Baseball is weird. It’s a sport where a 162-game marathon leads to a October sprint that often makes zero sense. If you look at the baseball world series winners by year, you’ll see dynasties that felt invincible and underdogs that basically stumbled into glory.
Most people think the biggest payroll always wins. Honestly? Not even close.
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Take the 2025 season. The Los Angeles Dodgers just secured their second straight title, beating the Toronto Blue Jays in an 11-inning thriller during Game 7. It was stressful. Yoshinobu Yamamoto took home the MVP, and suddenly the Dodgers have nine rings. They are officially the first team to repeat as champions since the Yankees did it back at the turn of the millennium.
History has a funny way of looping back on itself.
The Giants of the Game: Dominance by the Numbers
You can't talk about winners without the New York Yankees. They have 27 titles. That is an absurd number. Between 1949 and 1953, they won five in a row. Imagine being a fan of any other team during that stretch. It must have been miserable.
The St. Louis Cardinals are the pride of the National League with 11 championships. They’ve been incredibly consistent, rarely bottoming out. Then you have the Boston Red Sox, who famously went 86 years without a trophy because of a "curse" involving Babe Ruth, only to become the most successful team of the early 21st century with four wins between 2004 and 2018.
Here is how the top of the mountain looks right now:
- New York Yankees: 27 Titles (Last in 2009)
- St. Louis Cardinals: 11 Titles (Last in 2011)
- Los Angeles Dodgers: 9 Titles (Last in 2025)
- Boston Red Sox: 9 Titles (Last in 2018)
- Oakland Athletics: 9 Titles (Last in 1989)
- San Francisco Giants: 8 Titles (Last in 2014)
The Athletics are a strange case. Most of their damage was done decades ago, either in Philadelphia or during that 1970s "Mustache Gang" era when they won three straight. They haven’t touched a trophy since 1989, the year the World Series was interrupted by a massive earthquake in the Bay Area.
The Modern Era: Chaos and Parity
Starting around the mid-90s, things got chaotic. The 1994 season was a total wash—no World Series because of the players' strike. It’s the biggest "what if" in baseball history, especially for the Montreal Expos, who were arguably the best team in the world at the time.
After that, the Yankees went on their last great run. From 1996 to 2000, they won four out of five. It felt like the sport was broken.
But then the 2000s hit, and everything changed. We saw first-time winners like the Arizona Diamondbacks (2001), the Anaheim Angels (2002), and the Texas Rangers (2023). The Rangers' win was particularly sweet for their fans because they had come so painfully close in 2011, only to lose to the Cardinals in a series that still gives North Texans nightmares.
Recent Baseball World Series Winners by Year (2016–2025)
The last decade has been a mix of legendary droughts ending and new powerhouses emerging.
2016: Chicago Cubs. This was the one. 108 years of waiting. They beat Cleveland in a Game 7 that featured a rain delay and enough tension to power a small city.
2017: Houston Astros. They beat the Dodgers, but this one is forever asterisked because of the sign-stealing scandal. People still boo them for it.
2018: Boston Red Sox. Pure dominance. They ran through the league and finished off the Dodgers in five games.
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2019: Washington Nationals. They were 19-31 at one point in May. They ended up winning every single road game in the World Series against the Astros. Unheard of.
2020: Los Angeles Dodgers. The "Bubble" series in Texas. Shortened season, weird vibes, but the trophy still counts.
2021: Atlanta Braves. They didn't even have a winning record until August. Then they caught fire and took down Houston.
2022: Houston Astros. They won again, this time "cleanly," beating the Phillies in six games.
2023: Texas Rangers. Led by Corey Seager, who became one of the few players to win World Series MVP with two different teams.
2024: Los Angeles Dodgers. A star-studded roster that finally stayed healthy enough to steamroll the Yankees.
2025: Los Angeles Dodgers. The repeat. Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani cemented their legacies in a 4-3 series win over Toronto.
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Why Some Teams Never Win
It's sort of sad when you look at the list and see who is missing. The Seattle Mariners are the only team that has never even been to a World Series. The Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies, and Tampa Bay Rays have all made appearances but have zero rings.
Winning requires luck. You need your third starter to pitch like an ace for two weeks. You need a random bench player to hit a walk-off double. In 1988, Kirk Gibson could barely walk, but he hit one of the most famous home runs in history for the Dodgers. That’s the magic of the Fall Classic.
Actionable Insights for Baseball Fans
If you're trying to track the history of the game or even predict the next winner, keep these things in mind:
- Pitching Depth over Star Power: Teams with a deep bullpen usually survive the grueling October schedule better than teams with just one or two superstars.
- The "Hot" Team Matters: Look at the 2019 Nationals or 2021 Braves. Winning in October is about who is playing best right now, not who had the best record in June.
- Historical Context: Use resources like Baseball-Reference or the official MLB Postseason History to see how specific franchises perform under pressure.
- Watch the Payroll: While the Dodgers and Yankees spend big, the "small market" teams like the Rays or Guardians often provide the best value in betting or fantasy markets because of their elite player development.
The list of baseball world series winners by year is more than just a table of names. It’s a map of heartbreak, luck, and absolute brilliance. Whether you’re a die-hard fan or just someone who tunes in for the drama, the history of this series is the history of the sport itself.
The Dodgers are currently the kings of the mountain, but as history shows, someone is always waiting in the wings to knock them off.