What franchise is the second most successful in baseball history?

C

Connor

New member
I can see people saying the Cardinals, Red Sox, Giants, or Dodgers. Maybe even Braves or Cubs (probably not either, though).

Anyways, I say second because it's basically uncontested that the Yankees are the best. Nobody has 2.5 times the rings they have, and they have 39 pennants (second place has 22). They have had some of the best managers in history, and a team of their best players would absolutely dominate every other team. They finished first in 44 seasons. For a bad part, they have 22 seasons under .500 (although they have 87 over, 56 over .600, and three over .700). They have 18 100 win seasons and in seven WS victories, they swept the other team. It's uncontested.

Anyways, back to the question, who do you think?
* Active franchises, as the second answerer said, by the way.
 
Well, I was going to say the original Cincinnati Red Stockings, but that "active franchise" rule screwed me up.
Hard for me to say this as a Cubs fan, but I have to go with the Cardinals. The most important thing in any sport is winning championships, and they have, very simply, won the second most World Series of any team. And the most interesting thing (at least to me) about those 10 World Series wins is that they were spread out - it was not a matter of winning 5 in 10 years or anything like that. They instead have had a few different periods in which they were a dominant team. Obviously the late 20's and 30's Gashouse Gang teams, you had the Musial led teams of the 40's, the great teams in the 60's (3 pennants, 2 WS championships) that had players like Gibson, Brock, Flood, etc. , the teams of the 80's with players like Ozzie Smith and Vince Coleman, and the teams of the late 90's and the "aughts" .
Other teams may have a better overall winning percentage. And other teams may have a larger fan base. But those things pale in comparison to winning championships. And the Cardinals have simply won more than any team other than the Yankees.
 
It would have to be the Cardinals and their ten rings, often at the expense of my boys in Boston.


As a counterpoint to your recitation of Yankee accomplishments, though I know it pains you, I wish to celebrate 1966. That is the only year that I can recall where the Yankees finished last. Tenth place, as it were. And to make it a little sweeter, the Mets finished ninth in the NL, the first time that they were not last.
 
Back
Top