How many teams have won back-to-back World Series? History is not on Dodgers' side...

Just because the odds suggest that the Los Angeles Dodgers will repeat as World Series champions does not mean history is on their side. The Dodgers took the 2024 World Series in five games by handling the New York Yankees. Los Angeles has quickly become MLB's Evil Empire because of its ability to seemingly outspend anyone and everyone for anyone and everyone. It has been frustrating.

While I know the last MLB franchise to repeat were the 1998-00 Yankees who three-peated, I have only been alive to see two teams win back-to-back World Series. Unfortunately, I have no memories of the 1992-93 Toronto Blue Jays pulling it off because I was only a pre-schooler back there. The third most recent team to win back-to-back World Series were the 1977-78 Yankees. That is wild!

Here is a list of every MLB team that has won back-to-back World Series in their franchise's history.

• 1907-08 Chicago Cubs
• 1910-11 Philadelphia Athletics
• 1915-16 Boston Red Sox
• 1921-22 New York Giants
• 1927-28 New York Yankees
• 1929-30 Philadelphia Athletics
• 1936-39 New York Yankees
• 1949-53 New York Yankees
• 1961-62 New York Yankees
• 1972-74 Oakland Athletics
• 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds
• 1977-78 New York Yankees
• 1992-93 Toronto Blue Jays
• 1998-00 New York Yankees

While there have been many teams who have won back-to-back World Series, only eight of the baseball's 30 franchises have even pulled it off once. What you have to keep in mind is that most of these dynastic runs took place in a pre-free agency world. The same principle applies to most of these repeat champions hailed from an era when there were only 16 franchises before expansion.

And in their robust and illustrious history, the Dodgers have never won back-to-back World Series.

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History is not on Los Angeles Dodgers' side to win World Series in 2025

Beyond just the dawn of free agency and expansion efforts in the 1960s, there has to be more to why we have hard seen any repeat champions in baseball. It has been far more commonplace in each of the other three major North American professional sports leagues. It is easier to repeat in the NBA and NHL because you only have five and six players on the floor or the ice at a given point in time.

As far as football is concerned, even the very best teams are only playing 20 games a year. If you have the right head coach and quarterback, supplemented by a great general manager and owner, it is hard to not consistently be relevant. Yet for some reason, baseball is completely different. I think there are three things that work against baseball in this: Pitching, momentum and it being a skill game.

When teams go on deep postseason runs the year prior, it has a carryover effect on the starting rotation and the bullpen. One part of the pitching staff may be able to come out of it all right, but to expect for both to be equally stellar is a bit unrealistic. Throwing a baseball is such an unnatural motion. While good pitching always beats great hitting, good pitching is so much harder to sustain.

With regards to momentum, I have seen several baseball teams who had no business winning a World Series at the start of the year pulling it off. Look at both times the then-Florida Marlins won. How about the Anaheim Angels of 2002? Even well-run teams like the Atlanta Braves do not always win with their best teams. The 2023 team had a much higher ceiling than the team that won it all in 2021.

And when it comes to baseball being a skill game, yes, having the best athletes help, but having the right collection of players matters more. You do not need to be in peak physical condition to be a champion in baseball. It merely comes down to taking advantage of the sitautions at hand when the stakes are the highest. In short, baseball is never a sport where you can merely out-athlete everyone.

Overall, I think it is interesting how different perception is from reality in all of this. Perception suggests that the rest of baseball is weak and powerless when compared to the Dodgers. In reality, history tells us that the Dodgers need to be a once in a generation type of team to even repeat as World Series champions. They are immensely talented and could do it, but I will gladly take the field.

If the Dodgers do not repeat as World Series champions, who knows when the next one will happen?