Houston, with 104 wins, looks like it'll outduel the injury-plagued New York Yankees for the best record in the American League. The Dodgers, with 103 wins, still have a chance for best overall record.
Baseball has been around long enough that teams play for titles and posterity. Each of those three teams, if they were to win this year's World Series, have a good shot at being remembered among the best teams of the Divisional Playoff era.
The list below is my ranking of every World Series winner since 1969, when baseball split into divisions. It's not an opinion ranking. I've broken it down by record, whether a team finished with the best record, who teams beat in the playoffs and how easily and run differential.
Let's break down a popular team title team to show how it works. Let's take the 2016 Chicago Cubs.
* The Cubs went 103-58 on the season, that was a winning percentage of .640. The best regular-season winning percentage of a World Series winner in the divisional era is the 1998 New York Yankees at .704.
* The Cubs had the best record in baseball, so they got a 1.000 in bonus points. If they'd just had the best record in the National League, they would have gotten .800. Division winners get .600. A team that made it with the best wild card record gets .400, and a team that snuck in with the second wild card gets .200.
* In the playoffs, the Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants in four games and the Los Angeles Dodgers in six. The Giants had an 87-75 record and the Dodgers were 91-71. The Cubs points formula for the playoffs was ((3*.537)+(4*.562))/10. That's the victories in each series multiplied by the opponents' regular season winning percentage divided by overall games played. For Chicago, it added up to .386. Teams that sweep series get higher scores. The highest playoff score in my system is .624 by the 1976 Cincinnati Reds.
* In the World Series, the Cubs topped the Cleveland Indians in seven games. The Indians that year were 94-67. The World Series formula for the Cubs was (4*.580)/7. That calculates out to .331. The Cubs were hurt by having to go seven games to win. The best World Series score is .648 by the 2004 Boston Red Sox.
* The next bonus round is just giving teams 0.01 points for every total win. This helps teams in the divisional round era because they have more games to potentially win. That balances out the fact that it is harder to win now because teams have to face an extra series. The Cubs won 114 games overall in 2016 for 1.140 points. The 1998 Yankees were tops at this as well with 1.250.
* The next two categories simply give teams .01 for positive run differential. The Cubs outscored opponents by 252 runs in the regular season and another 18 runs in the postseason. So the Cubs received .252 and .018 in points. The 1998 Yankees had the greatest run differential score in the regular season with .299. In the postseason, the 2007 Boston Red Sox scored a .053.
If you add up all of the Cubs scores, you get 3.767. Where does that rank, check them out on the chart below.
| Rk. | Team | Win Pct. |
Best Record |
Playoffs | World Series |
Win Bonus |
Season Run Dif. |
Playoff Run Dif. |
Overall Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1998 Yankees | .704 | 1.000 | .425 | .605 | 1.250 | .299 | .028 | 4.311 |
| 2. | 1976 Reds | .630 | 1.000 | .624 | .610 | 1.090 | .224 | .022 | 4.200 |
| 3. | 1970 Orioles | .667 | 1.000 | .605 | .504 | 1.150 | .218 | .030 | 4.174 |
| 4. | 2018 Red Sox | .667 | 1.000 | .488 | .451 | 1.190 | .229 | .037 | 4.062 |
| 5. | 1975 Reds | .667 | 1.000 | .571 | .339 | 1.150 | .254 | .011 | 3.992 |
| 6. | 1984 Tigers | .642 | 1.000 | .518 | .454 | 1.110 | .186 | .018 | 3.928 |
| 7. | 2007 Red Sox | .593 | 1.000 | .411 | .552 | 1.070 | .210 | .053 | 3.889 |
| 8. | 1989 A's | .611 | 1.000 | .439 | .568 | 1.070 | .136 | .023 | 3.847 |
| 9. | 1999 Yankees | .605 | .800 | .510 | .636 | 1.090 | .169 | .027 | 3.837 |
| 10. | 2009 Yankees | .636 | 1.000 | .444 | .383 | 1.140 | .162 | .028 | 3.793 |
| 11. | 1986 Mets | .667 | 1.000 | .395 | .337 | 1.150 | .205 | .014 | 3.768 |
| 12. | 2016 Cubs | .640 | 1.000 | .386 | .331 | 1.140 | .252 | .018 | 3.767 |
| 13. | 1969 Mets | .617 | .800 | .574 | .538 | 1.070 | .091 | .018 | 3.709 |
| 14. | 2013 Red Sox | .599 | 1.000 | .399 | .399 | 1.080 | .197 | .028 | 3.702 |
| 14. | 2005 White Sox | .611 | .800 | .513 | .549 | 1.100 | .096 | .033 | 3.702 |
| 16. | 1978 Yankees | .614 | 1.000 | .426 | .391 | 1.070 | .153 | .010 | 3.664 |
| 17. | 1979 Pirates | .605 | .800 | .559 | .366 | 1.050 | .132 | .016 | 3.528 |
| 18. | 1995 Braves | .625 | .800 | .417 | .365 | 1.040 | .189 | .008 | 3.418 |
| 19. | 2004 Red Sox | .605 | .400 | .420 | .648 | 1.090 | .181 | .021 | 3.365 |
| 20. | 2015 Royals | .586 | .800 | .354 | .445 | 1.060 | .083 | .024 | 3.351 |
| 21. | 1982 Cardinals | .568 | .800 | .549 | .335 | .990 | .076 | .018 | 3.336 |
| 22. | 1992 Blue Jays | .593 | .800 | .395 | .403 | 1.040 | .098 | .004 | 3.334 |
| 23. | 1983 Orioles | .605 | .600 | .458 | .445 | 1.050 | .147 | .025 | 3.330 |
| 23. | 1991 Twins | .586 | .800 | .450 | .331 | 1.030 | .124 | .009 | 3.330 |
| 25. | 1993 Blue Jays | .586 | .800 | .387 | .399 | 1.030 | .105 | .012 | 3.319 |
| 26. | 1990 Reds | .562 | .600 | .391 | .636 | .990 | .096 | .019 | 3.294 |
| 27. | 1977 Yankees | .617 | .600 | .378 | .403 | 1.070 | .180 | -.003 | 3.245 |
| 28. | 2017 Astros | .623 | .600 | .361 | .367 | 1.080 | .196 | .005 | 3.232 |
| 28. | 2008 Phillies | .568 | .600 | .416 | .479 | 1.030 | .119 | .020 | 3.232 |
| 30. | 1972 A's | .600 | .800 | .331 | .353 | 1.000 | .147 | -.002 | 3.228 |
| 31. | 1974 A's | .556 | .600 | .422 | .504 | .970 | .138 | .009 | 3.199 |
| 32. | 2012 Giants | .580 | .600 | .331 | .543 | 1.050 | .069 | .022 | 3.195 |
| 33. | 2010 Giants | .568 | .600 | .408 | .445 | 1.030 | .114 | .018 | 3.183 |
| 34. | 1988 Dodgers | .584 | .600 | .357 | .514 | 1.020 | .084 | .014 | 3.173 |
| 35. | 2002 Angels | .611 | .400 | .473 | .337 | 1.100 | .207 | .018 | 3.146 |
| 36. | 1996 Yankees | .586 | .600 | .427 | .395 | 1.030 | .084 | .000 | 3.104 |
| 37. | 2001 Diamondbacks | .568 | .600 | .389 | .339 | 1.030 | .141 | .028 | 3.096 |
| 38. | 2000 Yankees | .540 | .600 | .358 | .464 | .980 | .057 | .012 | 3.011 |
| 39. | 1981 Dodgers | .573 | .600 | .333 | .367 | 1.020 | .094 | .017 | 3.004 |
| 40. | 1973 A's | .580 | .600 | .359 | .291 | 1.010 | .143 | -.003 | 2.980 |
| 41. | 1980 Phillies | .562 | .600 | .343 | .399 | .980 | .089 | .005 | 2.978 |
| 42. | 1985 Royals | .562 | .600 | .351 | .357 | .980 | .048 | .016 | 2.914 |
| 43. | 1987 Twins | .525 | .600 | .484 | .335 | .930 | -.020 | .023 | 2.877 |
| 44. | 1997 Marlins | .568 | .400 | .463 | .305 | 1.030 | .071 | -.002 | 2.835 |
| 45. | 2003 Marlins | .562 | .400 | .367 | .416 | 1.020 | .059 | -.002 | 2.822 |
| 46. | 2011 Cardinals | .556 | .200 | .387 | .339 | 1.010 | .070 | .024 | 2.586 |
| 47. | 2014 Giants | .543 | .200 | .455 | .314 | 1.000 | .051 | .018 | 2.580 |
| 48. | 2006 Cardinals | .515 | .200 | .366 | .469 | .940 | .019 | .020 | 2.529 |
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