In a year of robust expectations, after experiencing a season that was more challenging than fans expected, the Dodgers are in the World Series. Only four victories separate them from another championship.
My condolences for Mariners fans. To see victory snatched by the jaws of defeat must really have been tough. But now, here we are, ready to see the 2025 World Series between the Dodgers and Blue Jays.
The Dodgers are supposed to be favored, but there is a consoling fact for Canadian baseball fans. The last two times when a team has swept its opponent in the League Championship Series, it was subsquently swept by its World Series opponent.
In 2007, the Rockies swept the Diamondbacks in the NLCS. However, the Red Sox won the World Series with a 4-0 sweep.
In 2012, the Tigers swept the Yankees in the ALCS, but the Giants won the World Series in four games.
This does not necessarily mean that history is on the Blue Jays’ side. This is a pretty evenly matched series despite the oddsmakers’ predictions. If the Dodgers had won the third game of their series against the Blue Jays in August, their records would have been reversed and the Dodgers would have enjoyed the World Series home field advantage.
Both teams are hot going into the Series, but the Dodgers will have had a longer layoff and play on the road, which may hurt them.
Another interesting fact: The Dodgers have never won a World Series at home. The only way they will do so this year is if they sweep or win in five games.
If you are a trivia buff, you might find this of interest. The Dodgers have won 24 National League pennants, the most in the history of the National League. They have also won eight World Series championships. So how many World Series have they lost?
The answer is convoluted.
The Dodgers started their existence in the American Association, a league that was formed in the 1880s to complete with the existing National League. Between 1884 and 1890, the champions of the American Association and the National League competed in what was then called the “World Series.”
The Brooklyn Bridegrooms (the team we now know as the Dodgers) won the American Association pennant in 1889, but lost to the National League Champion New York Giants in a nine-game World Series, where all nine games were played regardless of who won. That Giants team, which is now the Dodgers’ rival from up north, won six of the nine games.
In 1890, the Brooklyn franchise, along with several other teams, moved from the American Association to the National League. The Brooklyn Bridegrooms won their first National League pennant that year and played the Louisville Colonels in a seven-game series. Each team won three games and the seventh game was a tie called because of darkness. This was the last World Series played between the American Association and the National League.
In 1892, the American Association folded and there were no more World Series games until 1903 when the champions of the newly formed American League played the National League champion.
In 1899, and 1900, after its name was changed from the Bridegrooms to the Superbas, the Brooklyn franchise won the National League pennant, but there was no World Series in those years.
Between 1916 and 1953, the team from Brooklyn (which was known by several names, including the Robins, the Trolley Dodgers and finally just the Dodgers) won the National League pennant seven times, but never won the World Series. After winning its first World Series in 1955, the Dodgers have won the National League pennant 14 times and have won the World Series seven more times.
The Dodgers have won their league championship 25 times. They lost the World Series the only time they played as the American Association champion. Of those 24 National League championships, they played in the World Series against the American Association Champion once, but did not win or lose. They have played in 21 World Series against American League champions, winning eight and losing 13. So, counting their loss as the American Association champion, the Dodgers’ overall World Series record is 8-14-1. Since moving to Los Angeles, the Dodgers have played in 13 World Series, winning seven times.
Now you have some interesting trivia to amaze friends with during the World Series. Here’s hoping for a ninth World Series Championship for the Dodgers.
Jim de Bree is a Valencia resident who has been a Dodger fan since 1961.
