Best World Series of All Time: The 10 Greatest Fall Classics Ranked

From Fisk's foul pole to Freeman's 18th-inning walk-off, these are the World Series that went the distance and then some. Here's how the best of them stack up.

The best World Series of all time is the 1991 Fall Classic between the Minnesota Twins and the Atlanta Braves. 

Five of its seven games were decided by a single run, three went to extra innings, and it finished with Jack Morris throwing 10 shutout innings in a 1-0 Game 7. Nothing else quite matches it from start to finish.

It's a tight race behind it, though. The 1975 Reds and Red Sox, the 2016 Cubs and Indians, and the 2001 Diamondbacks and Yankees all have strong claims to the top spot. 

And last year's Dodgers vs Blue Jays series forced its way straight into the conversation with one of the wildest Game 7s ever played.

With the 2026 World Series starting on Friday 23 October (US time), here's our ranking of the 10 greatest ever, plus a few that just missed the cut.

How We Ranked the Greatest World Series

Every series on this list went at least six games, and nine of the 10 went the full seven. That's no accident. A sweep can be historic, but it can't be great.

We weighed four things:

• Closeness: One-run games, extra-inning games and lead changes across the whole series, not just the finale.
• The ending: How dramatic the deciding game was, and whether the final innings delivered.
• Stakes and history: Droughts ended, dynasties stopped, franchises winning for the first time.
• Iconic moments: The plays and swings that fans still replay decades later.

A series that is close for seven games beats one with a single famous moment. That's why a couple of legendary home runs sit lower than you might expect.

1. 1991 World Series: Twins vs Braves

Result: Minnesota Twins won 4-3

This is the gold standard. ESPN named it the greatest World Series of all time in 2003, and more than two decades later, nothing has knocked it off its perch.

The backstory alone was absurd. Both the Twins and Braves had finished last in their divisions in 1990, making this the first World Series between two teams that went worst to first. Then they played seven games that never let up.

Five of the seven were decided by one run. Game 3 went 12 innings in Atlanta, a 5-4 Braves win that lasted over four hours.

Game 4 ended on a disputed play at the plate in the ninth. The Braves then blew the Twins away 14-5 in Game 5 and headed to Minnesota needing one more win.

Kirby Puckett had other ideas. In Game 6 he robbed Ron Gant with a leaping catch against the wall in the third inning, then led off the 11th with a walk-off home run against Charlie Leibrandt. Jack Buck's call ("And we'll see you tomorrow night!") is still one of the most famous in baseball.

Game 7 was a pitching duel for the ages. John Smoltz kept the Twins scoreless for over seven innings, but Jack Morris kept going.

He threw a 126-pitch complete game, 10 innings without allowing a run, and the Twins won 1-0 when Gene Larkin's bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 10th scored Dan Gladden.

The Braves had their own big chance in the eighth, when Lonnie Smith was decoyed by the Twins' middle infielders on a Terry Pendleton double and failed to score.

Hard facts: five one-run games, three extra-inning games (Games 3, 6 and 7), and Morris named MVP.

2. 1975 World Series: Reds vs Red Sox

Result: Cincinnati Reds won 4-3

If 1991 is the best series, 1975 has the best single game. Game 6 at Fenway Park is the one older fans still argue is the greatest ever played.

The series itself was a beauty. The Big Red Machine had won 108 games in the regular season, and Boston pushed them all the way. Game 3 went 10 innings and turned on Ed Armbrister's bunt, when umpire Larry Barnett ruled no interference after a collision with Carlton Fisk.

Then came Game 6, delayed three days by rain. Boston trailed 6-3 in the eighth when pinch-hitter Bernie Carbo smashed a two-out, three-run homer to centre field off Rawly Eastwick to tie it. In the 11th, Dwight Evans made a running catch at the right-field fence to rob Joe Morgan and doubled Ken Griffey off first.

At 12:33am, Fisk led off the 12th against Pat Darcy and sent a fly ball down the left-field line. He waved it fair with both arms, it struck the foul pole, and Boston won 7-6.

Cincinnati still won the series, of course. In Game 7 the Reds came back from a 3-0 deficit, with Tony Pérez homering in the sixth, and Morgan blooped a single in the ninth to score Griffey for a 4-3 win.

Hard facts: the Red Sox outscored the Reds 30-29 and lost. Pete Rose was MVP after hitting .370.

3. 2016 World Series: Cubs vs Indians

Result: Chicago Cubs won 4-3

No series in history carried more emotional weight. The Cubs hadn't won since 1908. Cleveland hadn't won since 1948. One drought had to end.

Cleveland looked like the team of destiny early. Corey Kluber dominated, and the Indians led the series 3-1 after winning Game 4 at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs then won Game 5 by a run, with Aroldis Chapman getting eight outs for the save, and hammered Cleveland 9-3 in Game 6 to force a decider at Progressive Field.

Game 7 was chaos. Dexter Fowler led off with a home run. Javier Báez and a 39-year-old David Ross both went deep, and the Cubs led 6-3 in the eighth. Then Rajai Davis hit a two-run homer off a tiring Chapman to tie it, and the whole ballpark shook.

After nine innings, a 17-minute rain delay sent the Cubs into the clubhouse, where Jason Heyward famously gathered the team. 

Ben Zobrist doubled in the go-ahead run in the 10th, Miguel Montero added another, and the Cubs held on 8-7 when Kris Bryant fielded Michael Martínez's grounder and threw to Anthony Rizzo for the final out.

Hard facts: the Cubs became just the sixth team to come back from 3-1 down in a World Series, ending a 108-year wait. Zobrist was MVP.

4. 2001 World Series: Diamondbacks vs Yankees

Result: Arizona Diamondbacks won 4-3

Played in the weeks after September 11, this was the first World Series to stretch into November. The Yankees were chasing a fourth straight title. Arizona was only in its fourth season.

The home team won every game, which makes the box scores look tidy. They weren't. Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson carried Arizona to 9-1 and 4-0 wins at home before the series moved to the Bronx.

Then came two of the most astonishing nights in World Series history. In Game 4, Tino Martinez hit a two-out, two-run homer off Byung-Hyun Kim in the ninth to tie it, and Derek Jeter won it with a 10th-inning homer just after midnight on 1 November, earning the nickname "Mr. November."

The next night, Scott Brosius did the exact same thing to Kim: a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth to tie it. The Yankees won in 12.

Arizona answered with a 15-2 rout in Game 6, and Johnson came out of the bullpen a night after starting to help win Game 7. Alfonso Soriano's eighth-inning homer had put New York ahead 2-1, and Mariano Rivera, owner of 23 straight postseason saves, came in to close it.

He didn't. Mark Grace singled, Rivera threw away a bunt, Tony Womack doubled in the tying run, Craig Counsell was hit by a pitch, and Luis Gonzalez blooped a single over a drawn-in infield. Arizona won 3-2.

Hard facts: Johnson and Schilling shared MVP, and Johnson won three games in the series.

5. 2025 World Series: Dodgers vs Blue Jays

Result: Los Angeles Dodgers won 4-3

Last year's series didn't just make the list. MLB.com ranked it fifth among every seven-game World Series ever, and plenty of fans would put it higher.

Toronto drew first blood with an 11-4 win in Game 1, helped by Addison Barger's grand slam, the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history. Yoshinobu Yamamoto answered with a complete game in a 5-1 Dodgers win in Game 2.

Game 3 was a marathon. It went 18 innings and 6 hours 39 minutes, tying the longest World Series game by innings, before Freddie Freeman hit a walk-off homer off Brendon Little for a 6-5 win. 

Shohei Ohtani reached base nine times, a postseason record, with two homers and two doubles.

Toronto won Games 4 and 5, with rookie Trey Yesavage striking out 12 in Game 5, and went home needing one win. Yamamoto took Game 6, 3-1.

Game 7 at Rogers Centre was ridiculous. Bo Bichette hit a three-run homer off Ohtani in the third. Toronto led 4-2 before Max Muncy homered in the eighth, and Miguel Rojas tied it with a solo shot in the ninth, the first game-tying homer that late in a World Series Game 7.

In the bottom of the ninth, Yamamoto came in on no rest with two on and hit Alejandro Kirk to load the bases. Rojas fired home for a force out, and Andy Pages caught Ernie Clement's drive after colliding with Kiké Hernández in left-centre.

Will Smith homered off Shane Bieber in the 11th, the first extra-inning home run in a World Series Game 7, and Yamamoto finished it with a double play. Dodgers 5-4.

Hard facts: Yamamoto won three games and the MVP. The Dodgers became the first back-to-back champions since the 1998-2000 Yankees.

6. 1960 World Series: Pirates vs Yankees

Result: Pittsburgh Pirates won 4-3

The strangest great series ever played. The Yankees outscored Pittsburgh 55-27, winning games 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0. The Pirates won all their games by scraping through.

Game 7 at Forbes Field was an epic. Pittsburgh led 4-0, the Yankees led 7-4, and then the Pirates scored five in the eighth.

A Bill Virdon grounder took a bad hop and hit shortstop Tony Kubek in the throat, and Hal Smith's three-run homer put Pittsburgh up 9-7. The Yankees tied it 9-9 in the ninth.

Bill Mazeroski led off the bottom of the ninth against Ralph Terry and drove a 1-0 pitch over the left-field wall. It remains the only Game 7 to end on a walk-off home run.

Hard facts: Bobby Richardson won MVP, the only time a player from the losing team has done so. Game 7 is also the only postseason game in history without a single strikeout.

7. 2011 World Series: Cardinals vs Rangers

Result: St. Louis Cardinals won 4-3

The Cardinals were 10.5 games out of a playoff spot in late August. Two months later, they won one of the most absurd World Series games of all time.

There was plenty before it. Albert Pujols hit three home runs in Game 3, joining Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson. In Game 5, a bullpen phone mix-up meant Tony La Russa got the wrong relievers warming up, and Texas won.

Game 6 is why this series ranks. The Rangers were twice one strike from their first title. In the ninth, David Freese tripled off Neftalí Feliz to tie it.

Josh Hamilton hit a two-run homer in the 10th to put Texas back in front, and Lance Berkman tied it again with a two-strike single. Freese led off the 11th with a walk-off homer off Mark Lowe. Cardinals 10-9.

St. Louis won Game 7, 6-2, and Freese took MVP.

Hard facts: the Rangers had to wait until 2023 for their first title.

8. 1986 World Series: Mets vs Red Sox

Result: New York Mets won 4-3

Every Red Sox fan of a certain age can tell you where they were. Boston won the first two games at Shea Stadium and led the series 3-2 heading back to New York.

In Game 6, Dave Henderson homered to lead off the 10th and Boston added another run for a 5-3 lead. The first two Mets made outs. Boston was one strike from its first title since 1918.

Then Gary Carter singled. Kevin Mitchell singled. Ray Knight singled, scoring Carter. Bob Stanley's wild pitch let Mitchell score the tying run, and Mookie Wilson's slow roller went through Bill Buckner's legs as Knight came home. Mets 6-5.

Game 7 was pushed back a day by rain. Boston led 3-0 before the Mets scored eight runs between the sixth and eighth innings to win 8-5.

Hard facts: Knight was MVP after hitting .391 with five RBIs, including the go-ahead homer in Game 7. The Red Sox drought lasted until 2004.

9. 1924 World Series: Senators vs Giants

Result: Washington Senators won 4-3

The oldest series here and still one of the most dramatic. Two games went 12 innings, including the decider.

Walter Johnson, 36 years old and the best pitcher of his era, was finally in a World Series and lost both his starts, including a 12-inning complete game in Game 1. 

In Game 7 at Griffith Stadium, player-manager Bucky Harris tied it 3-3 in the eighth with a grounder that hit a pebble and bounced over the Giants' third baseman.

Johnson came on in relief and pitched four scoreless innings. In the 12th, Giants catcher Hank Gowdy tripped on his own mask chasing a foul pop, Muddy Ruel doubled on the next chance, and Earl McNeely's grounder took another bad hop over third to score Ruel. Senators 4-3.

Hard facts: it was the first major professional championship won by a Washington, DC team and the Senators' only title in Washington.

10. 1993 World Series: Blue Jays vs Phillies

Result: Toronto Blue Jays won 4-2

The only six-game series on the list, and it earns its place with two unforgettable nights.

Game 4 at Veterans Stadium was a 15-14 Toronto win on a rain-soaked night. It is still the highest-scoring game in World Series history, with 29 runs, and the 14 runs are a record for a losing team.

Game 6 delivered one of the most famous swings ever. Toronto trailed 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth when Joe Carter, with two runners on and a 2-2 count against Mitch Williams, hit a three-run homer to win the series 8-6.

Hard facts: Carter and Mazeroski are the only players to end a World Series with a walk-off home run. Paul Molitor was MVP, and Toronto went back-to-back.

Just Missed the Cut

A few more series came close:

• 2017 World Series (Astros vs Dodgers): Game 2 had eight home runs and Game 5 was a 13-12 Houston win in 10 innings, but the 2020 sign-stealing findings hang over the whole thing.
• 1997 World Series (Marlins vs Indians): Florida tied Game 7 in the ninth and won it 3-2 in the 11th on Édgar Rentería's single off Charles Nagy, in only the Marlins' fifth season.
• 1912 World Series (Red Sox vs Giants): A 10-inning decider swung by Fred Snodgrass's dropped fly ball and other Giants fielding mistakes.

Looking Ahead to the 2026 World Series

The 2026 World Series starts on Friday 23 October (US time) at the home of the higher-seeded team, with a potential Game 7 on Saturday 31 October. That means the first pitch lands in Australia on Saturday 24 October.

The Dodgers were still in the hunt for a third straight title when the Division Series started, which hasn't been done since the Yankees' three-peat from 1998 to 2000. The Brewers, Rays and White Sox all led their Division Series 2-0 after the first two games, so the bracket is far from settled.

For the latest World Series odds and markets, check out our dedicated MLB odds page here at Sportsbet, and the World Series hub for series markets once the matchup is set. If you're new to baseball betting, our guide on how to bet on MLB in Australia covers the main markets.

Best World Series FAQs

What is the greatest World Series ever?

The 1991 World Series between the Twins and Braves is most often named the greatest. It had five one-run games, three extra-inning games and a 1-0, 10-inning Game 7.

Who won the 2025 World Series?

The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3, winning Game 7 by 5-4 in 11 innings. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was MVP.

Has a World Series ever ended on a home run?

Twice. Bill Mazeroski's walk-off homer won the 1960 series for the Pirates in Game 7, and Joe Carter's three-run homer won the 1993 series for the Blue Jays in Game 6.

What is the longest World Series game?

By innings, two games share the record at 18: Game 3 in 2018 (Red Sox vs Dodgers) and Game 3 in 2025 (Blue Jays vs Dodgers). The Dodgers won both.