Head on, see if you can name the teams that won the World Series every year for the past decade, in order. Is ready? Without peeking. The answers are, of course: 2011: Cardinals on Rangers 2012: Giants on Tigers 2013: Red Sox on Cardinals 2014: Giants
Head on, see if you can name the teams that won the World Series every year for the past decade, in order. Is ready? Without peeking. The answers are, of course:
2011: Cardinals on Rangers
2012: Giants on Tigers
2013: Red Sox on Cardinals
2014: Giants over Royals
2015: Royals over Mets
2016: Cubs about Indians
2017: Stars on the Dodgers
2018: Red Sox on Dodgers
2019: Nationals on Astros
2020: Dodgers on the rays
If you thought it was difficult, today I will try something even more difficult: I will guess the next 10 World Series winners. It is important to note that I did this exercise last year and I absolutely did not get it right in 2020.
OK let’s try. If I don’t get 2030 right, please don’t come back in 10 years to make fun of me for it. I will be old and weak and I will not endure all the confusion and fight.
2021: Dodgers on Yankees
Now that the Dodgers finally got one, it seems more likely to win more titles, not less. After the last decade they have had, they probably should have won more than one; their luck is about to change, especially since they are clearly still the best baseball team. Los Angeles has been very powerful in recent years to just drop as a title team. Dodgers are prepared to take at least one more. The Yankees are the choice of the American League, almost by default. Is it possible that there are four better teams (Dodgers, Padres, Braves and maybe even Mets) in the National League than in LA?
2022: Dodgers over Angels
Yes, it may well be a triple, right? There is no reason to think that the Dodgers are not going to get any better, but the real leap here is the Angels, obviously. Hope here? They meet two pitchers, Shohei Ohtani finally stays healthy for an entire season, Mike Trout has another MVP Award winner year and then he hits a home run to win the AL Championship Series. A Southern California series sounds like an explosion, actually.
2023: White Sox beats Fathers
It is the bad luck of the Fathers to be in the same division as the Dodgers, but it is also to their eternal credit that this reality is forcing them to step on the gas instead of on the brake. Here’s the hunch that they’ll be rewarded in 2023, when all the young stars are at their peak, with their first appearance in the World Series of the new century. Unfortunately, they are faced with a team with the maximum of young talents. They are the two most exciting teams in baseball at 21, imagine what they will be like at 23.
2024: Fathers on Red Sox
It’s hard to imagine the Red Sox staying on the ground for much longer, although it can take that long to come back. Meanwhile, the Fathers, hungry after losing a year earlier, win a Reggie-style World Series by Fernando Tatis Jr., who will be just 25 years old.
2025: Braves on Blue Jays
Atlanta only won a Maddux-Smoltz-Glavine title, and it will be 30 years until the next one, in case you don’t feel old enough. It would be extremely frustrating for Braves fans if they weren’t in the World Series for the next four seasons, but this year, against Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Jays, this year is the year that makes up for it all. And Ronald Acuña Jr. finally becomes the Atlanta legend that we all know he will be.
2026: Mets on Yankees
Speaking of birthdays … how about 40 years? The good thing about Steve Cohen’s aggressive moves as the new owner of Mets is that there doesn’t seem to be a time limit. He’s not just trying to win for years to come, in any kind of window: he’s just trying to win. If he manages to extend Francisco Lindor, this could be the year that the Mets finally overcome this obstacle. They will keep trying until they get there. Do you realize that the only teams that were in the NL when the Mets last won the World Series and have not won one since then are the Pirates and the Padres? Is it a race to see who gets it first? And if the Mets did that, wouldn’t it have to be about the Yankees?
2027: Orioles on Giants
It seems that it will be at this time that the two teams are reaching their peak, right? Two smart front offices, with passionate and deeply invested fan bases for them to win. Each will certainly have shown progress in the years before this one. This is what they finally manage to overcome.
2028: Dodgers on Tigers
Dodgers haven’t been mentioned in a while, but there is no doubt that they will be good every year in this decade. We don’t know many players that are sure to still be on the list by then, but we do know that Mookie Betts (signed until 2032) will be, which means that they will be a force to be reckoned with. Tigers are a very proud franchise, which at this point will have changed it behind all the young releases they are cultivating right now.
2029: A’s over Giants
It would be nice to have another Bay Bridge Series 40 years after the last one. Presumably, the elements of the natural world would be a little gentler this time.
2030: Yankees on Cardinals
The new decade begins with a setback confrontation between the franchise that most won the World Series from AL against the one that most won the World Series from NL.