Ranking the World Series of the 1980's

This video will rank every World Series of the 1980's from worst to best. Looking at number of games in series, closeness of games, and narrative to determine the order. The 1980's were not the best decade for the World Series, but MLB did have a handful of classics in this decade

00:00 - Intro
00:24 - 1989 Oakland A's vs. San Francisco Giants in the Earthquake Battle of the Bay
00:51 - 1984 Detroit Tigers vs. San Diego Padres in a lopsided series
01:15 - 1983 Baltimore Orioles vs. Philadelphia Phillies - Wheeze Kids fall to the O's
01:35 - 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers vs. New York Yankees in weird strike-shortened World Series
02:21 - 1987 Minnesota Twins vs. St. Louis Cardinals - Most boring 7 game series
02:48 - 1980 Philadelphia Phillies vs. Kansas City Royals - The Hemorrhoid Series
03:53 - 1982 St. Louis Cardinals vs. Milwaukee Brewers - Whiteyball vs. Harvey's Wallbangers
05:52 - 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Oakland A's - I don't believe what I just saw
07:03 - 1985 Kansas City Royals vs. St. Louis Cardinals - The I-70 Series
09:12 - 1986 New York Mets vs. Boston Red Sox - The Bad Guys and Buckner's Boner

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[JeffWiersma]

38 years later, the ‘86 series still haunts me as a Red Sox fan

[Trancymind]

1988 World Series- Orel Hershiser pitched 2 complete games (1 of them a shutout) and he batted 1.000 as a pitcher. A record that will never be broken in the world series.

[TMCPart]

The San Diego Padres in both of their World Series appearances (1984 and 1998) had the misfortune of running into really, the single best team of its respective decade if not, of all time. In 1998, the Padres had to go against a New York Yankees team that won 114 games during the regular season.

[Pussaychop]

Nothing says ‘i lived through it’ like ranking ‘88 third. Cant disagree at all - really well done, again.

[paulweston]

1984's series could have been great if the Cubs had been able to just win one game in San Diego during the NLCS!

[BDUBZ]

7:38 OmG I grew up in Chicago, but my parents would get cases of Vess soda from this wholesale club in the suburbs. The only place I ever saw it. That takes me back. It was really good stuff. Their Dr. Pepper was called "Dr. Schnee" 🤣🤣

[bajvk]

Excellent video. I agree with all the rankings. 👍🏾 ⚾️

[Osvie-ucgo]

I will rank the 1988 World Series at 2nd. It was a short series but very memorable. One notable stat was that 2 games ended in game winning home runs which had only occurred twice before in 85 years of World Series history.

[georgepress]

1980 should be a top 3. I know it only 6 games. But all the games were close, you had comebacks. All time great hall of famer, Brett, schimidt, Carlton and should be in the hall rose.

[Byrrd]

Thanks for posting. This is a great video. I agreed with each pick.

[paulweston]

I really hope we get one of these ranking the 70's. I feel 100% that 1975 would top the list, but who'd be second?

[TMCPart]

I'm already going to take a guess that for the eventual "Ranking the World Series of the 1990s" video, 1994 will be by default, in last place since it of course, never took place due to the strike.

[gregm]

As a Tigers fan, I might be tempted to put the 84 series as the worst as for the decade from an outsider's point of view (great as Tiger's fan). The series that everybody wanted and nobody got that year was Tigers vs. Cubs. The Cubs were a better team and the story lines of Tigers\Cubs were outstanding. Last team the Cubs played in a World Series and the last Team the Cubs beat in a World Series and factor in the natural geographic city rivalries, oh what might of been.

[Crusher_World]

10. 1989 (Worst WS ever)
9. 1983
8. 1984
7. 1981
6. 1987
5. 1982
4. 1988
3. 1985
2. 1980
1. 1986

[TMCPart]

Two out of the last three times that the Dodgers won the World Series (1981, 1988, and 2020), came in the aftermath of an anomaly of a regular season.

1981 as previously explained in this video, came after a players' strike. The Dodgers absolutely would not have gone to the playoffs had MLB not used a split season format. It would've been the Reds as the NL West winner going against the Cardinals in the NLCS if we were taking into account overall season records.

2020 as of course, the COVID-shortened season, where the Dodgers couldn't even play their postseason games, including the World Series in their home ballpark in Los Angeles.

[TMCPart]

Imagining a list that ranked the greatest League Championship Series of the 1980s from worst to best:

National League:
10. 1982 (St. Louis vs. Atlanta) - The only NLCS of the 1980s that was a sweep.

9. 1983 (Philadelphia vs. Los Angeles)

8. 1989 (San Francisco vs. Chicago)

7. 1985 (St. Louis vs. Los Angeles) - This was of course, the NLCS that had Ozzie Smith hit a walk off home run in Game 5, which marked the first time that he had ever hit a home run while batting left-handed.

6. 1981 (Los Angeles vs. Montreal) - The NLCS match-up from the infamous strike-shortened "split season" and the Expos' closest shot at going to the World Series in their history.

5. 1987 (St. Louis vs. San Francisco) - This was basically, the "Jeffrey Leonard Series" and yet, despite his heroics (he is to date, the last player from a losing team, to be awarded the Most Valuable Player award for a postseason series), his team, the Giants still lost in seven games.

4. 1984 (San Diego vs. Chicago) - The Padres came back against the Cubs (who were making their first ever postseason appearance in nearly 40 years) from a 2 games to 0 deficit (in the final year that the League Championship Series was a best of five series) to win their first ever pennant.

3. 1988 (Los Angeles vs. New York)

2. 1986 (New York vs. Houston) - To me, the 16 inning long Game 6 and the knowledge that the Mets would have to face Mike Scott (who had owned them throughout that NLCS) in Game 7 puts it over the top.

1. 1980 (Philadelphia vs. Houston) - This is like putting the 1991 World Series at the very top of the list of best World Series of the 1990s, this is a no brainer.

American League:
10. 1981 (New York vs. Oakland)

9. 1980 (Kansas City vs. New York)

8. 1988 (Oakland vs. Boston)

7. 1984 (Detroit vs. Kansas City) - It was probably a foregone conclusion that the Tigers were going to win, but despite being a sweep, this ALCS for still surprisingly competitive. Game 2 lasted for 11 innings and Game 3 was decided on one run.

6. 1987 (Minnesota vs. Detroit)

5. 1989 (Oakland vs. Toronto) - I think that this series gets extra points for its final two games being decided on a single run each.

4. 1983 (Baltimore vs. Chicago)

3. 1982 (Milwaukee vs. California) - The Brewers came back from a 2 games to 0 deficit to beat the Angels and clinch their first ever trip to the World Series.

2. 1985 (Kansas City vs. Toronto) - The Royals came back (against the Blue Jays in their first ever postseason appearance) from a 3 games to 1 deficit in the first League Championship Series that was a best of seven series.

1. 1986 (Boston vs. California) - The legendary fifth game (where Dave Henderson hit the home run off of Donnie Moore after the Red Sox were one strike away from elimination) alone probably puts this over the top.

[qatar]

While I don't disagree with the 1987 Series being the most boring seven game series ever, at least one Twins highlight could have been shown. Game 6 actually had a pretty solid comeback, even if it happned in the 5th inning. And Hrbek's grand slam breaking ABC's decibel meter was fun. It was also notable for being the first Wrodl Series where the home team won every game, and game 6 remains the last World Series game to be played in the afternoon.

[mikeowens]

'87 twins!!! Puckett, Hrbek, Gladden, Viola, Berringare. Should be #1.

[privatepenguin]

'88 series needs to be ranked right near the '84 series. 5 game snoozefest.

[TMCPart]

The 1987 Twins have to be up there on the list of the absolute worst teams to win a World Series (at least prior to the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals, who won only 83 games in a 162 game regular season). They went 29-52 on the road and had a negative run differential. The 1987 Twins also only won 85 regular season games and keep in mind that this was still in the pre-Wild Card era (1969-93).