Ranking every World Series winners in history

By Staff | Nov 3, 2015

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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MIAMI, : Florida Marlins pitcher Kevin Brown (L), Cliff Floyd (C), and Edgar Renteria (R) celebrate during player introductions at a World Series rally for the Florida Marlins 28 October at Pro Player Stadium in Miami, FL. The Marlins of the National League beat the Cleveland Indians of the American League in a best of seven series to become world champions. AFP PHOTO Rhona WISE (Photo credit should read RHONA WISE/AFP/Getty Images) /

97. 1997 Florida Marlins

92-70, NL Wild Card, Won World Series 4-3 Over Cleveland

The Atlanta Braves won 14 consecutive NL East division titles from 1991-2005, but managed to win the World Series only once over that time period. The Florida Marlins captured two World Series titles during that span, with the first coming in 1997.

The Marlins finished nine games back in the standings in ’97, but won the Wild Card with a 92-70 record (the best in the five-year history of the franchise) and made quick work of the San Francisco Giants with a three-game sweep in the NLDS before knocking off the Braves in six games in the League Championship Series. In one of the most dramatic endings in World Series history, the Marlins scored a walk-off victory in Game 7 over the Cleveland Indians and became the first Wild Card team to win it all.

However, the 1997 Florida Marlins are known more for the boom-and-bust strategy the team instituted in building a World Championship club and quickly tearing it down. The Marlins signed six big-name free agents prior to the season, including Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, and Moises Alou. In the winter of 1997, eight members of the Marlins World Series roster were disposed of (including Alou), and four others were traded in the spring of 1998 (including Bonilla and Sheffield). The gutted roster lost 108 games the following season.

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