Fansided

Ranking every World Series winners in history

By Staff

UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 05: Brooklyn Dodgers president Walter O'Malley and his manager, Walter Alston, exchange hugs and grins after bringing Brooklyn its first World Series championship in history. Flock did it the hard way, winning the final game in Yankee Stadium. (Photo by NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 05: Brooklyn Dodgers president Walter O'Malley and his manager, Walter Alston, exchange hugs and grins after bringing Brooklyn its first World Series championship in history. Flock did it the hard way, winning the final game in Yankee Stadium. (Photo by NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) /
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(Original Caption) Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds is shown in deep thought as he watches the Boston Red Sox working out prior to the start of the 7th and final game of the World Series at Fenway Park.
(Original Caption) Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds is shown in deep thought as he watches the Boston Red Sox working out prior to the start of the 7th and final game of the World Series at Fenway Park. /

6. 1975 Cincinnati Reds

108-54, NL West Champions, Won World Series 4-3 Over Boston

It may sound silly, but when trying to determine the appropriate rankings for the best World Series champions of all-time, small details matter. Had the 1975 Cincinnati Reds – the greatest of the great Big Red Machine teams of the 1970s – swept the Boston Red Sox in the World Series, they would likely find themselves in the top three on this list. They certainly would be the highest rated team World Champion from the National League. But, because the Red Sox took the Reds to the limit in one of the best seven-game Fall Classics ever, Cincinnati is on the outside of the top five looking in.

With a regular season record of 108-54, the Reds won the NL West by 20 games, and clinched a spot in the postseason on September 7, which is the earliest date in Major League Baseball history. Joe Morgan (.327/.466/.508, 17 HR, 94 RBI, 107 R) won the first MVP Award of his 22-year Hall of Fame career, and fellow Hall of Famers Tony Perez (.282/.350/.466, 20 HR, 109 RBI) and Johnny Bench (.283/.359/.519, 28 HR, 110 RBI), in addition to World Series MVP Pete Rose (.317/.406/.432, 112 R), spearheaded a lineup that scored a Major League best 840 runs.

Sparky Anderson’s club also boasted a strong pitching staff with Gary Nolan (15-9, 3.16), Jack Billingham (15-10, 4.11), Fred Norman (12-4, 3.73) and Don Gullett (15-4, 2.42) doing much of the heavy lifting in the starting rotation, and Rawly Eastwich (2.60, 22 saves) and Will McEnaney (2.47, 15 saves) holding down the back end of the bullpen.

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