Honestly, if you’re looking at world series matchups by year, you aren’t just looking at a list of baseball games. You’re looking at a timeline of American history, heartbreaks, and occasionally, pure chaos. Most people think they know the "big ones"—the Red Sox breaking the curse or the Cubs winning it all—but when you really dig into the match-ups, the patterns get weird. Really weird.
Take last year. The 2025 World Series saw the Los Angeles Dodgers take down the Toronto Blue Jays in seven games. It was a slugfest. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was basically a god on the mound, and the Dodgers became the first team to repeat as champions since the Yankees’ dynasty at the turn of the millennium. But before that, we had the 2024 rematch of the ages: Dodgers vs. Yankees. People waited over 40 years for that matchup to return, and it delivered on the hype, even if it was a relatively short five-game series.
The Matchups That Defined Generations
Baseball changes. A lot. If you go back to the early 1900s, the world series matchups by year were dominated by teams that don't even exist in the same cities anymore. In 1903, the first "modern" series featured the Boston Americans and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Boston won, but the very next year? Total blackout. No series in 1904 because the New York Giants' owner basically said the American League was beneath them. Talk about a grudge.
The mid-century was basically the "Yankee Invitation." From 1947 to 1964, the Yankees were in the World Series almost every single year. It was actually kind of predictable, which is wild to think about in today’s era of "Wild Card" chaos. You had the Subway Series matchups—Yankees vs. Dodgers (when they were in Brooklyn) or Yankees vs. Giants.
Look at 1955. The Brooklyn Dodgers finally beat the Yankees. "Next Year" actually arrived. Then, just a few years later, the Dodgers and Giants packed their bags for California, and the whole geography of the sport shifted.
Why Some Years Just Feel... Different
- 1994: The year without a champion. A players' strike killed the season. No matchup. No winner. Just a giant hole in the record books.
- 2016: Cubs vs. Cleveland. This was the "Drought Bowl." One team hadn't won since 1908, the other since 1948. Rain delays, extra innings, and 108 years of baggage ending in a one-run Game 7.
- 2020: The "Bubble" series. Rays vs. Dodgers. Played at a neutral site in Arlington, Texas, because of the pandemic. It felt like a fever dream, but the rings still count.
The Modern Chaos of World Series Matchups by Year
Lately, the "underdog" narrative has been taking over. Look at 2023. The Texas Rangers vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks. If you had told anyone in April that those two would be the last ones standing, they’d have laughed you out of the room. It was the first time two teams that lost 100 games just two seasons prior met in the Fall Classic.
That's the beauty of the current playoff format. It's not just about who has the best record (sorry, 2022 Dodgers). It's about who gets hot in October. The 2021 Atlanta Braves didn't even have a winning record until August, and then they steamrolled the Houston Astros.
A Quick Reality Check on the Stats
People love to argue about which league is better. Historically, the American League has a slight edge in total wins, but the National League has had some serious runs of dominance lately. Since 2010, the San Francisco Giants (2010, 2012, 2014) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (2020, 2024, 2025) have been the closest thing we have to "dynasties," but even they feel vulnerable every single October.
One thing that gets missed in the shuffle of world series matchups by year is how much home-field advantage actually matters. Or doesn't. Remember 2019? The Washington Nationals and Houston Astros played seven games, and the road team won every single game. That is statistically insane. It’s never happened before and probably won’t happen again for another century.
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The Matchups We’re Still Waiting For
Even with over 120 years of history, there are "dream matchups" that have never happened. We've never had a Mariners vs. Brewers World Series (mostly because the Mariners are the only franchise to never even make it there). We’ve never seen a "Battle of the Beltways" between the Nationals and the Orioles.
When you look at the world series matchups by year, you see the evolution of the ball itself—from the "dead ball" era where a home run was a miracle, to the "juiced ball" debates, to the current era of pitch clocks and extreme shifts.
How to Track the Trends Yourself
If you're trying to predict the next big matchup, don't just look at the payrolls. Look at the pitching rotations. Since 2022, the teams with the lowest ERA in the Division Series have won the World Series 75% of the time.
Start by keeping a log of the "September Surprises." Teams like the 2024 Tigers showed that a late-season surge is often more dangerous than a wire-to-wire lead. You should also pay attention to the "Relocation Curse." Since the Expos moved to D.C. to become the Nationals, it took them 15 years to find their footing.
The next step for any serious fan is to dive into the individual box scores of the 1970s. That was the last time we saw truly consistent "repeat" matchups, like the Yankees vs. Dodgers battles of '77 and '78. Understanding how those teams managed their bullpens back then gives you a whole new perspective on why managers today pull their starters so early. Go watch the highlights of the 1991 Series between the Twins and Braves—many call it the best ever played. It’ll change how you see the game.