Recently on Wednesday Wizengamot, we have examined the definitive parameters for using the term “dynasty” in sports commentary. Today, we present the list of “official” Major League Baseball dynasties as we see it here on The Daily McPlay. You don’t have to agree with us; that’s fine. We have outlined our definition(s), based on the actual meaning of language, and we use that as the basis for this list. Onward!

[Editor’s Note: Last week, we did the NFL, so you can check that out, too, if you dare.]

1907–1908 Chicago Cubs: This group actually made it to the World Series four times from 1906-1910, but these were the only two times they won it, this making them the first dynasty in modern MLB history. Of course, we all know the franchise did not win another title until 2016, so the legend of these teams just grew and grew in the hearts and (inherited) memories of Cubs fans. It was a long time to wait for a championship.

1910–1913 Philadelphia Athletics: This began the cycle of A’s building, selling, and rebuilding. When the team lost the 1914 World Series in a surprise upset, the manager/owner starting dumping expensive players for a rebuild that would produce another dynasty (see below). Going back-to-back in 1910 and 1911 did the initial trick, and the 1913 title was just icing on the cake, of course. That’s why losing in 1914 was so shocking.

1912–1918 Boston Red Sox: Just like the Cubbies, the Red Sox had an early dynasty before disappearing for decades, really. With four titles in a seven-year stretch, including consecutive World Series victories in 1915 and 1916, Boston established itself as the center of the MLB universe in the 1910s. Yet, as we all know, it did not last, and the franchise went starving for another championship until 2004, when it had to cheat to do so.

1921–1922 New York Giants: Believe it or not, this was New York City’s first MLB dynasty … the Giants. The team actually played in four consecutive World Series from 1921-1924, but it only won the first two—enough to qualify it for this list, of course. After winning the championship in 1905, the Giants then lost their next four World Series (including three in a row from 1911-1913) before winning again in 1921. Ouch!

1923–1928 New York Yankees: They lost those 1921-1922 Series to the Giants before breaking through themselves in 1923 and then capping off a dynasty with consecutive championships in 1927-1928 via their Murderers Row lineup. Because they dropped the World Series in 1926 at the very end of a seven-game matchup, the Yankees almost put together the first three-peat run in MLB history. Alas, it would come later.

1929–1930 Philadelphia Athletics: Returning to establish another dynasty, the A’s dethroned the Yankees quickly to establish their own prominence, winning back-to-back titles and losing the Series in 1931 to also come up short of a three-peat achievement. And once again, the manager/owner stripped the roster after the disappointment of losing a championship unexpectedly, in order to save money and reconstruct a team.

1936–1943 New York Yankees: It’s hard to break down the next three dynasties, as one could consider the entire 1936-1962 run as one entity, but there were too many roster changes to do such a thing. This group won four World Series in a row from 1936-1939 before adding two more championships in 1941 and 1943. It was an astonishing achievement, and yet it merely was a preview of what was to come over the next decades.

1947–1953 New York Yankees: The next stretch of Bronx Bomber dominance started with a single title (1947) and ended with a still-never-matched five straight MLB titles (1949-1953). Much like the Boston Celtics of the NBA and the Montréal Canadiens of the NHL, and later the Green Bay Packers of the NFL, this is the era in which the Yankees really started to demonstrate they were alone among the baseball gods.

1956–1962 New York Yankees: The guys in pinstripes re-established themselves with nine appearances in the World Series across ten years, from 1955-1964. However, they only won four of those championships (1956, 1958, 1961-1962). This, surprisingly, was considered a disappointment. This, as impressive as it looks on its own, represented the end of the Golden Era of the Yankees’ MLB dominance. But they would return.

1972-1974 Oakland Athletics: The Swinging A’s became the only other franchise to win three straight World Series, as they won the American League West Division five straight years from 1971-1975 after moving to Oakland in 1968 from Kansas City, where they had been a pipeline of talent to the Yankees for some time (1955-1961) under different ownership. In a decade of dynasties, the Athletics were the top dogs.

1975–1976 Cincinnati Reds: The Big Red Machine could have started up a lot earlier, but it lost the World Series in 1970 and 1972 before finally breaking through with back-to-back titles after the A’s had ebbed. Cincy escaped the Red Sox in a seven-game battle for its first title here, before sweeping the Yankees in its successful attempt to repeat as champs. Alas, that would be it for this famed group of underachievers.

1977–1978 New York Yankees: You can’t keep the Yankees down, can you? After a 15-year championship drought, they returned with back-to-back Series wins over the Los Angeles Dodgers, a proud franchise with no true dynasty of its own despite four titles from 1955-1965 itself. These were epic clashes in the era of national television popularity, and the lasting images from all these 1970s dynasties endure fully still today.

1992–1993 Toronto Blue Jays: It was 15 years before another team reached dynasty status, and it surprisingly was the Canadian team from Toronto. While the Blue Jays had been competitive from the mid-1980s onward, their first World Series was considered an upset of sorts, while their second victory certainly imprinted on the collective consciousness of all baseball fans everywhere—especially when 1994 happened.

1996–2000 New York Yankees: Well, the Yankees returned again with their most recent dynasty, a five-year stretch where the team won four World Series—including another three-peat effort from 1998-2000. The first win in 1996 was a bit of an upset surprise, as they prevented another team from a repeat title in unique fashion, while the end of this dynastic run came in epic fashion with the 2001 World Series. Crazy.

2020-2025 Los Angeles Dodgers: This group just joined the club, as we noted recently in the conversation that started this whole exploration of dynastic lists. After the Dodgers were screwed out of two titles in 2017 and 2018 by cheating teams, they endured with a vengeance, winning three championships in a six-year stretch, including the most recent two World Series. It took awhile, but the Brooklyn Superbas are here.

There you have it; that’s our list. We realize many dominant teams from the annals of MLB history aren’t present, but those teams never won back-to-back titles, which is the basest requirement here as explained from the start. We apologize to the many faux dynasties out there, of course, but minimum requirements are minimum requirements. If you don’t win consecutive World Series, you aren’t good enough to rate here.

So, this is what we leave you in the end: 15 MLB dynasties. Hope it works for you as well as it works for us.