The baseball postseason always delivers high drama and intriguing storylines. One of those threads on display with this year’s League Championship Series participants is the chance to see a handful of firsts.
The Brewers and Mariners have never won the World Series.
The Blue Jays have won twice.
Yes, we also have the Dodgers and their eight World Series titles. But even they are attempting an increasingly rare feat -- a repeat pennant, let alone a back-to-back championship.
Here are three ways this year’s final four are rare and how the Fall Classic will and can be even rarer, with help from the Elias Sports Bureau.
Two teams that have never won
If it feels like it’s been a while since we saw two franchises that have never won the World Series even get this far, it’s because it has been. With the Mariners and Brewers, this is the third time in the last 35 years that two franchises that had never won it all made the LCS in the same year.
The Brewers were involved the last time it happened, too. That was in 2011, when they lost to the Cardinals in the NLCS and the Rangers made the ALCS, defeating the Tigers before losing the World Series. The only other instance of this in that last-35-year span involved the Mariners, in 2001. They lost to the Yankees in the ALCS, while the Diamondbacks won the pennant over the Braves and then won their first title, too.
Prior to the last 35 years, multiple LCS participants who had never won the World Series happened a bit more frequently. That’s also when there were no rounds before the LCS (except 1981), so being an LCS participant was true of all playoff teams. The round began in 1969. The first time it featured two potential first-time World Series champions was in 1976, when the Royals and Phillies made it. From 1976-86, this happened in eight seasons, including three franchises that had never won in 1980, with the Astros, Royals and Phillies. The Phillies went on to win it all that year, defeating the Royals.
What if they meet in the World Series?
We’ve established that simply having the Mariners and Brewers in the LCS is rare. So, what if each team wins the series? Since the 1921 season began, we have had just one World Series matchup between two franchises that had never won: the 1980 Fall Classic with the Phillies over the Royals noted above.
Before that, it hadn’t happened since 1920, when Cleveland defeated the Dodgers. The only other World Series between franchises both bidding for their first title were in the first decade of the World Series’ existence, in its first, second, third, fourth and sixth iterations. It happened in 1909 (Pirates over Tigers), 1907 (Cubs over Tigers), 1906 (White Sox over Cubs), 1905 (Giants over A’s) and of course in 1903 (Americans, now Red Sox, over Pirates). There was no World Series in 1904.
Considering all of the possible combinations and permutations of World Series matchups, it’s pretty fun to see how infrequently two teams’ bids at a first title have aligned.
A guaranteed first-time World Series matchup
Speaking of all those possibilities, no matter which teams emerge from the LCS, we will have a World Series matchup we have never seen before. The Mariners have never been in the World Series, so either potential matchup with them is unique. And the Blue Jays have not faced the Brewers or Dodgers on that stage. The 2025 Fall Classic is already one of one.
This, on the heels of a Yankees-Dodgers series last year, the most common matchup in postseason history. That was historic in its own way, and this will be, too.
Think about it. We would see a first-time champ with the Brewers or Mariners. It would be the fourth time in the last nine seasons we see a franchise win its first, joining the 2023 Rangers, 2019 Nationals and 2017 Astros. The last time there were at least four first-time champions in a nine-World Series span was when we saw the 1926 Cardinals, 1924 Senators (now Twins), 1923 Yankees, 1920 Cleveland and 1919 Reds win for the first time.
Or we’ll see the Blue Jays win a third title in what would be their third appearance in the World Series. The only team in postseason history to win at least its first three appearances in the World Series is the Red Sox, who won their first five.
Or we’ll get a long-awaited repeat pennant and an even more elusive repeat championship. The Dodgers are trying to become the first reigning World Series champion to reach the World Series since the 2009 Phillies. This current stretch is the longest without that happening in postseason history. And of course, the current drought without a repeat champion (‘98-‘00 NYY) is also the longest.
No matter what happens, it’ll be something we have not seen in a while -- if ever. Baseball is the best.