After winning back-to-back World Series titles

It’s been a month since the Dodgers won the Fall Classic. They became the first team to win back-to-back titles in 25 years. I still watched several highlights these days. At the same time, there are a lot of things going on during the off-season. For the Dodgers, a key thing is to solve the problems they encountered in the 2025 season, so they can stay competitive to make even amazing things happen.

 

Well, winning 3 straight world series isn’t common. Looking back at MLB history, perhaps, there are some clues.

 

Firstly, let’s look at great things. There are some teams that won at least 3 straight World Series titles. From 1936 to 1939, the Yankees won 4 straight World Series titles. 4 straight titles, it’s quite hard to believe in today’s professional sports. Moreover, it’s the Yankees again. From 1949 to 1953, the Yankees won 5 straight World Series. In particular, among those 5 champions, they defeated the Dodgers 3 times. For the Dodgers, this is not cool. Furthermore, the A’s dynasty came in the 70’s. From 1972-1974, the A’s won the Fall Classic for 3 consecutive seasons. And the most recent story was again, the Yankees. The Yankees won 3 straight titles from 1998 to 2000. Hence, there have been 4 teams that won at least 3 straight World Series titles. 3 of them were the Yankees and the other was the A’s.

 

So, how about other teams? What happened after they won back-to-back titles?

 

The Cubs won the World Series titles in 1907 and 1908. In 1909, they were still good with 104 wins. But they finished 2nd in the NL and didn’t play in the World Series. Moreover, the A’s won the back-to-back titles in 1910 and 1911. Nonetheless, in 1912, they finished 3rd in the AL. Also, in the 1910’s, the Red Sox won the Fall Classic for 2 consecutive times in 1915 and 1916. Nevertheless, in 1917 they finished 2nd in the AL and didn’t play in the World Series.

 

In addition, let’s move to the 1920’s. In 1921 and 1922, the New York Giants won the World Series for 2 straight seasons. In 1923, they played in the Fall Classic again, but this time, they lost to the Yankees. In the late 1920’s, the Yankees won 2 consecutive titles in 1927 and 1928. Nevertheless, in 1929, they finished 2nd in the AL and didn’t play in the World Series. In 1929, the World Series winner was the A’s and the next season, they won it again. However, in 1931, the A’s lost to the Cardinals in the World Series.

 

Furthermore, let’s take a look at the Yankees in the 1960’s. They won back-to-back titles in 1961 and 1962. In 1963, the Dodgers beat the Yankees and won the title. Moving forward, in 1975 and 1976, the Big Red Machine won back-to-back titles. Nonetheless, in 1977, the Reds finished 2nd in the NL West and didn’t play in the postseason. The 1977 World Series winner was the Yankees and they won it again in 1978. However, in 1979, the Yankees only finished 4th in the AL East.

 

Finally, in 1992 and 1993, the Toronto Blue Jays won back-to-back World Series titles. Nonetheless, there was a strike in 1994 and no postseason was played.

 

Looking back at the MLB history, only 4 teams had a 3-peat or even more. And as we can see, there were several teams which didn’t play in the postseason after winning 2 straight world series titles. Of course, the postseason format wasn’t the same. From 1903 to 1968, the postseason was the World Series only. Nonetheless, taking a closer look, in 1977 the Reds didn’t play in the postseason after winning 2 consecutive titles and in 1979, the Yankees didn’t make it into the postseason after winning titles in 1977 and 1978. Additionally, there were no playoffs in 1994 after the Blue Jays won back-to-back titles. So, it’s quite clear that it’s not even common to clinch a spot in the postseason after winning back-to-back titles. Will the Dodgers become the first team to win 3 straight titles this century? Well, they have to clinch a postseason berth first.