Ranking The MLB Franchises

[selmaborntidefan]

Look, obviously the Yankees are #1, right? Whatever reasons associated, you cannot argue with their

But who else ranks where?

We're going to not rank the four most recent franchises (Rays, Diamondbacks, Marlins, Rockies), as it's not hardly fair. All four have been to the World Series - two of them to multiple World Series (one winning both) - but even at 30 years (or less) they're still saddled with early losses as they developed.

As opposed to the Seattle Mariners, who have been rotten virtually their entire existence save for 1995-2001.

So we'll be ranking 26 teams.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

For the record, there are 13 of the 26 teams we'll be ranking that have an all-time record above .500. The Baltimore Orioles do NOT if you count the St Louis Browns stats - but there was such a wild change in record, it hardly seems fair. But we'll consider that IN CONTEXT, that a team might have an overall bad record but rank higher than someone else.

We'll be considering:
- championships
- World Series appearances
- regular season record
- winning pct (not exactly the same but close)
- intangibles (and no, the Dodgers don't get credit for the jokes of Rookies of the Year they've had)
- eras of winning or losing

The thirteen teams with winning records are:
Yankees
Giants
Dodgers
Cardinals
Red Sox
Cubs (seriously)
Cleveland
Reds
Tigers
White Sox
Braves
Pirates


(As of today, the Houston Astros are four games under .500 for their existence; I'm sure they'll be above that by the end of the season).

 

[selmaborntidefan]

We start with the cluster that is EASY to place at the bottom of the list, all we have to do is haggle over the details.

26. Seattle Mariners
25.San Diego Padres
24.Texas Rangers/"new" Washington Senators

The Mariners have been around for 45 years and never seen the World Series without buying a ticket. Anyone know the MLB record for "most years without making an appearance in the World Series"? Of course, the Cubs at 71 years. But guess who is second? A team whose sister franchise (Toronto) has won the World Series twice and has watched four franchises added and seen ALL FOUR of them go to the Series while they continue to sit at home.

The Padres DO have a lower winning pct than the Mariners (by 10 points) - because they had an eight-year head start at losing. But they also DURING THE SAME TIME FRAME have gone to the World Series twice. Sure, they got clobbered, but they also played two of the great single-season teams of all time, too - 1984 Tigers and 1998 Yankees.

The Rangers would actually rate above the Expos/Nationals...if they had just gotten that last strike in 2011.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

This is another section of the list with teams that have usually won 1-2 championships at most and are around .500 or below.

23. Milwaukee Brewers (Seattle Pilots) - they've been to fewer World Series than the Padres have, but they've actually won more World Series games (3-1), and oh yeah,

22. Philadelphia Phillies - only one team in American sports has lost over ELEVEN THOUSAND baseball games, and these are they. The only three teams with a lower winning pct in baseball history are the Rockies, Padres, and Marlins. And the first two are within ten percentage points of a team that has won TWO WORLD SERIES in 140 years. Hell, the Marlins have that many - in six.

 

[Go Bama]

#2 ... St Louis Cardinals

I had pretty good seats for the first Cardinals-Yankees game on August 5. Took my family. My wife and daughter were not baseball fans, but they are now. It was a great game. It was also great to see Matt Carpenter come back to Busch.

That morning we went to Grant's Farm where the Clydesdales that pull the wagon are kept. Those horses live a great life. They are bathed and brushed daily. We got to groom one of them. There were also a few colts there. Oh, and free beer.

We were in St Louis for 3 days. We ate on The Hill, an Italian district close to Forrest Park. Yogi Berra was raised on The Hill. The food there is amazing. I had a seafood ravioli and toasted ravioli. Amazing.

St Louis is a baseball town the way Kentucky is a basketball state.

Selma, you may have a good argument against the Cardinals being #2 because you are a much better baseball historian than I am. However, IMS, the Cardinals have the second most world championships, the most in the NL, and they have amazing support not only in the St Louis area, but here in West Tennessee also. In fact, I see a whole lot more Cardinals fans here than I do Vols fans.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

#2 ... St Louis Cardinals

I had pretty good seats for the first Cardinals-Yankees game on August 5. Took my family. My wife and daughter were not baseball fans, but they are now. It was a great game. It was also great to see Matt Carpenter come back to Busch.

That morning we went to Grant's Farm where the Clydesdales that pull the wagon are kept. Those horses live a great life. They are bathed and brushed daily. We got to groom one of them. There were also a few colts there. Oh, and free beer.

We were in St Louis for 3 days. We ate on The Hill, an Italian district close to Forrest Park. Yogi Berra was raised on The Hill. The food there is amazing. I had a seafood ravioli and toasted ravioli. Amazing.

St Louis is a baseball town the way Kentucky is a basketball state.

Selma, you may have a good argument against the Cardinals being #2 because you are a much better baseball historian than I am. However, IMS, the Cardinals have the second most world championships, the most in the NL, and they have amazing support not only in the St Louis area, but here in West Tennessee also. In fact, I see a whole lot more Cardinals fans here than I do Vols fans.

There's an argument for that.
I'm weighing it.

The middle portion of the list is by far the toughest. Yankees at top and Mariners on bottom? Piece of cake.

I slept on it last night and I'm changing my mind about it - I have to make a revision.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

21. Cleveland* - sure to be controversial, but ask me if I care?

The Cleveland Naps/Native Americans/Guardians might be the most moribund franchise in all of American sports. The team relocated from Grand Rapids, Michigan and is a charter member of the American League. And despite over 120 years to try, they have won two World Series - and one of them they very probably only even won the pennant because of the suspension of the starting White Sox team in the waning days of the 1920 pennant race on suspicion (which was correct) they had fixed the 1919 World Series. Without that, Cleveland has one World Series championship. And even that one required an extra game, the first playoff in baseball history, where they drew the equally cursed Red Sox.

Cleveland has had good players, even great ones. And what is often forgotten with their franchise is that they were a solid ball club in the 1950s. Seriously. Go look at the final standings for each season from 1948-1956. Cleveland won two pennants (including one with a record 111 wins in 1954) and finished second FIVE times and third once. The year they finished fourth (1950), they won 92 games in a 154-game season. Hank Greenberg became their GM, and he blew the franchise to pieces so badly they didn't recover until the early 1990s. He ran off a Hall of Fame Manager (Al Lopez), who simply went to the White Sox and thumped Cleveland every chance he had.

Cleveland actually ranks seventh all-time in winning pct. How can a team win so much in the regular season and have so little to show for it? This is a team that's a suspension of the active roster of one other team and a great game by Lou Boudreau away from having still never won a World Series.

Cleveland - the Michigan football of the MLB.


20. Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals - record is a bit better than the Mets, but one championship.

19. California Angels - record is quite a bit better than the Mets, and they're 1-for-1 in the World Series. I'll give the Mets the nod.

18.New York Mets - the most overrated franchise in American sports.

I realize the assumption is, "Yeah, but your problem is you're a Braves fan and hate the Mets." I'll concede that point is true, but the onus is on my opponent to explain WHAT THE HELL THE METS HAVE ACTUALLY DONE in their history?

Anyone? The Mets' entire history comes down to two championships, one they only won because the lousy manager of their cursed opposition was lousier than their own skipper - and oh yeah, the 1969 version of Miracle on Ice. THAT. IS. ALL.

The Mets have a losing record since joining the league in 1962. And, sure, they were 343 games below .500 (1962-68). But they made up 192 of those games in their 80s "dynasty that wasn't" (1984-90). So why are the Mets so taken with by movies (Billy Crystal in "City Slickers") and TV (Jerry Seinfeld on his show)?

The Mets were favorites to go to the World Series every single year from 1985-90; they went once and were lucky to win. They were heavy favorites to represent the NL in 2006 - and choked away game 7 to the Cardinals, who had the lowest win total of any full-season team in history. The next year, they had a 7-game lead with 17 to play - and didn't even make the playoffs.

So what is the charm with Mets? 1969? Well, the Boston Braves did what the Mets did in 1969 - only more spectacularly. The Braves beat the Athletics in FOUR games (not Baltimore in five) on a field that wasn't even their regular venue (Fenway Park), a team that had two Hall of Famers in the lineup, two more on the pitching staff, and the manager who won more games than any skipper in history and is also in the Hall. Granted, the Mets did beat a Baltimore "dynasty" that had two HOFers in the everyday lineup plus a pitcher and the manager - but the Braves did it first and in fewer games.

Why are the Mets so remembered? Because they're based in New York, not Boston. Because there are no MLB highlights of the 1914 World Series because that didn't exist back then. And because their triumph in 1969 came as Mickey Mantle had retired, the Yankee Dynasty was a faint memory, and to paraphrase Chipper Jones, "The Yankee fans went home and put on all their Mets garb."

Never has a franchise been so mentioned for doing so little.

 

[TexasBama]

#2 ... St Louis Cardinals

I had pretty good seats for the first Cardinals-Yankees game on August 5. Took my family. My wife and daughter were not baseball fans, but they are now. It was a great game. It was also great to see Matt Carpenter come back to Busch.

That morning we went to Grant's Farm where the Clydesdales that pull the wagon are kept. Those horses live a great life. They are bathed and brushed daily. We got to groom one of them. There were also a few colts there. Oh, and free beer.

We were in St Louis for 3 days. We ate on The Hill, an Italian district close to Forrest Park. Yogi Berra was raised on The Hill. The food there is amazing. I had a seafood ravioli and toasted ravioli. Amazing.

St Louis is a baseball town the way Kentucky is a basketball state.

Selma, you may have a good argument against the Cardinals being #2 because you are a much better baseball historian than I am. However, IMS, the Cardinals have the second most world championships, the most in the NL, and they have amazing support not only in the St Louis area, but here in West Tennessee also. In fact, I see a whole lot more Cardinals fans here than I do Vols fans.

Every one in the South was a Cardinals fan before the Braves moved to Atlanta.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

What follows is a cluster of teams that is difficult to rank. You can look argue these and it's kinda tough.

17) Houston Astros - baseball had 16 teams from 1901-1960, expansion beginning in the AL with the "new" Senators, Twins, and Angels while the NL added the Mets and Astros in 1962. In the 60 years since, ONE of those franchises has compiled a virtual winning record: the Houston Astros in their history are 3 games under .500 this morning and will no doubt be above it at the end of the season. All the franchises added since 1961 EXCEPT Houston have a sub-.500 record. Houston has won a World Series and lost two more recently plus another awhile back. They are team that has consistently been in the top half of the division but without as much hardware as the Mets. But they've done more with what they had. They might have done even more had they not traded a few of the main components of the Big Red Machine to Cincinnati in 1971.

16) Chicago White Sox - I should probably revise this list and move them down, they're terrible. They've won 3 titles (1906, 1917, 2005), threw away another possible one (1919), and have been run like your Cuzzin Tommy (the one who looks like the kid playing the banjo in "Deliverance") would run Microsoft if he was given the keys to the Porsche.

 

[Go Bama]

Every one in the South was a Cardinals fan before the Braves moved to Atlanta.

That's a fact. When I was a kid in Fayetteville, TN, we used to listen to Harry Caray calling St Louis games. When the Braves moved to Atlanta, we all became Braves fans. I continued to follow the Cardinals. Now that I'm living in West Tennessee, I watch the Cardinals closer than the Braves because it gives me something to talk about with my patients and staff.

 

[TexasBama]

That's a fact. When I was a kid in Fayetteville, TN, we used to listen to Harry Caray calling St Louis games. When the Braves moved to Atlanta, we all became Braves fans. I continued to follow the Cardinals. Now that I'm living in West Tennessee, I watch the Cardinals closer than the Braves because it gives me something to talk about with my patients and staff.

My dad listened to the 1926 World Series on the radio. He never forgave the Cardinals for trading Steve Carlton.

 

[TexasBama]

(As of today, the Houston Astros are four games under .500 for their existence; I'm sure they'll be above that by the end of next week).

fify

 

[selmaborntidefan]

15 through 12
Royals vs Blue Jays vs Twins vs Orioles

This is where it gets really tough so let's indulge.

WORLD SERIES WINS
Royals - 2
Blue Jays - 2
Twins -3 (including 1924 Senators)
Orioles - 3

WORLD SERIES APPEARANCES
Royals - 4
Blue Jays - 2
Twins -5
Orioles - 7

WINNING PCT.
Blue Jays - .497
Twins - .481
Royals - .478
Orioles - .473

DYNASTIES
Orioles - 1966-83
Blue Jays - 1985-93
Royals - 1976-85
Twins - can't really call title, last place, title a dynasty

The Orioles are weighted down with the record of the St Louis Browns, who used to compete yearly for worst team in the AL. If you take ONLY THE ORIOLES years, Baltimore has a winning record (.501). The only franchise shift in baseball history more dramatic was the Braves moving from Boston (.477) to Milwaukee (.563). The Twins are also weighted down with the history of the Washington Senators but much less so since the Twins still have a losing record and are not a traditional "franchise" team, they were merely a relocation like the Braves and Orioles.

15) Minnesota Twins - essentially the Auburn Tigers of MLB. The Twins are basically the same record every year (just like Auburn), neither the worst nor the best (like Auburn), and they have years of egregiously bad baseball followed by years of just enough to win it all baseball. The Twins/Senators have made the World Series five times. All 5 went to seven games. They won one because the catcher stepped in his mask and dropped a pop foul that became a hit plus a pebble shot over the third baseman's head, won another because the opposition's only two home run threats were both injured, and won the third because a baserunner lost sight of the ball on a run-scoring double and never scored. It can be argued they should be ranked below Cleveland. But they had Walter Johnson, too.

14 vs 13 - Toronto Blue Jays vs Kansas City Royals - this one is tough, maybe the toughest of them all. The similarities between the franchises are incredible.

KC won their first division title in their 8th year, Toronto in their 9th.
KC won six division titles in ten years, Toronto won five in nine and lost another on the last day (1987)
Both have won two World Series, Toronto's was the only repeat champion not named Yankees since 1976.
Both dynasties were destroyed by outside factors (the deaths of Dick Howser and the Kauffman family for KC, the 1994 strike for Toronto, and the failure to adopt a salary cap for both).

KC beat Toronto twice in the post-season to advance to the World Series. Both times they won. Give the nod to KC.

12) Baltimore Orioles/St Louis Browns- the Orioles are CLEARLY set apart in this group. People don't really appreciate Baltimore's dynasty and erroneously assume it was all Earl Weaver. While he deserves the bulk of the credit, the fact is the O's won the 1966 Series with Hank Bauer managing the team. In that time span, Baltimore won 3 titles, lost two Game 7s to Pittsburgh, and choked against the 1969 Mets. They finished first eight times, lost one pennant on the last day, had the best record in their division in the 1981 split-season, lost twice to Oakland during their 70s run, and were consistent contenders for two decades. That's a much longer run than KC or Toronto had and offsets some of the baggage of the Browns.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

11 vs 10 Pittsburgh Pirates vs Detroit Tigers

It's amazing how these franchises mirror each other.

Both are very slightly above .500 (Pirates at .501, Tigers at .503).
The Tigers have won 7 pennants and 4 World Series, the Pirates nine pennants and 5 WS - their first against.....the Tigers.

The Tigers are the only AL team to lose 3 straight World Series (1907-08-09). Pittsburgh had something of a similar "dynasty" to the Orioles (1960-79) where they also won 3 WS (two against......the Orioles), but those were three different teams prevailing with a bit of mediocrity in the mid-60s followed by a 70s divisional dynasty that had only one flaw: they couldn't beat the Big Red Machine, losing in sweeps in 1970 and 1975 and a gut-wrenching loss in 1972, when the Pirates led the winner-take-all game by one and lost the pennant in Roberto Clemente's last game.

Give the Pirates the nod - by just a bit.

11) Detroit Tigers
10) Pittsburgh Pirates

And here comes the top ten.....

 

[selmaborntidefan]

9) Chicago Cubs - I might have ranked them too highly as well.

The first great modern baseball dynasty was the Cubs - hard as that seems to believe now. The Cubs (1906-10) STILL a century later hold the records for most wins in a one-, two-, three-, four-, or five-year span. They stubbornly refused to erect lights at Wrigley Field and only once even came close to making the Series. Amazingly enough, they won the division title the first full season after they turned on the lights. The battle here was between Chicago and Cincinnati, so you know who is next.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

8) Cincinnati Reds - not very good for much of their history and mocked in the late 30s for not having won a "legitimate" World Series, the Big Red Machine won as many titles in 2 years as the Reds franchise did the rest of their existence. The Reds winning pct is right there with the Pirates and Tigers, but the Big Red Machine dynasty (1970-79) puts them over the top. Plus, the Reds have won a WS since those two teams - and have as many or more.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

7) Atlanta Braves/Boston/Milwaukee - certainly surprising to baseball fans of the 80s but maybe not the 90s. The Braves may tell the story of the highs and lows better than any other team in MLB. They were horrible in Boston - and then won the most shocking World Series upset in the first 65 years of the Fall Classic, sweeping the Philadelphia Athletics dynasty into oblivion. Their 2021 title, particularly with three rounds to win, was also one of the most impressive stories in MLB history. But the key issue for the Braves is they have the two most underachieving clubs in baseball history, "coulda been" dynasties that are winners of solitary championships. And it's not even close.

The 1956-59 Milwaukee Braves had the potential to be one of the great dynasties of American sport. They had three LEGENDARY Hall of Famers - Warren Spahn (the greatest lefty ever), Hank Aaron (the former home run king), and Eddie Mathews. Along with those 3, they had a Hall of Famer at second base (Red Schoendienst), and two borderline Hall players at first (Joe Adcock) and as the #2 pitcher (Lew Burdette). Four Hall of Famers, two debatable cases - and one championship. They blew a lead going into the final weekend in 1956 and lost the pennant to the Dodgers, blew a 3-1 World Series lead on the Yankees in 1958 (only the 2nd team to do so), and blew a two-game playoff to the Dodgers in 1959.

And then there's the 1990s Braves - 14 division titles, one championship. Four World Series losses in nine years along with three chokes in the NLCS. That 1996 World Series collapse was the difference between the Braves being a good team and an all-time team.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

6) Boston Red Sox - here's a funny one for you.

1903-1918 - 5 for 5 in World Series championships
1919-2003 - 4 for 4 losses in World Series, all in 7 games
2004-2018 - 4 for 4 in World Series championships

Just four more wins and Boston is #2 on the list.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

5) Los Angeles Dodgers/Brooklyn - yeah, right? I'm serious - ask these people and they'll concede Yankee superiority though point out they won the last time the two teams met in the Series. IN THE CONTEXT of the history of baseball, they're wildly overrated by most folks. For starters, the BROOKLYN Dodgers weren't all that good most of their history. In the first forty years of the modern era, Brooklyn made the World Series twice - less than the Reds did. Then they made the Series a bunch of times (11 in 26 years) and won four of them. Then they missed a decade and then they went five more times in 15 years and won twice.

So think about that:
0-for-2 from 1901-1940
4-for-11 from 1941-1966
2-for-5 from 1974-1988
1-for-3 from 1989-2021

The only way to cluster World Series era so the Dodgers look even remotely good is to start in 1955 and end in1965, where they won 4 of 5. But that actually makes their other eras look substantially worse, too.

Of course, there's more to it than just championships. And the Dodgers HAVE put up quite a fight in most of the World Series. They've lost in Game 7 five times. They win a lot of games.

They should. They're a rich team in a huge market. They weren't in Brooklyn but that was also in the pre-free agency era, and they ran an excellent farm system.

 

[TexasBama]

I thought this was interesting

Most MLB Wins Since 1970

Full list comparing all the MLB teams on wins, playoff appearances and championships since 1970.

champsorchumps.us

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