As the 2019 World Series showed, baseball remains one of the most unpredictable sports in the world and the championship series one of the most compelling sporting events to watch. Washington Nationals fans will not soon forget the top of the 7th inning in Game 7.
The series between the Nationals and the Houston Astros is the 115th in the history of the game. Which begs the question: in the long history of the Fall Classic, which is the best World Series of all time?
Like many things in baseball, that depends on who you talk to. Every fan has personal favorites because those series involved their favorite team. Or maybe they have great memories of watching a series and the people they were with while watching the games. Baseball is even better when it’s a shared experience.
But. objectively speaking, a handful of series have stood out as being among the best. We picked seven for this article. Here’s an overview of each, in reverse chronological order.
2016
Chicago Cubs (4) vs. Cleveland Indians (3)
The Chicago Cubs won the World Series after a 108-year championship drought. Let that sink in a moment. 108 years. In 1908, the last time they won a series (beating the Detroit Tigers in five games), World War I was still seven years in the future. Theodore Roosevelt was president. Henry Ford was still five years away from starting the first moving assembly line for mass-producing automobiles. It was an amazing story, made even more amazing by the fact that the Cubs had to come back after being down 3-2 in the series to the Cleveland Indians, another team that hasn’t won a World Series in many years (1948). It was decided in Game 7, after a rain delay, in Cleveland, in extra innings. It’s one of the best Game 7s ever.
2001
Arizona Diamondbacks (4) vs. New York Yankees (3)
The New York Yankees came into the World Series for the fourth straight year, having won championships the three previous years over the San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves and New York Mets. But they met their match against the Arizona Diamondbacks, a team in just its fourth year of existence. But Arizona had the pitching combination of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, as well as an all-time classic hit in Game 7 by Luis Gonzalez off closer Mariano Rivera.
1991
Minnesota Twins (4) vs. Atlanta Braves (3)
Let’s be honest: If this series involved the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers or San Francisco Giants, it’d be No. 1 on most “best World Series” lists. In this epic series, five games were decided by one run, four games came down to the final at-bat and three games went into extra innings. And in a Game 7 for the ages, Twins starting pitcher Jack Morris pitched a 10-inning complete game with the Twins winning 1-0 on a pinch hit by Gene Larkin that scored Dan Gladden.
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1986
New York Mets (4) vs. Boston Red Sox (3)
Few World Series can match the drama of the 1986 series, and few games will ever match the drama of Game 6, played Oct. 25 at Shea Stadium in New York City. At the time, Boston still had not won a championship since 1918 (4-2 over the Chicago Cubs) despite winning the American League pennant in 1946, 1967 and 1975.
We now know Boston’s pain ended in 2004, but it looked about to end in 1986. Boston came into the game leading the series three games to two. They had a 5-3 lead entering the bottom of the 10th. They had two outs, and nobody was on base. Then, four things happened:
- A single by Gary Carter
- A single by Kevin Mitchell
- A single by Ray Knight
- A wild pitch by Boston pitcher Bob Stanley
Even so, the game was still tied, and Stanley had two strikes on Mookie Wilson. But on the 10th pinch of an epic at-bat, Wilson hit a slow roller up the first base line that was misplayed by Boston first baseman Bill Buckner, allowing Knight to score the winning run. Two nights later at Shea, the Mets won the series.
1968
Detroit Tigers (4) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (3)
In the Year of the Pitcher, the Tigers faced the mighty Cardinals and pitcher Bob Gibson, who had a 1.12 ERA for the year and was one of the most feared pitchers of all time. He justified that fear in Game 1 and Game 4, winning both games and striking out 17 hitters in Game 1. But down 3-to-1 in the series, the Tigers battled back – including an amazing victory over Gibson in Game 7 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Gibson made it all the way into the 7th before a triple by Jim Northrup, which was misplayed by outfielder Curt Floyd, resulted in two runs scoring. Northrup was driven in by catcher Bill Freehan, giving the Tigers a lead they never relinquished.
1960
Pittsburgh Pirates (4) vs. New York Yankees (3)
Beating the New York Yankees is often the pathway to creating a memorable series because, you know, the Yankees. But even in that context, this one is legendary. The Yankees absolutely blew out the Pirates in the three games they won by scores of 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0. And when Bill Mazeroski strode to the plate in the ninth inning of Game 7 with the game tied, he was not exactly a feared slugger. But Mazeroski hit a solo, walk-off home run, the first in World Series history and still the only one ever in a Game 7 (Joe Carter did it in Game 6 in 1993, giving the Toronto Blue Jays the series win over the Philadelphia Phillies). Mazeroski’s home run can only be seen because a tape of Game 7 was found in the wine cellar of Bing Crosby, a part-owner of the Pirates who was too nervous to watch the game but had it taped to watch in case the Pirates won.
1956
New York Yankees (4) vs. Brooklyn Dodgers (3)
The Dodgers had won the World Series in 1955, beating the Yankees. Before that, the Yankees had won every World Series between 1949 and 1953 (the New York Giants had beaten the Cleveland Indians in 1954). So, this was a titanic matchup between two of the biggest baseball giants of the day. The series was tied 2-2 entering Game 5, when Don Larsen became a baseball immortal by pitching the only perfect game in World Series history (Yogi Berra was behind the plate, and his leap into Larsen’s arms is one of the most famous moments in sports history). It remains one of the top MLB records of all time. The Dodgers tied the series the next game, but the Yankees blew them out in Game 7.
1903
Boston Americans (5) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (3)
From a historical context, the best World Series might be the first World Series. While there had been championship games played before, the first of what became the World Series we know today happened in 1903, when the Boston Americans of the American League faced the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League. It was a best of nine series, which Boston won, five games to three games. The Boston victory was something of an upset, as the American League was an upstart league founded in Milwaukee in 1901. Stars in the series include Cy Young with Boston and Honus Wagner with Pittsburgh.
We could go on forever. In truth, there’s something interesting and often spectacular about every World Series. But the ones listed above are the ones you are most likely to find on most “best World Series ever” lists.
I would have added the 1958 Series when the Yankees came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Milwaukee
Braves .After the Braves won game four, I remember Warren Spahn saying:” the Yankees would be a fourth place team in the National League”
When the Yankees won the Series Casey Stengel told a clubhouse full of reporters,”I guess the Yankees could play in the National League after all”