|
So, there’s 48 teams in the Semifinals, right? Well, you could just as easily say there are about 28 teams, with multiple versions of some.
Our Semifinals will include eight dynasties, which we’ll loosely define as at least three teams of similar vintage with pretty much the same core roster. Here’s who we’re talking about:
Pirates -- 1902, 1905, 1909
Cubs -- 1906, 1909, 1910
Giants -- 1911, 1912, 1913
Yankees -- 1936, 1937, 1939, 1941, 1942
Cardinals -- 1942, 1943, 1944
Dodgers -- 1952, 1953, 1955
Orioles -- 1969, 1970, 1971
Dodgers -- 2017, 2018, 2019
Now, it’s important to point out that two Yankees teams were excluded from the dynasty above. The 1932 squad had Babe Ruth, and that simple fact makes it an entirely different team than those that followed, although there are other differences, as well. And the 1943 team was considerably different than the ’42 version, after the departure of HOFers Joe DiMaggio, Lefty Gomez, Phil Rizzuto and Red Ruffing. I guess you could split it into two dynasties – ’32, ’36, ’37 and ’39, and 1941-43 … but you get the point. (And you could argue for excluding the ’42 squad because it was competing against diminished war-era competition – but that excludes the fact the ’42 squad was pretty much the same as the pre-war ’41 outfit.)
Anyway, there are dynasties. But it’s interesting that dynasties – at least in our definition – appeared to have passed into extinction before the recent Dodgers teams.
|