Plenty of teams preach skill as the most important quality in sports, but the best are the ones who are lucky. Here are the 30 luckiest sports franchises.
Luck is a big part of sports, whether fans like it or not, and almost every team has had a lucky bounce go both in their favor and against it at one point or another.
In some cases, however, teams can be lucky all of the time, and it can tend to be annoying. Whether it’s with plays on the field, signings off of it, or odd in-betweens where the other team or a referee makes a mistake, luck comes in all shapes and sizes in the sports world.
We’ve seen Super Bowls, World Series, NBA Finals and Stanley Cups all won on some crazy moments that players couldn’t replicate if they tried, and we’ve seen teams get the luckiest of bounces in draft lotteries that land their team a franchise player that likely should’ve gone elsewhere if the balls rolled a tiny bit more in the tumbler.
Everyone has been on each side of the spectrum when it comes to luck in sports, but, like I said earlier, some have benefited more than others. For that reason, here are the 30 luckiest sports franchises out there who have to have some four-leaf clovers or lucky charms hidden away in the locker room to explain their success to those who ask.
30. Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics aren’t exactly the luckiest team out there, considering the lack of success they’ve had in the 21st century. However, they may be the luckiest team in MLB history with the win streak they had back in 2002, especially with the roster they compiled to do so.
The Athletics, as was notably portrayed in the 2011 hit movie Moneyball, utilized a crazy line-up strategy to get the best bang for their buck when they didn’t have the money to compete with some other teams, especially the New York Yankees.
The team utilized their “Moneyball” approach, which many teams have used since, including the 2004 Boston Red Sox, to have a successful 2002 season, with Miguel Tejada winning the AL MVP and Barry Zito earning AL Cy Young honors.
Midway through the season, the Athletics went on an absolute tear and won an American League record 20 straight games in the process. Just to get that record, which is, unfortunately, the only success to come out of the year outside of the team’s AL West title, they needed some real luck to earn it.
The Athletics had blown an 11-run lead throughout the game, giving up two separate five-run innings to the Kansas City Royals in the record-breaking game. They had no right winning the game after the lead they had squandered, but had a lucky blast from pinch hitter Scott Hatteberg in the bottom of the ninth inning to get back their lead and clinch their record winning streak.
While it’s not the biggest stroke of luck out there, it stands out more considering the Athletics’ overall lack of success as a franchise since their World Series win in 1989.