What is the best baseball team of all time?

There’s no official answer, so it comes down to what you count. The 1998 New York Yankees won 114 regular-season games and 11 more in October, finished by a World Series sweep, for 125 wins in all. The 1906 Cubs and 2001 Mariners won more in the regular season, 116 each, and neither won the World Series.

Key takeaways

  • The 1998 Yankees won 125 games counting the playoffs, more than any other MLB team in one season.
  • The 1906 Cubs and 2001 Mariners share the regular-season record of 116 wins.
  • The 1927 Yankees went 110-44 and swept the World Series.
  • In DreamDraft you can draft an all-time lineup and see how its 162-game record compares.

Which team won the most games?

Count the playoffs and it’s the 1998 Yankees. They went 114-48, then went 11-2 in October and swept the Padres in the World Series. That’s 125 wins. The 116-win teams finished with fewer: the 1906 Cubs won two World Series games, and the 2001 Mariners won four playoff games before the Yankees eliminated them.

Which teams belong in the argument?

Each of these teams won at least 106 games, and five of the seven won the World Series.

Teams in the best-ever argument
TeamRecordPostseason
1998 New York Yankees114-48Won the World Series, 4-0 over the Padres
1927 New York Yankees110-44Won the World Series, 4-0 over the Pirates
1906 Chicago Cubs116-36Lost the World Series, 4-2 to the White Sox
2001 Seattle Mariners116-46Lost the ALCS, 4-1 to the Yankees
1975 Cincinnati Reds108-54Won the World Series, 4-3 over the Red Sox
1970 Baltimore Orioles108-54Won the World Series, 4-1 over the Reds
1939 New York Yankees106-45Won the World Series, 4-0 over the Reds

What about the 1927 Yankees?

The 1927 Yankees went 110-44 with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in the lineup, then swept the Pirates in the World Series. They won fewer games than the 1998 team, and their record came on a 154-game schedule.

Do dynasties count?

If titles in a row matter to you, two teams stand out. The 1939 Yankees won their fourth straight World Series, and the 1975 Reds won the first of back-to-back titles, the second a sweep of the Yankees in 1976.

Can you draft a better team?

That’s the question DreamDraft’s baseball game is built around. Draft 13 players from any MLB season since 1876, and the model turns your roster into a 162-game record. The best roster the game allows goes 152-10, far beyond any real team. Franchise Legends lets you build from one club’s history, and World Series Draft sticks to championship teams. Here’s how the baseball draft game works.

The best baseball rosters on DreamDraft right now

Live

Time Machine leaders from the live leaderboard. Each record is the game’s estimate for an all-time roster.

  • Rank 1ScottyDucatiPro125–37162-game record
  • Rank 2JimBytesPro112–50162-game record
  • Rank 3jimPro109–53162-game record

More questions

Did the 2001 Mariners win the World Series?

No. They beat Cleveland in the Division Series, then lost the ALCS to the Yankees in five games.

Which champion won the most regular-season games?

The 1998 Yankees, with 114. The two 116-win teams didn’t win the World Series.

Can I draft one franchise’s best players?

Yes. Franchise Legends keeps every pick inside one club’s history, so you can build an all-time Yankees, Reds or Cubs roster and see its 162-game record.

Draft your own roster

A solo draft is free in your browser and needs no account.

Draft baseball

Sources