Better than all the rest: The 10 best World Series winners in MLB history

There are MLB teams throughout baseball history that have been head and shoulders above the competition, and are talked about from generation to generation. We’ll rank the top 10 World Series winning teams of all time, nitpicking to come to a conclusion about which group was the best ever. All statistics are sourced from Baseball Reference.

The Tigers were a force to be reckoned with from the first day of the 1984 MLB season. The New York Times wrote a piece in May 2024 commemorating the 40^th anniversary of Detroit’s 35-5 start to that regular season, which is the best in MLB history. Lance Parrish and Kirk Gibson were the main power threats in Detroit’s lineup.

The Tigers won seven of their eight postseason games en route to winning the World Series, which is about as well as anyone can possibly do. Their accomplishment withstands the test of time, but they rank towards the bottom of this list due to the lack of star power relative to some of the other squads in this exercise.

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Certain fans might consider the 1990s Braves a bit of a disappointment, since they were always in the postseason and only came away with one World Series title. However, the ring they did win was done in awfully impressive fashion. The Atlanta Journal Constitution admitted that the 1995 Braves weren’t a great offensive team, but they could pitch as well as anyone.

A rotation led by Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz was the reason why Atlanta raced to the championship. There was no room for error against this dominant trio, as they stifled the potent Cleveland Indians lineup in the World Series. Glavine took home World Series MVP, pitching to a 1.29 ERA in two starts.

From 1941-1954, the Dodgers were in the World Series a total of five times, and didn’t win any of them. CBS News and others chronicled the painful existence of that stretch, which was summarized by a quirky but somewhat insulting “wait ‘till next year” piece of advice for Brooklyn fans.

However, everything finally came together in 1955. Bleacher Report believes the significance of this title, and the impressive fashion in which they won, makes them the best team in Dodgers history. They note that the team led the league with 5.6 runs per game, while players like Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe and Johnny Podres showed out in the World Series.

Get ready for a lot of Yankee representation during the remainder of this gallery. The 1961 team leads things off, pun intended. They were catapulted by Roger Maris, who hit a then-record 61 home runs that season. Pinstripe Alley documented that, remarkably, five Yankees finished in the top 10 in league MVP voting.

In addition to Maris’ prodigious season, New York also received standout campaigns from Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra. Fox Sports comments that the lineup was one of the best to ever play the game, but there are other Yankees lineups we’ll come across that may have been just a hair better.

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Keeping things in New York, the Mets were a powerhouse during the 1986 campaign. They had exciting players in their rotation, and in their lineup. Dwight Gooden and Daryl Strawberry were young superstars who put it all together next to a team of heady veterans. MLB’s website also chronicled the wild times they had in the dugout.

Some might say that the Mets were extremely lucky to win the World Series in 1986. Had it not been for an all-time embarrassing error by Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner, New York might not have won Game 6 to force a deciding Game 7. With that being said, the Mets won 108 games in the regular season, and were a deserving World Series team.

The Baltimore Banner and WBAL TV’s websites covered the 40-year reunion of the 1983 title team in 2023 extensively, and with good reason. The Baltimore Sun wrote about that team’s relentless effort that season, to continue playing hard regardless of the obstacles that stood in their way.

It was an interesting roster that won it all for the Orioles that season. 37-year-old Jim Palmer was a holdover from the powerful Orioles teams of the 1970s, while 36-year-old Ken Singleton hit 18 home runs that year. Eddie Murray was in his prime at age 27, while a 22-year-old Cal Ripken Jr. burst on to the scene to become one of the best players in baseball.

The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Paul Daugherty wrote a piece in 2020 discussing how the 1975 Reds are still talked about in the city. According to contemporary pitcher Bill Lee, the attitude the players had was derived from the fierce grit and determination showcased by MLB all-time hit leader Pete Rose.

Rose, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, Johnny Bench, Dave Concepcion, George Foster and Ken Griffey Sr. formed a lineup that destroyed its opponents. Cincinnati won 108 games that year, and continued that momentum right into the postseason. The Reds defeated the Red Sox in the World Series, who Bleacher Report called epic in their own right.

As we get to the best of the best, it gets more challenging to land on the right mix of accomplishment, Hall of Fame contributions, and legendary status to separate dominant teams. The 1939 edition of the Yankees has a strong claim to be the best ever, as Sports Illustrated wrote in 2017. They believe that this could have been the most feared team ever.

There wasn’t much room to breathe for opposing pitchers. Joe DiMaggio led the team in home runs with 30, but three other players (Bill Dickey, Joe Gordon and George Selkirk) all hit over 20 long balls in their own right. To make things more impressive, most of the players in the regular lineup hit over .300, so the chain kept moving all season and through the World Series.

While the 1998 version of the Yankees may not have the same gravitas as the teams from early in the 20^th century, the players on the team that season seemed to fit perfectly. A young Derek Jeter was ascending to stardom, and was surrounded by smart and talented players in the lineup like Paul O’Neill, Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez, amongst others.

ESPN believes that the ’98 Yankees may have been somewhat overshadowed by the home run chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, but the juxtaposition almost makes their season more impressive. New York didn’t have legendary home run hitters on their team; just a bunch of players who showed up when it mattered most, from April through October.

The team that takes the cake as the greatest World Series winning team of all time is the 1927 New York Yankees. Yahoo Sports talked about their “Murderers Row” lineup in 2020, which still stacks up as one of the greatest collections of talent the game has ever seen.

Babe Ruth is the most revered player on the ’27 Yankees, having hit 60 home runs in a storybook campaign. Lou Gehrig was not to be outdone, as he hit 47 homers in his own right, and drove in an astounding 173 runs.

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