Some Major League Baseball teams were so dominant during the regular season that a World Series championship seemed like the logical ending. Baseball, of course, has never been particularly interested in logical endings.
From teams that won more than 110 games to loaded clubs featuring multiple Hall of Famers, some of MLB’s best regular-season squads saw championship dreams disappear in October — or, in one unusual case, never even got the opportunity to play in October.
Here are 20 of the most notable examples.
1. Chicago Cubs (1906)
More than a century later, the 1906 Cubs remain tied for the most regular-season victories in MLB history. Chicago went an astonishing 116-36 behind a roster loaded with talent, including the famous double-play combination of Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and player-manager Frank Chance.
Hall of Fame pitcher Mordecai Brown was another major piece of a team that appeared built to finish the job. Instead, the Cubs ran into their crosstown rivals.
The White Sox defeated Chicago in six games in the World Series, leaving the 116-win Cubs with a permanent place in the discussion of the greatest teams that never won a championship.
2. Philadelphia Athletics (1931)
Connie Mack’s Athletics went 107-45, a victory total that remains the franchise record.
Philadelphia had plenty of star power. Al Simmons, Mickey Cochrane and Jimmie Foxx helped the A’s bat .287 as a team, and Philadelphia ripped off winning streaks of 13 and 17 games during the regular season.
The offense cooled considerably in the World Series. Philadelphia hit only .220 with three home runs as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Athletics in seven games.
3. Brooklyn Dodgers (1942)
Brooklyn won 104 games in 1942, setting a franchise record at the time. Under manager Leo Durocher, the Dodgers held a 10-game National League lead in early August and appeared headed toward another pennant.
Then St. Louis caught fire.
The Cardinals surged past Brooklyn, eventually finishing two games ahead of the Dodgers. Brooklyn therefore never even reached the World Series despite its 104 victories.
Pete Reiser batted .310 before suffering an injury, while three Brooklyn starting pitchers recorded at least 15 wins. It still wasn’t enough to get the Dodgers into the postseason.
4. St. Louis Cardinals (1943)
The Cardinals reached three consecutive World Series from 1942 through 1944, winning championships in the first and third seasons of that run.
The exception was 1943.
St. Louis won 105 games while Stan Musial produced his first MVP season, batting .357 with 81 RBIs. The Cardinals had beaten the Yankees in five games in the previous year’s World Series, setting up a rematch.
This time New York returned the favor. The Yankees won the World Series in five games.
5. Boston Red Sox (1946)
The 1946 Red Sox went 104-50 behind one of Ted Williams’ greatest seasons. Williams batted .342, hit 38 home runs, and drove in 123 runs on his way to winning the American League MVP award.
Boston captured its first AL pennant since 1918 and entered the World Series with an opportunity to end its championship drought.
Instead, St. Louis prevailed in seven games. The defining moment came on Enos Slaughter’s famous “Mad Dash” in Game 7, giving Boston one of the most painful finishes in franchise history.
6. Brooklyn Dodgers (1953)
Brooklyn’s championship frustrations continued in 1953 despite winning a then-franchise-record 105 games.
The roster reads like a collection of baseball history: Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Carl Furillo, Carl Erskine and Johnny Podres were all part of the club.
Brooklyn won the National League by 13 games, but once again the Yankees were waiting in the World Series.
New York defeated the Dodgers in six games, handing Brooklyn its seventh loss in seven World Series appearances.
7. Cleveland Indians (1954)
The 1954 Cleveland club remains one of the most remarkable teams in franchise history.
Cleveland finished 111-43, producing an American League-record .721 winning percentage. Its pitching staff posted a 2.78 ERA and featured Early Wynn, Bob Lemon, Bob Feller and Hal Newhouser.
None of it mattered once the World Series began.
The New York Giants swept Cleveland in four games, outscoring the Indians 21-9 and batting .254 against a pitching staff that had dominated opponents throughout the regular season.
8. Baltimore Orioles (1969)
Baltimore went 109-53 in 1969, establishing a franchise record for victories that still stands.
Manager Earl Weaver had a formidable roster featuring Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, Boog Powell, Davey Johnson, Cy Young winner Mike Cuellar and a young Jim Palmer. The Orioles won the AL East by an enormous 19 games and then swept Minnesota in the inaugural American League Championship Series.
Baltimore appeared ready to win its second World Series in four seasons.
Then came the “Miracle Mets.”
New York shocked Baltimore by winning the World Series in five games.
9. Baltimore Orioles (1979)
A decade later, Baltimore put together another championship-caliber regular season.
The Orioles led the majors with 102 victories and defeated the California Angels in the ALCS. Eddie Murray and Ken Singleton powered the offense, while 23-game winner Mike Flanagan captured the AL Cy Young Award.
Baltimore then took a 3-1 World Series lead over Pittsburgh.
The Pirates responded by holding the Orioles to only two runs over the final three games. Pittsburgh completed the comeback in Game 7, leaving Baltimore one victory short of another championship.
10. Oakland Athletics (1988)
The 1988 Athletics went 104-58 behind the “Bash Brothers,” Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire.
Canseco won AL MVP honors, Dave Stewart won 21 games and closer Dennis Eckersley recorded 45 saves. Oakland entered the World Series favored to win its first championship since its three-year title run from 1972 through 1974.
Game 1 changed everything.
With Oakland leading in the ninth inning, an injured Kirk Gibson came off the bench and hit his famous two-run walk-off homer against Eckersley.
Los Angeles rode that momentum to a five-game World Series victory.
11. Atlanta Braves (1993)
Atlanta’s remarkable run from 1991 through 2005 included 14 division championships and five World Series appearances. Yet the Braves won the World Series only once during that stretch.
The 1993 club demonstrates how difficult October could be.
Atlanta won 104 games. Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine each won at least 20, while David Justice hit 40 home runs.
The Braves didn’t make it back to the World Series. Philadelphia eliminated Atlanta in six games in the NLCS.
12. Montreal Expos (1994)
Unlike every other team on this list, Montreal never got the opportunity to discover how its season would end on the field.
When the players’ strike halted the 1994 season on Aug. 11, the Expos owned MLB’s best record at 74-40.
Moises Alou and Larry Walker were each hitting well above .300. Ken Hill had already won 16 games, while first-year Montreal starter Pedro Martinez was 11-5 with a 3.42 ERA.
The remainder of the season and the World Series were eventually canceled, leaving one of baseball’s most fascinating unanswered questions: How far could those Expos have gone?
13. Atlanta Braves (1998)
Five years after their 104-win disappointment, the Braves returned with an even better regular-season record.
Atlanta went 106-56, setting a franchise record for victories. Five pitchers won at least 16 games, and four Braves hitters belted at least 31 home runs. Andres Galarraga led the group with 44.
Atlanta won the NL East by 18 games and swept the Cubs in the Division Series.
Then San Diego stopped them.
The 98-win Padres held Atlanta to 18 runs while defeating the Braves in six games in the NLCS.
14. Seattle Mariners (2001)
Few teams belong in this conversation more than the 2001 Seattle Mariners.
Seattle won 116 games, tying the 1906 Cubs for the MLB record. Ichiro Suzuki won both AL MVP and Rookie of the Year honors, Edgar Martinez remained a dangerous veteran presence and four Mariners starters won at least 15 games.
The postseason was another matter.
Seattle needed all five games to eliminate Cleveland in the Division Series before facing the Yankees in the ALCS. Three of Seattle’s losses came by two runs or fewer, and New York eliminated the record-setting Mariners.
Seattle’s 116 victories remain one of baseball’s clearest reminders that regular-season dominance guarantees nothing in October.
15. St. Louis Cardinals (2004)
The 2004 Cardinals won 105 games, the franchise’s highest total since 1944.
Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen combined for an imposing 122 home runs. St. Louis then defeated the Dodgers in four games in the NLDS before surviving a seven-game NLCS against Houston.
The World Series brought an entirely different result.
Boston, attempting to win its first championship since 1918, swept St. Louis in four games. A Cardinals team that had spent six months overpowering opponents never won a game in the Fall Classic.
16. Houston Astros (2019)
Houston won a franchise-record 107 games in 2019, its third consecutive season with more than 100 victories.
Alex Bregman led a group of four Astros hitters who finished with at least 31 home runs. On the mound, Justin Verlander won 21 games and Gerrit Cole won 20.
Houston reached the World Series and appeared to regain control after losing the first two games at home against Washington. The Astros won three straight in Washington and returned home needing one victory in the final two games.
They didn’t get it.
Houston scored only two runs in both Games 6 and 7 as the Nationals completed the upset and captured the championship.
17. Los Angeles Dodgers (2019)
Houston wasn’t the only powerhouse to fall short in 2019.
The Dodgers won 106 games, which was a franchise record at the time, and blasted an NL-record 279 home runs. Los Angeles clinched its division by Sept. 10 and appeared to be on course for another deep postseason run.
Washington disrupted those plans immediately.
The Nationals held Los Angeles to 22 runs during their five-game NLDS and eliminated the Dodgers before eventually doing the same to Houston in the World Series.
18. Los Angeles Dodgers (2021)
The Dodgers have made 100-win seasons seem almost routine in the modern era, and 2021 provided one of the strangest examples.
Los Angeles won 106 games and still failed to win its division.
After advancing through the wild-card game and beating San Francisco in the NLDS, the Dodgers reached the NLCS against Atlanta. The Braves won the opening two games, and Los Angeles was never able to completely recover.
Atlanta won the series in six games and went on to capture the World Series.
19. San Francisco Giants (2021)
The reason 106 victories weren’t enough for the Dodgers to win the NL West was sitting directly above them in the standings.
San Francisco won a franchise-record 107 games and beat Los Angeles for the division title by a single game.
Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford and Logan Webb helped lead a Giants team that exceeded expectations throughout the season. Their reward was an immediate postseason matchup with the rival Dodgers, who had been pushed into the wild-card round despite winning 106 games.
The NLDS went the full five games. San Francisco’s pitching allowed only 18 runs, but the Giants scored just 10.
Los Angeles won the deciding game and ended San Francisco’s historic season.
20. Los Angeles Dodgers (2022)
One year later, the Dodgers produced an even more dominant regular season.
Los Angeles won 111 games, the highest MLB total since Seattle’s 116-win season in 2001. Freddie Freeman, acquired during the offseason, batted .325 as the Dodgers rolled through the schedule.
The season also carried sadness for the organization after legendary broadcaster Vin Scully died in August.
On the field, Los Angeles appeared positioned to pursue its second World Series championship in three seasons. Instead, the postseason ended almost immediately.
The Dodgers faced San Diego in the NLDS and won Game 1. They didn’t win again.
The Padres took the next three games to eliminate a 111-win Los Angeles club after only four postseason contests. From 2017 through 2023, the Dodgers recorded five 100-win seasons, but four of those teams failed to reach the World Series.
