These Four World Series Winners Shocked The Baseball World
In today's issue, we look at four teams that were not favored to win the World Series, but somehow defied the odds to win it all in thrilling fashion.
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
. . . During the 2006 regular season, the St. Louis Cardinals had an 83-78 record, which comes out to a .516 winning percentage. That figure is the lowest regular-season winning percentage for an eventual World Series winner in MLB history. Had the 1973 New York Mets beaten the Oakland A’s in Game 7 of the 1973 World Series, their 82-79 regular-season record would have the edge.
The Cardinals also nearly squandered a large division lead in the season’s final weeks, holding an 8 1/2 game lead over the Houston Astros with 12 games to play and, after a losing streak coincided with a surge by the Astros, clinching the division on October 1 in the season’s final game.
. . . Jack McKeon, who managed the 2003 Florida Marlins to their second World Series title, did not start that season as the manager. He had last managed in 2000 with the Cincinnati Reds and was effectively retired. The Marlins started off with an underwhelming 16-22 record in ‘03 and fired manager Jeff Torborg on May 11. McKeon was lured back into the dugout with the task of resurrecting the Marlins’ season, which is exactly what he did. Under his guidance, they went 75-49 the rest of the way and beat the New York Yankees in the World Series.
McKeon won the NL Manager of the Year award for his efforts, and Marlins rookie starter Dontrelle Willis won the NL Rookie of the Year (fellow Marlins rookie Miguel Cabrera finished fifth in the voting).
Leading Off
Four Unlikely Recent World Series Winners
By John Supowitz
While watching the Fall Classic, baseball fans often like to reminisce about past title winners. They have been exciting World Series that have gone down to the final Game 7, but we've also seen some of the best teams just roll through the regular season and the postseason to win it all. For example, the 1998 New York Yankees, who set the record for most total wins that year (125), or more recently the 108-win 2018 Boston Red Sox and the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies. In contrast, there have been some teams that did not have the best record and maybe snuck into the playoffs in the Wild Card spot, but got hot at the right time to win it all. Here are four recent unlikely teams to win a championship.
2001 Arizona Diamondbacks
The D-backs were not supposed to win that World Series. With everything that had gone on in prior months after the 9/11 tragedy, the Yankees were destined to win that year. You might have forgotten, but that was the series Derek Jeter became Mr. November when he hit a walk-off home run in the 12th inning of Game 5 as the calendar changed from October to November.
Arizona’s 1-2 punch of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling proved to be the difference-maker in this series, and both went on to be co-World Series MVPs. Randy Johnson went 3-0, winning Game 2 and 6 as a starter and Game 7 as a reliever after he pitched the top of the ninth.
I guarantee if you give Mariano Rivera that inning over 100 times, he closes it out in 99 of them. In 2001, that didn't happen because Luis Gonzalez hit a bloop single over a leaping Jeter for a World Series walk-off.
2003 Florida Marlins
Writers note: I was raised to be a die-hard Yankees fan. This article pains me to write.
The Marlins almost mirrored the moves they made in 1997 to capture their first World Series title when they went for their second championship in ‘03. They acquired talented veterans like Ivan Rodriguez, Derrek Lee, and Todd Hollandsworth, mixing in young upcoming stars like Miguel Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis, and Josh Beckett.
Florida looked like the better team in that series. The Yankees pulled off back-to-back 6-1 wins in Games 2 and 3, but Florida then won three straight and closed out the series on a quiet Bronx night.
2006 St. Louis Cardinals
The National League Central as a whole was awful that year. This was also that weird time when the NL Central division had a whopping six teams, while the AL West had just four. Four of those six teams finished below .500 in 2006 -- only the 86-win Cardinals and the 82-win Astros finished with winning records.
One of the big reasons they beat the 97-win New York Mets and the 95-win Detroit Tigers that year? The pitching, mainly manager Tony La Russa's decision to put a young Adam Wainwright in the bullpen. The future Cardinals ace did not allow a run in 9 2/3 innings in that postseason. Beyond Wainwright, St. Louis had a deep pitching staff that included the previous year’s Cy Young winner, Chris Carpenter, and Jeff Suppan in the rotation and Jason Isringhausen in the bullpen.
The offensive wasn't anything special. The Cardinals had a young star in Albert Pujols and the veteran Scott Rolen, but the lineup was mostly filled with role players like the scrappy David Eckstein and an aging Jim Edmonds.
2010 San Francisco Giants
Who would have thought this would be the start of the best team in the 2010s?.
The Giants’ pitching was outstanding in 2010. The rotation of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, and a young Madison Bumgarner gave them a very solid starting rotation. There was no relief after those guys came out as they had Brian Wilson, Sergio Romo, and Santiago Casilla to finish the game off out of the bullpen.
That rotation was the key because the offense wasn't much to write home about. There were some future stars like Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval, but the lineup mainly contained veteran role players like Aubrey Huff, Pat Burrell, and Aaron Rowand.
John Supowitz is a graduate of Quinnipiac University with a Master's Degree in Sports Journalism. He currently is a writer for NBC Sports Edge and a game operations manager for the Colorado Rockies Double-A affiliate Hartford Yard Goats. You can follow him on Twitter @ImThatSupi.
Extra Innings
“I always was hoping that I’d get one more chance. After 1999 [when the Reds lost a one-game playoff to the Mets], it kind of left a sad taste in my mouth. Then getting fired the next year. After all the years in baseball, you never were afforded the opportunity to even make the postseason, let alone get to the World Series. That’s why this has been a great ride.”
- Jack McKeon, after managing the Marlins to the 2003 World Series title
“I’ve heard and seen awesome World Series runs, but witnessing what happened in San Francisco, that doesn’t happen in every city. That was pretty powerful, what happened. I was just lifted up by the team, lifted up by the Hall of Famers coming around. It’s incredible to be in the locker room and Gaylord Perry walks through, or Willie Mays or Willie McCovey. And you’re thinking, wow, we have a chance to win a World Series right now for these guys.”
- Giants closer Brian Wilson on the 2010 World Series run