See if you can name the teams that have won the World Series every year for the past ten years. Are you ready? No peeking. The answers are of course: 2011: Cardinals over Rangers 2012: Giants over Tigers 2013: Red Sox over Cardinals 2014: Giants
See if you can name the teams that have won the World Series every year for the past ten years. Are you ready? No peeking. The answers are of course:
2011: Cardinals over Rangers
2012: Giants on Tigers
2013: Red Sox over cardinals
2014: Giants over Royals
2015: Royals over Mets
2016: Cubs over Indians
2017: Astros on Dodgers
2018: Red Sox over Dodgers
2019: Nationals on Astros
2020: Dodgers over rays
If you thought it was hard, I’m going to try something harder today: I’m going to guess the next ten World Series winners. It is noteworthy that I did this exercise last year and absolutely did not get 2020 right.
OK, let’s give it a try. If I do not get 2030 right, please do not come back within ten years to mock me about it. I will be old and weak and not fit.
2021: Dodgers over Yankees
Now that the Dodgers have finally got one, it feels more likely that they will win more titles, not less. After the last decade they had, they probably should have won more than one; their luck is to turn, especially since they are still the best team in baseball. Los Angeles has been too powerful the last few years to leave just as a one-title team. The Dodgers are ready to get at least one more. The Yankees are the pick from 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 the AL?
2022: Dodgers over Angels
Yes, it can just as well make a three-turf, right? There is no reason to think that the Dodgers will not only get better, but the real leap here is of course the Angels. The hope here? They find themselves a few pitchers, Shohei Ohtani finally stays healthy for an entire season, Mike Trout has another MVP award year and then he hits a runaway to win the AL championship series. A series in Southern California actually sounds like an explosion.
2023: White Sox over Padres
It is the misfortune of the Padres to be in the same division as the Dodgers, but it is also to their eternal honor that this reality pushes them to push the gas harder rather than press brakes. We recommend that they be rewarded in 2023, when all the young stars reach a peak, with their first World Series appearance in the new century. Unfortunately, they run into a team with just as much young talent. They are the two most exciting teams in baseball in ’21, imagine what they will be in ’23.
2024: Padres over Red Sox
It’s hard to imagine the Red Sox staying that way for much longer, even though it may take them so long to fully recover. Meanwhile, the Padres are starving after just missing out last year, a Reggie-like World Series from Fernando Tatis Jr., who will be just 25 years old.
2025: Brave over Blue Jays
Atlanta has only won one title from the Maddux-Smoltz-Glavine years, and it turns out to be 30 years until the next one, if you were not already old enough. It will be incredibly frustrating for Braves fans if they do not make it to the World Series in the next four seasons, but this year, against a soon-to-be-released agency Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Jays, it’s the year that makes it up. And Ronald Acuña Jr. eventually becomes the legend of Atlanta that we all know he’s going to be.
2026: Mets over Yankees
Speaking of anniversaries … how about 40 years? The beauty of Steve Cohen’s aggressive actions as the new owner of the Mets, is that it apparently has no time limit. He’s not just trying to win the next few years, in any form of window: he’s just trying to win. If he can expand Francisco Lindor, it could be the year when the Mets finally get over the hump. They are going to 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, which has not won one since, are the Pirates and Padres? Is it a race to see who gets first? And if the Mets do that, does it not have to be about the Yankees?
2027: Orioles over Giants
It feels like it’s going to be about this time when both of these teams reach a peak, right? Two smart front offices, with passionate fans investing heavily in winning. Everyone will surely have shown progress in the years before this one. This is the one that finally breaks them through.
2028: Dodgers over Tigers
The Dodgers have not been mentioned for a while, but there is no doubt that it will be good every year this decade. We do not know many players who will definitely be there by then, but we do know that Mookie Betts (signed until 2032) will be, which means they are a force to be reckoned with. The Tigers are too proud of a franchise that will make it spin at this point behind all the young pitches they are growing now.
2029: A’s over Giants
It would be nice to have another Bay Bridge series 40 years after the last one. Presumably the natural world elements would be a little more friendly this time around.
2030: Yankees over Cardinals
The new decade begins with a setback match between the franchise that has won the most world series in the AL, versus the one that has won the most world series in the NL.