ESPN’s all-time World Series rankings might upset Giants fans

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ World Series victory over the Tampa Bay Rays during the coronavirus pandemic was memorable, and where it ranks among every championship series is a question recently posed by ESPN.

Though the process can best be described as “loosely scientific,” the results might upset fans of the San Francisco Giants.

In the list of 116 World Series, the Dodgers’ six-game win over the Rays ranks 30th.

Meanwhile, only one of the Giants’ recent World Series championships cracks the top 100. San Francisco’s four-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers in 2012 ranks No. 112. For as dominant as the Giants were, the series was devoid of drama in the eyes of ESPN.

“History flattens narratives, so we remember this as just part of the Giants’ mini-dynasty,” ESPN’s Sam Miller explained.

Coming in a few spots ahead is the Giants’ 2010 championship, the team’s first since moving to San Francisco in 1958.

Though it kicked off a dynasty, no one gives it points for style. The most dramatic moment perhaps came in Game 2, when Texas Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler’s shot hit the center-field wall, bouncing back for a double instead of a home run.

The Giants won 9-0 en route to a five-game victory.

It’s hard to argue with ESPN’s rankings. Though victories in 2010 and 2012 resulted in parades in San Francisco, it hardly garnered much excitement throughout the country. The exception to the Giants’ anti-climactic trio of World Series wins is, of course, the seven-game series against the Kansas City Royals in 2014, which comes in at 29th — one spot ahead of the Dodgers’ recent win.

Though five of the first six games were decided by five runs or more, the 2014 series was punctuated by an exciting Game 7 in which Royals left fielder Alex Gordon’s decision to hold at third with two outs in the bottom of the ninth rather than try to beat a throw to the plate hovers as one of the great what-ifs in World Series history.

Had Gordon gone for home, ESPN concludes, this series would have ranked 16th.

So, no, the Giants’ mini-dynasty didn’t excite many outside of the San Francisco Bay Area. However, the Oakland A’s mini-dynasty in the 1970s, for the most part, did.

Though the A’s World Series win in 1974 over the Dodgers ranked 65th on ESPN’s list, Oakland’s seven-game series against the New York Mets in 1973 and Cincinnati Reds in 1972 ranked 18th and 14th, respectively.

California’s Giants, A’s and Dodgers are among the most storied franchises in Major League Baseball, but the Giants’ World Series championships, apparently, aren’t very memorable.

Oh, by the way, the Giants’ seven-game loss to the Angels in 2002 ranked No. 22. According to ESPN, “Only one World Series champion has had, at any point in the series, lower championship win expectancy than these Angels had late in Game 6.”

The Giants led 5-0 with eight outs to go in Game 6 when manager Dusty Baker took the ball from Russ Ortiz, then handed it back to the starting pitcher for a keepsake as Ortiz left the game.

The Angels stormed back to win 6-5, then won the World Series the next night.