began on the road. The 1963 Dodgers are the last National League team to date to sweep a World Series that began on the road.
23. The Athletics, Cardinals, Cubs, and Yankees are the only teams to be swept in two World Series. The Athletics and Yankees are the only two of these with at least one World Series sweep to their credit, the other two being among nine teams overall that have never swept a World Series, but have been swept in one.
24. The Cubs in 1907 and the Giants in 1922 won 4 games to 0, but each of those Series' included a tied game and are not considered to be true sweeps. In 1907, the first game was the tie and the Cubs won four straight after that. In 1922, Game 2 was the tie.
25. The Cincinnati Reds were the only National League team to sweep any World Series between 1963 and 2012, sweeping their last two series appearances to date in 1976 and 1990. When added to their Game 7 victory in 1975, this means that the Reds have won their last 9 consecutive World Series games, the longest active winning streak in terms of consecutive World Series games won. The Reds are also to date the only team since the inception of the League Championship Series in 1969 to sweep the entire postseason. The 1976 "Big Red Machine" swept the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League LCS in three games, and then swept the New York Yankees in the World Series in four games. The longest ever streak of consecutive World Series games won is 14 by the New York Yankees, who won four straight games to win the 1996 World Series after losing the first two games of that series, then swept their next two World Series appearances in 1998 and 1999, and then won the first two games of the 2000 World Series before losing the third game of that Series to the New York Mets.
26. The only team to have appeared in a World Series and have no wins in a World Series game is the Colorado Rockies, who were swept in their only appearance to date in 2007.
27. Nine World Series have ended with "walk-off" hits, i.e., that game and the Series ended when the home team won with a base hit in the bottom of the ninth or in extra innings: 1924*, 1929, 1935, 1953, 1960*, 1991*, 1993, 1997*, and 2001*. Five of these were in a deciding Game 7. In addition, the deciding Game 8 of the 1912 World Series ended in a walk-off sacrifice fly. The Twins in 1924 and 1991 are the only franchise to win two Series in this fashion. Two men have ended a World Series with a walk-off home run: Bill Mazeroski in 1960 and Joe Carter in 1993. Mazeroski's was a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 to win a championship for the Pittsburgh Pirates, while Carter's was a three-run shot in Game 6 that won a championship for the Toronto Blue Jays.
28. There has been one World Series that ended on a runner caught stealing. In the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 1926 World Series, Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees tried to steal second base with two outs and his team trailing the St. Louis Cardinals 3–2. Ruth was thrown out by Cardinals catcher Bob O'Farrell after Bob Meusel swung at and missed a pitch from Grover Cleveland Alexander. St. Louis second baseman Rogers Hornsby applied the tag on Ruth, who in his career was successful on 51% of his stolen base attempts. Ruth, Alexander, and Hornsby were later inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
29. One World Series game has ended with a pick-off of a runner. Kolten Wong of the St. Louis Cardinals was picked off first base in Game 4 of the 2013 World Series by Boston Red Sox closer Koji Uehara. The score was 4–2 and rookie Wong was a pinch runner.
30. The Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays are the first and only pair of teams to have a World Series game be suspended because of weather, and not have it cancelled. Game 5 was suspended on October 27, 2008 with a 2–2 score, and resumed in the bottom of the sixth inning two days later on October 29. The Phillies went on to win the game and clinch the series.
31. Both of the Minnesota Twins' World Series titles since relocating to the Twin Cities from Washington, D.C. were in seven-game series in which all games were won by the home team, in 1987 over the Cardinals and 1991 over the Atlanta Braves. This same scenario also occurred in 2001, when the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the New York Yankees. In all three of those series, a pitcher was named World Series Most Valuable Player. In the 1987 World Series, Frank Viola was the MVP having pitched games 1, 4, and 7, and finishing with a 2–1 record. In 1991, Jack Morris achieved the same feat pitching games 1, 4, and 7 with a 2–0 record and a no decision in game 4, and winning MVP honors. However, Morris's MVP came on the heels of pitching 10 shutout innings in game 7. Finally, in 2001, Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson took MVP honors by being the reason the Arizona Diamondbacks were in position to win the series.
32. The Washington Nationals' lone World Series appearance and victory came in the only seven-game World Series to date in which all seven games were won by the visiting team. Additionally, this is the only time that any of the three major North American professional sports leagues that use a best-of-seven series for their championship round have had a championship series go seven games with all contests won by the road team. Prior to Game 7, the Series was already the first such instance of a World Series, NBA Final, or Stanley Cup Final in which the road team won the first six games.
33. There has only been one instance in World Series history where the Series MVP was selected from the losing team: Bobby Richardson of the 1960 New York Yankees.
34. The home team has not won a deciding game of a World Series since 2013. Road teams have currently won six straight World Series-clinching games.
35. The winning team has scored fewer runs on 22 occasions, six of these in six-game series: 1918, 1959, 1977, 1992, 1996, and 2003. Seven-game series winners were outscored in 1912, 1924, 1925, 1931, 1940, 1957, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1991, 1997, and 2002. An equal number of runs were scored by the teams in 1948, 2016, and 2017. A five-game series winner has yet to be outscored, with the closest margin being two runs in 1915. The closest composite margin in a four-game sweep is six runs.

    Local rivalries

Cross-town Series

Cross-state rivalries

Pennants won in different cities

1. The Braves are the only team to have both won and lost a World Series in three home cities.
2. The Athletics have had three home cities, but have appeared in the World Series while based in only two of them.
3. Three other teams have both won and lost the Fall Classic in two home cities: The Dodgers, the Giants, and the Twins.
4. The Orioles are the only other team to have played in the World Series in two home cities, but all three of their titles have come while based in Baltimore.

   The original sixteen teams

1. Every original team has won at least two World Series titles. The Philadelphia Phillies were the last of the original teams to win their first Series, in. They were also the last to win at least two, with their second Series victory in. The Cubs were the first team to win the series twice, in 1907 and 1908.
2. The last original American League team to win its first World Series was the Baltimore Orioles, winning in.
3. The Orioles were also the last original team in the majors to make their first World Series appearance, as the St. Louis Browns in. Although they never won another American League pennant while in St. Louis, they have won three World Series in six appearances since moving to Baltimore. The St. Louis Cardinals were the last original National League team to appear in a modern World Series, in their championship victory. They have subsequently won more World Series than any other National League club: 11 championships through 2019.
4. The New York Yankees have defeated all eight original NL teams in a World Series. Conversely, they have lost at least one World Series to six of the original NL teams, never losing to the Chicago Cubs or the Philadelphia Phillies. The Boston Red Sox have played at least one Series against every original National League team except the Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, with whom they shared a home city through 1952.
5. The St. Louis Cardinals are currently the only club of the National League's original eight that holds an overall Series lead over the Yankees, 3 to 2, taking that lead in 1964. The Giants won their first two Series over the Yankees, but the Yankees have faced the Giants five times since then and have won all five, taking the overall lead over the Giants in 1937. The Pittsburgh Pirates and Yankees have faced each other twice, with the Yankees winning in 1927 and the Pirates winning in 1960, making the two teams.500 against each other.
6. Since the two leagues expanded beyond eight teams apiece in 1961, the American League's Cleveland Indians are the only original team that has not won a World Series against the larger field of competitors.
7. Out of 115 Series, all but two have featured at least one of the original sixteen teams. The only exceptions are the 2015 World Series between the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets and the 2019 World Series between the Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros.

   Expansion teams (after 1960)

8. The 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks won their first pennant and World Series in fewer seasons than any other expansion team. The 1997 World Series Champion Florida Marlins achieved these milestones in the second-fewest seasons. The fastest AL expansion franchise to win a pennant was the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008 and the fastest AL expansion franchise to win a World Series was the Toronto Blue Jays in 1992.
9. While the New York Mets were the first expansion team to win or appear in the World Series, the American League would have to wait until 1980 for its first expansion-team World Series appearance, and until 1985 for its first expansion-team win. Both were by the Kansas City Royals. The AL also had two expansion teams appear in the World Series before the National League's second expansion team to appear—the San Diego Padres in 1984.
10. There have been two World Series in which both teams were expansion franchises. The first instance occurred in 2015 between the National League's New York Mets and the American League's Kansas City Royals, with the Royals winning in five games. The second instance occurred in 2019 between the National League's Washington Nationals and the American League's Houston Astros, with the Nationals winning in seven games.
11. In the first World Series to only have expansion teams, the New York Mets and the Kansas City Royals were each the first expansion team in each respective league to appear in the World Series, the Mets in 1969 and the Royals in 1980. Each team was also the first team in each respective league to win the World Series, the Mets in 1969 and the Royals in 1985. Each team has the most appearances by an expansion team in each respective league in the World Series, with five for the Mets in 1969, 1973, 1986, 2000, and 2015, and four for the Royals in 1980, 1985, 2014, and 2015.
12. 13 expansion teams have now played in at least one Series. As of the end of the 2019 edition, expansion teams were 11–12 in the 23 editions of the World Series to feature at least one expansion team, with four teams each winning two. The then-Anaheim Angels, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Houston Astros, and the Washington Nationals had each won one Series by the end of the 2019 season.
13. The Toronto Blue Jays, Miami Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks, the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Nationals have never lost a World Series appearance.
14. Five expansion teams have appeared in the World Series without ever winning a championship: twice for the Texas Rangers and San Diego Padres, and once each for the Milwaukee Brewers, Colorado Rockies, and Tampa Bay Rays.
15. One expansion team has not yet won a league pennant : the American League's Seattle Mariners.

    Other notes

16. The team with the better regular season winning percentage has won the World Series 54 times, or 48.21% of the time. Three World Series have featured teams with identical regular season records.
17. The Toronto Blue Jays are the only Canadian team to win a pennant or a World Series, doing both twice, in 1992 and 1993.
18. The Chicago Cubs, the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals are the only teams with a World Series title that have never clinched one at home.
19. The Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Los Angeles Angels are the only teams with a World Series title that have never clinched one on the road.
20. Three World Series have matched up the previous two champions, with the New York Yankees winning all three. The 1928 World Series was contested by the 1926 champion Cardinals and 1927 champion Yankees; the Yankees won the series 4–0. In 1943, the 1941 champion Yankees met the 1942 champion Cardinals, which the Yankees won 4–1. In 1958, the 1956 champion Yankees faced the 1957 champion Milwaukee Braves; the Yankees won this series 4–3.
21. The only two teams that have changed leagues, the Milwaukee Brewers and Houston Astros are also the only teams to have played in both the American League Championship Series and National League Championship Series. The Brewers won their lone ALCS appearance in 1982 against the California Angels and lost both of their NLCS appearances, in 2011 against the St. Louis Cardinals and in 2018 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, making them 1–2 all time between both League Championship Series. The Astros, meanwhile, have a 3–4 all-time record between both League Championship Series, having gone 1–3 in four NLCS appearances and 2–1 in three ALCS appearances. The Astros are the only team in MLB to appear in the World Series as a member of both the National League and the American League ; they have gone 1-2 overall across three World Series appearances, going 0-1 as a member of the National League and 1-1 as a member of the American League.
22. Game 1 of the 2015 World Series between the New York Mets and the Kansas City Royals was the longest game 1 in history at 5 hours and 9 minutes.
23. Yogi Berra of the New York Yankees holds the record for most World Series championships by a player with 10. Joe DiMaggio of the Yankees is second with 9.
24. Joe McCarthy and Casey Stengel are tied for the most World Series titles by a manager with 7 apiece, all 14 of them with the Yankees. Connie Mack managed the Philadelphia Athletics to 5 World Series crowns.
25. The all-time World Series single-game attendance record is 92,706, set in Game 5 of the 1959 World Series at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the temporary home of the Los Angeles Dodgers until Dodger Stadium opened in 1962. The Chicago White Sox defeated the Dodgers 1–0 in the record-setting game. Games 3 and 4 of that series also drew crowds in excess of 92,000.
26. Game 3 of the 2018 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers was the longest single game in series history at 7 hours and 20 minutes, which took longer than the entire 1939 World Series, with a cumulative duration of 7 hours and 5 minutes.
27. Two divisions - the American League Central and the National League East - exclusively comprise teams that have won at least one World Series. In the AL Central, the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins, and Chicago White Sox have each won the World Series at least twice; the Twins additionally won as the original Washington Senators, but only the White Sox and Royals have won as members of this division. All five current NL East members have won as members of this division: the Atlanta Braves have won 3 titles, the Philadelphia Phillies, Miami Marlins and the New York Mets have each won twice, and the Washington Nationals have won one title.
28. The 2019 World Series was the first and only Postseason Series in the history of the Major North American Professional Sports Leagues in which the home team lost all seven games, as no other Series had featured the home team losing the first six games prior.
29. The 1982 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers and the 2005 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and the Houston Astros are the only two World Series matchups that cannot have a rematch under the current alignment, as the Cardinals and Brewers have both played in the National League since the Brewers switched over from the American League in 1998 and the White Sox and Astros have both played in the American League since the Astros switched over from the National League in 2013. For the same reason, these two World Series are the only ones that are capable of having a rematch in the postseason outside of the World Series; the Cardinals and Brewers have met once in the postseason since the Brewers switched leagues, in the 2011 National League Championship Series, which the Cardinals won 4 games to 2, while the White Sox and Astros have not yet met in the postseason since the Astros switched leagues.

    Television coverage and ratings

Sponsorship

Naming and international participation

Image gallery