It might seem like the Los Angeles Dodgers will cruise to a second straight World Series win and a third in six seasons no matter which American League opponent they face, but history says otherwise.
Yes, the 2025 Dodgers are a juggernaut who have heated up at the perfect time, sweeping Cincinnati before going 7-1 against Milwaukee and Philadelphia, merely the two best teams in baseball this season. And sure, they have the unicorn Shohei Ohtani, the best hitter around who doubles as a very good starting pitcher (Ohtani probably just played the best game anyone has ever turned in, hitting three home runs and dominating on the mound to eliminate the Brewers in the National League Championship Series). But they play the games for a reason and weird things can happen in the World Series.
Whether it’s the Seattle Mariners or Toronto Blue Jays opposing the Dodgers, it won’t be an automatic L.A. win based on history.
This year reminds us a bit of 1990. Back then, another Californian team was the class of the sport. The Oakland Athletics won an MLB-best 103 games, obliterated Boston 4-0 in the ALCS, had the best player on the planet in Rickey Henderson, plus the most fearsome 1-2 power punch in Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, a strong starting pitching staff and a tough bullpen led by all-time great closer Dennis Eckersley.
Plus, Oakland had made the 1988 World Series (losing to the Dodgers) and was coming off an unreal 1989 campaign that saw the team win 99 regular season games before destroying the Blue Jays 4-1 and sweeping San Francisco 4-0 to win it all.
Sounds a bit like the Dodgers, no?
But here’s where we remind you that the Cincinnati Reds, only a 91-win team who had fought tooth-and-nail to knock out the Pittsburgh Pirates in six games, complete with only one superstar in Barry Larkin, promptly swept heavily-favoured Oakland in an all-time stunner.
Another year that comes to mind is 2001. The New York Yankees had won three titles in a row and were favoured against an Arizona franchise that was making its first World Series appearance (which would also be the case for Seattle). It was a classic, won by the Diamondbacks in seven games.
The Dodgers even have some experience losing despite being favoured. Max Scherzer remembers beating them with Washington in 2019. That year the Nationals went from wild card, to dragon slayer, beating the mighty Dodgers, St. Louis and then George Springer’s 107-win Houston Astros.
More recently, the 2023 Dodgers got swept in the NLDS to an Arizona team that won 16 fewer games than them.
The year before that they lost at the same point 3-1 to a San Diego team that won 22 fewer games than the Dodgers.
A year earlier L.A. had lost in the NLCS to an Atlanta team that had won 18 fewer games.
All of these examples and more are reasons why Dodgers fans have good reason to feel like another World Series win is not a foregone conclusion.