The 10 Greatest Sports Dynasties! Ever! Part VII!

I know that you're more even more nervous about who is going to take the grand prize here than you were watching the Golden Globes last night!

(And no, there is no truth to the rumor that these rankings were determined by the Foreign Correspondents Corps in the Bronx.  Or that Ricky Gervais is actually The Win Warblist.)

To review:

10. Chicago Cubs, 1906-1910.

9. Boston Red Sox, 1912-1918.

8. Los Angeles Lakers, 1980-1991.

7. New York Yankees, 1994-2003.

6. Green Bay Packers, 1960-1967.

5. Chicago Bulls, 1988-1998.

4. Montreal Canadiens, 1955-1979.

3. Boston Celtics, 1956-1969.

2. New England Patriots, 2001-2020 (I think we can safely say).

And now, the grand winner, the greatest champion of champions, the most amazing, spectacular, splendiferous, North American Professional Sports Dynasty of All-Time, is...

The New York Islanders, 1975-1984.

I kid, I kid.  The real winner is...

The New York Yankees, 1920-1964.

Big surprise, I know, on a Yankees fan site.  And in Part 7, that ever-significant number.  But still, it's worth considering the greatness one more time.

The Yankees in this era could have been chopped into many mini-dynasties, several of which would probably still have made this list.  But to my (twisted) mind there was a great continuity, one superstar passing the torch to another, managers and general managers overlapping.

In this time, which I date from Babe Ruth coming to the Yanks to CBS buying it up like it was the road show of Mame or Fender Guitars (two acquisitions made by the TV network at about the same time, for roughly the same money), your New York Yankees won with a consistency that nobody else ever has or (despite all our imprecations to the JuJu deities), ever will again.

Submitted for your perusal, as a certain chain-smoking TV host used to (almost) say:

In the 45 years covered here, the Yankees won 4,292 games and lost "only" 2,643, for a winning percentage of .619.  That's right—even though every single loss was carved on our hearts, the Yankees won almost five of every eight regular season ballgames...for almost half-a-century.

That translates to 95 wins a season, or more than 500 games and 85 percentage points better than the next-best American League team in that period.  No other AL squad averaged more than 82 games in this time, meaning that an average Yankees season was taking the pennant by 13 games.

In this time, the Yankees outhit every other AL team by at least 3 percentage points, outscored them by at least 3,300 runs, and hit at least over 1,900 more home runs.  They ran up similar advantages in almost every other statistical category, and at the box office.

In those 45 years, the Yankees won 29 pennants, or nearly two for every three seasons.  They finished with a losing record and out of the first division only once, in 1925, the year The Babe's belly rebelled.  They finished below third place only one other time, coming in 4th during the war year of 1945.

They won 100 or more games 11 times during this streak, 90 or more games 35 times.

Take away World War II and a handful of games in other years, and the Yanks could easily have won 36 pennants, or 80 percent of them in this time.

In the postseason, the Yankees were nearly as good, playing .604 ball (99-65).  They won 20 World Series, all of them between 1923-1962, 40 seasons—in other words, a world championship every year.  They set the all-time baseball record with five straight championships, and became the only team to win four straight.

Again, take away a handful of plays and injuries, and they could easily have won at least 26 World Series in this time.  

By way of contrast, the team with the next fewest losing seasons from 1920-1964 was the St. Louis Cardinals—with 9.

By way of contrast, the New York Yankees in the 55 seasons since 1964—no slouches—have won over 100 games "only" 10 times—despite playing an extra eight games most seasons—and 90 games or more "only" 26 times, averaging 88.45 wins a year.

They have won 11 pennants, 7 World Series, and won 9 other division crowns in this period.  They also suffered 10 losing seasons and finished last twice—a place where the 1920-1964 team never, ever ended up.

This year, the Yanks completed their 27th consecutive winning season, a remarkable achievement.  They still have 12 to go to tie the 1926-1964 Yankees.

I don't have to list the many great stars and the highlights of these teams for you.  All I can say is that this was, in short, the ultimate example of what we all crave:  sustained excellence.

Well how thrilling was that???  I'll be back soon to list the honorable mentions, and give the lame excuses for why I didn't include them.