Winning back-to-back World Series championships is incredibly difficult. Only 15 teams have done it since the World Series began in 1903.
It's even harder in this era of expanded playoffs. There was a new champion each year from 2001-24. But then the 2025 Dodgers came along and ended that drought.
Now comes an even more uphill climb. The 2026 Dodgers have a chance to pull off only the fifth three-peat (or four-peat, or five-peat) in World Series history. Just two other franchises have ever done it.
Here's a look back at the brief history of teams winning at least three straight titles, as well as how things ended for other back-to-back champs who fell short.
1998-2000 Yankees (three straight World Series wins)
1998: Yankees defeat Padres, 4-0
1999: Yankees defeat Braves, 4-0
2000: Yankees defeat Mets, 4-1
The most recent Yankees dynasty featured a three-peat that started with the 1998 Yankees, one of the greatest teams of all time. Behind the Core Four -- Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera -- the Bronx Bombers won a franchise-record (and then-AL-record) 114 games, then went 11-2 in the postseason and swept the Padres in the World Series.
New York beat the Braves in 1999 -- another World Series sweep that included wins over Greg Maddux and John Smoltz and a game-tying rally in the eighth inning against Tom Glavine. And in 2000, the Yankees won the Subway Series World Series over the Mets in five games, the first all-New York Fall Classic since the last bout of the Yankees-Brooklyn Dodgers rivalry in 1956.
1972-74 A's (three straight World Series wins)
1972: A's defeat Reds, 4-3
1973: A's defeat Mets, 4-3
1974: A's defeat Dodgers, 4-1
The 1970s were full of repeat champs -- the A's were the first of three different teams to win consecutive World Series. With this run, the A's also became the only other Major League franchise besides the Yankees to win at least three straight World Series titles.
The first two both went the full seven games. The A's barely edged the Reds in 1972, staving off Cincinnati's comeback from down, 3-1. in the series thanks to Catfish Hunter and Rollie Fingers' shutdown relief efforts in the deciding Game 7. The next year, Oakland beat the Mets; Reggie Jackson, though he wasn't Mr. October quite yet, did win World Series MVP (and was the regular-season AL MVP, too).
1949-53 Yankees (five straight World Series wins)
1949: Yankees defeat Dodgers, 4-1
1950: Yankees defeat Phillies, 4-0
1951: Yankees defeat Giants, 4-2
1952: Yankees defeat Dodgers, 4-3
1953: Yankees defeat Dodgers, 4-2
The Yankees have won three World Series in a row (1998-2000). They've won four World Series in a row (1936-39). And they've won five World Series in a row -- the longest championship streak in MLB history. This Yankees dynasty encompassed both the twilight of the DiMaggio era and the dawn of the Mantle era. Joltin' Joe won the final three rings of his career from 1949-51, while a young Mantle got his first three from 1951-53. Fellow Yankee legends Yogi Berra and Phil Rizzuto were on all five championship teams.
The Yankees' run was bookended by three World Series wins over the Dodgers (one to open the streak in 1949, and two to close it in '52 and '53), with the other two coming against the Phillies in 1950 and the Giants in '51. Only Brooklyn, in 1952, pushed the Yankees to seven games -- but the first two of Mantle's record 18 career World Series home runs made the difference in Game 6 and Game 7.
1936-39 Yankees (four straight World Series wins)
1936: Yankees defeat Giants, 4-2
1937: Yankees defeat Giants, 4-1
1938: Yankees defeat Cubs, 4-0
1939: Yankees defeat Reds, 4-0
With Babe Ruth having played his final Yankees season in 1934, it was Lou Gehrig who led the Yankees to their 1936 title, the franchise's first without the Babe. New York would win the next three Fall Classics, too, in the final years of Gehrig's career before his health failed him. These four seasons, 1936-39, were also the first four of DiMaggio's career.
The Yankees teams of the late '30s had other Hall of Famers, too -- Bill Dickey, Tony Lazzeri, Joe Gordon, Red Ruffing, Lefty Gomez. They rolled to back-to-back titles over the Carl Hubbell and Mel Ott-led Giants in 1936 and '37, then swept the Cubs in 1938 and the Reds in '39.
Back-to-back winners that didn't three-peat
- 1992-93 Blue Jays: Didn't make playoffs in 1995 -- 5th in AL East (no postseason in 1994)
- 1977-78 Yankees: Didn't make playoffs in 1979 -- 4th in AL East
- 1975-76 Reds: Didn't make playoffs in 1977 -- 2nd in NL West
- 1961-62 Yankees: Lost World Series vs. Dodgers in 1963
- 1929-30 A's: Lost World Series vs. Cardinals in 1931
- 1927-28 Yankees: Didn't make World Series in 1929 -- 2nd in AL
- 1921-22 Giants: Lost World Series vs. Yankees in 1923
- 1915-16 Red Sox: Didn't make World Series in 1917 -- 2nd in AL
- 1910-11 A's: Didn't make World Series in 1912 -- 3rd in AL
- 1907-08 Cubs: Didn't make World Series in 1909 -- 2nd in NL