I know the world wasn’t exactly clamoring for baseball in 1995, and I understand why. The second pitcher to win four titles and never pitch for the Yanks was Jack Morris, the durable right-hander who pitched more innings and won more games than any other pitcher in the 1980s. He played for the New York Yankees and won 10 rings. There was a time when Boston sports teams were likable. Learn how your comment data is processed. By definition, these are all wonderfully talented teams; they did, after all, win the World Series. The ‘14 edition, with a Fully Functional Bumgarner, but Cain/Lincecum faltering? The ‘99 Yankees were obviously not as good as their ‘98 forefathers, but they still won 98 games, even if that’s somehow 16 fewer than the year before. But they, like their '93 expansion brothers in Colorado, have still yet to win a division title. Dave Stewart did not start any games for the 1981 Dodgers. Leitch: I know this team only won 87 games, and their run differential suggested a record that was actually worse than that: It’s without question the worst of the Yankees title teams. They'll always be remembered for being the first Wild Card team to win a ring, that they did so in just their fifth season of existence, and that they did so in one of the most thrilling Game 7 wins in history, when Edgar Renteria drove home a floating-on-air Craig Counsell. Wait, I really need to repeat part of that: Over the last 25 years, the Marlins have zero division titles. Required fields are marked *.


If you’re talking 1-2 punches, Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez net you a couple of Hall of Fame-quality pitchers, and you’ve still got Manny and Ortiz and peak Johnny Damon and just the whole kismet of that roster at that time. Your email address will not be published. So they held it tight and made heroes of so many of the odd ducks of that team, your Jeff Weavers, your Jeff Suppans, your Anthony Reyes, your Chris Duncans. ), Tim Raines, Darryl Strawberry, David Cone, Cecil Fielder, Dwight Gooden, Jimmy Key, Mariano Duncan … even Mike Aldrete! The most important player on the field is the pitcher. From 1987 until 1991, all of the World Series MVPs were pitchers, and, since 1995, pitchers have won the award nine times. You had the ace they’d long desired in Sabathia, and you still had Andy Pettitte. A true baseball enthusiast will know that consistency is just as important as performance, … I’m going to split the difference with the ‘12 group, when Bumgarner, Cain, and -- believe it or not -- Ryan Vogelsong -- made up for a formidable top three, even with Lincecum beginning to collapse. It had the Big Three relievers of Brian Wilson, Romo and Santiago Casilla, who combined for a 1.97 ERA in 192 innings. was better than the Red Sox and the Yankees. Leitch: The most underappreciated World Series team of my lifetime. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. That’s why this feels like a steal this low, to be honest, particularly because this was absolutely Peak Maddux.

That '97 team went 92-70, yet still finished nine games behind the Braves. The tall right-hander completed nine of his ten World Series starts for Philadelphia, winning six times in the Fall Classic. He nearly had a 10 WAR season. They swept the ALDS, won the ALCS 4-1 and swept the World Series. Eight! And the No. Leitch: Even at the time, this felt a little bit like “Barry Bonds and his otherworldly brilliance vs. ... another team.” And that was even truer after this: [I know Statcast didn’t exist yet but it still measured that as 4,000 feet]. The 1936-39 Yankees, the first team to capture four straight titles, also has a quartet of starters on this list: Hall of Famers Red Ruffing and Lefty Gomez, Bump Hadley, and Monte Pearson. Hello, Ryan Zimmerman. The World Series MVP award up to 2017 was a trophy that was similar to the Commissioner's Trophy, albeit scaled down and with a single large gold-plated flag. Hi Michael, the article is about pitchers who won the most TITLES, not games. Maybe it took a Carlos Correa fielding mistake. They still had a big chunk of the '04 team, with Ortiz, Manny, Schilling, Varitek and others, but Dustin Pedroia was a rookie. Mike Petriello is an analyst for MLB.com and the host of the Ballpark Dimensions podcast. It’s true that Madison Bumgarner was a mere 20-year-old rookie, but the more I think about this, the more I think maybe I should have gone ‘10 over ‘12. The '04 team broke the curse. They outscored the Rockies 29-10 in a four-game sweep. 260! Starting pitchers log the most innings. But of the 21st-century Red Sox title teams, this is the best one. All-time and Single-Season World Series Pitching Leaders. The most important player on the field is the pitcher. This was the team that imported Hunter Pence midseason, and had the obligatory you’ve got to be kidding me guys: Marco Scutaro hitting .362/.385/.473, Melky Cabrera hitting .346/.390/.516. Your email address will not be published. Then 2011 happened, the most glorious way to win a World Series imaginable, and now we can all admit it: This team wasn’t very good, this championship was a fluke, it sort of was pretty ugly to watch. Leitch: I can’t let this team be picked last: I just can’t.
(He was so skinny!). They have two rings. This edition had peak Matt Cain, near-peak Tim Lincecum and Bumgarner did throw eight shutout innings in Game 4 of the World Series, after all. But that’s such a disservice to a truly excellent Angels team, one that combined a bunch of stud hitters being their best selves -- Tim Salmon, Troy Glaus, Garret Anderson, even Brad Fullmer -- with a heavy dollop of scrappiness (Eckstein! Leitch: There was no way I was going to let this team fall any further. Petriello: I guess we’ve let the defending champs languish long enough. Dan is the author of three books on baseball. This was another great weird veteran-heavy team -- Jose Canseco! Talk about a fine debut.

General Motors has provided a vehicle to the World Series MVP winner for 14 straight seasons through 2018. Or because when you pull up a video from even, like, 2002, you see moderate velocity and wiggly ground-ball swings and realize those teams would get eaten up by today’s clubs? There may be some wrong ones. His teammate Eddie Plank did not perform as well in championship seasons, posting a 3.7 WAR per season in the same three years. This would end up being that group's last title, which wasn’t expected at the time but maybe should have been. Leitch: Allotting for the fact that there’s still some stuff up in the air with this team … have we already forgotten how truly dominant they were? This team won just over four years ago, but the style of play seems like it could have been from 40 years ago. Maybe despite themselves, in some ways, but they won 95 games. Petriello: The 2005 White Sox! Probably not. And none of them have won a title with the Yankees. Podres won three more titles with the Dodgers, all of them in Los Angeles, in 1959, 1963, and 1965.