Are the 2024 Yankees and Dodgers the Best Teams Their Franchises Have Ever Seen?

So, here we are—2024 World Series showdown, the Dodgers versus the Yankees, a marquee matchup that seems almost scripted by baseball’s gods. But, spoiler alert: despite their star-studded lineups boasting legends like Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Shohei Ohtani, and Mookie Betts, neither team cracks the top echelon of their franchise histories. Shocking? Not really, especially if you’ve followed baseball long enough to know that greatness is more than just flash and flashier stats. We’re cutting through the hype with Opta’s TRACR model—the gritty, no-nonsense metric that balances out eras and environments to tell you which teams truly stood above the rest. It’s like putting every season under a microscope and distilling decades into a single, striking number. Curious where your 2024 favorites stand amidst legends? Buckle up, because this ride through baseball’s hall of fame-worthy squads might just surprise you. LEARN MORE.
And remember, with the defensive TRACR rating, the lower the number, the better, and the 1939 Yankees check in at minus-1.742. The next-best team in MLB history is the 1905 Chicago Cubs at -1.495. DiMaggio and company check in with the 36th best offensive rating, too.

For our ranking, we’re using Opta’s exclusive TRACR rating (Team Rating Adjusted for Competition and Roster), which is created using advanced metrics to calculate how many runs per nine innings better or worse teams are compared to league-average clubs during any given season. By normalizing numbers using league environmental factors, we can compare teams across years – across generations – and distill all that information into one single number.

Sure, over a 162-game schedule, the downs might have counteracted the ups, and the Dodgers’ TRACR number might have suffered. But the Dodgers were really good in the games on their schedule – 42-17 in the regular season, 13-5 in their four playoff rounds – and it’s not like all of the teams from 2020 score that highly. The San Diego Padres are 59th overall (1.584) and the Atlanta Braves are 99th, but those are the only other 2020 teams ranked in the top 200. 

Here, we find the first of our 2024 teams. And since the Dodgers have the higher TRACR, it’s probably no surprise that our projection model gives them a 57.0% (as of Thursday) chance of winning this World Series.

No doubt, DiMaggio and his compatriots with the lumber get most of the attention (aside from Lou Gehrig playing his final game, of course); DiMaggio hit .381 with 30 homers and 126 RBIs in 120 games and his fellow outfielders Charlie Keller (.447 on-base percentage) and George Selkirk (.452 on-base) were on the bases nearly every other plate appearance. Hall of Fame catcher Bill Dickey hit 24 homers with a .915 OPS and Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Gordon had 28 homers and an .876 OPS. 

This was the Brooklyn team that finally broke through against the hated Yankees. The Dodgers had lost to the Yankees in the World Series in 1947 – Jackie Robinson’s rookie year – 1949, 1952 and 1953. 

We’ll take a look at the top three teams and then, to avoid repetition for all those Yankees teams that looked so similar year-to-year in the pre-free agency era, we’ll jump around and highlight certain years.

But this squad really stands out in the TRACR defensive rankings, which factor in both pitching and defense. The Yankees didn’t have a couple of horses throwing most of the innings, as was pretty common back then – the NL-champion Reds had two starters with 300-plus innings – but instead eight different pitchers had between 11 and 28 starts, with between 106 and 234 innings. 

Ahead of the 2024 World Series featuring the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees, we’re going to rank the best championship teams for the two storied franchises.

How rare is that kind of balance among teams that were elite in one area 

1. 1939 Yankees, 3.027

The post Where Do the 2024 Yankees and Dodgers Rank Among the Greatest Teams in Their Historic Franchises? appeared first on Opta Analyst.

The most underrated star on this club? Wilcy Moore, a 30-year-old sidearming big-league rookie sinkerballer who played for Greenville in the South Atlantic League in 1926. Moore pitched 50 games for the Yankees, including 12 starts. He posted a 2.28 ERA, ran up a 19-7 record and led the league with 13 saves (even though saves obviously weren’t a stat back then).

Speaking of balance, these Yankees are the only club to rank in the TRACR top 20 in both offensive rating (13th) and defensive rating (16th). 

And how, in maybe the most unexpected twist of all, Ohtani was overshadowed in the NLCS by Tommy Edman, of all people, who set a franchise record with 11 RBIs in a single playoff series and won NLCS MVP? That was fun. 

Where do the 2024 squads rank? Scroll down to find out. 

Let’s start with a spoiler of sorts, even though it’s not necessarily a surprising spoiler. 

2. 1927 Yankees, 2.726

The Yankees have 27 World Series titles, while the Dodgers have “just” seven, so obviously you’ll see more of the pinstriped wonders on this list. The Dodgers probably would have more if not for the Yankees; the two teams have met in the Fall Classic 11 times, and the Yankees have won eight of those matchups.

These Dodgers, playing their second season in Los Angeles, won just 88 games in the regular season, but that was still enough to win the NL pennant by two games over the Milwaukee Braves.

The numbers posted by this club remain mind-boggling, especially Babe Ruth’s 60 homers and Lou Gehrig’s 173 RBIs. Bob Meusel batted .337 and finished fourth on the team, behind Gehrig (.373), Ruth (.356) and Earle Combs (.356). 

Then, he closed out Game 1 of the World Series versus the Pittsburgh Pirates and helped the Yankees finish off the sweep with a complete-game effort in Game 4. 

3. 2020 Dodgers, 2.512

Hey, look, another Dodgers team. Finally. 

Everyone else in MLB history combined… five seasons.

It’s more than a little bit crazy that this was Judge’s third season with at least 52 home runs, his third season with an on-base percentage north of .420 and his second season with a double-digit WAR. Here’s a list of all the players with seasons that included at least 52 homers, a .420 on-base percentage and an 8.0 WAR:

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4. 1937 Yankees, 2.339

5. 1936 Yankees, 2.264

6. 1998 Yankees, 2.077

This was the second year in a row the Yankees beat the Dodgers in the World Series, and this one was right up there with the most painful Fall Classic losses for the Dodgers. Los Angeles won the first two games at home but dropped Games 3-4 at Yankee Stadium – Game 4 in 10 innings after squandering a 3-0 lead heading into the sixth inning – and fell apart in the final two contests, getting outscored 19-4.

But as he had done all season, Ron Guidry was magic in his first World Series start, tossing a complete game in Game 3 to give the Yankees their first win and start the comeback. That was the year Guidry won the AL Cy Young award with a 1.74 ERA and 25-3 record.

7. 1932 Yankees, 2.068

8. 1953 Yankees, 1.809

9. 1938 Yankees, 1.790

10. 1956 Yankees, 1.685

11. 1947 Yankees, 1.681

12. 1928 Yankees, 1.558

13. 1923 Yankees, 1.511

The World Series win concluded a rather dramatic, hectic month for the Yankees, who needed a miracle – the Bucky Dent home run – to hold off the Red Sox in a tie-breaking Game 163 just to get into the playoffs. They dispatched their other AL nemesis – George Brett’s Kansas City Royals – in the ALCS before falling behind the Dodgers 2-0. 

The Yankees had traded for Babe Ruth in time for the 1920 season and gone to the World Series in both 1921 and 1922, but lost both times. The Yankees might not have had any championships under their belts, but Ruth already had three World Series titles from his time with the Red Sox.

14. 1950 Yankees, 1.481

15. 1955 Dodgers, 1.473

These Yankees set a franchise record with 114 regular-season wins – the 1927 Yankees still have the edge in winning percentage with a shorter schedule – then went 11-2 in the postseason, which was capped by a sweep of the Padres in the World Series.

The 2024 Yankees, for example, might have hit 132 more homers than the 1923 Yankees – the team that gave the franchise its first World Series crown – but TRACR shows which team was actually better. Also worth noting: The TRACR numbers we’ll use for the comparison include playoff data, not just regular-season numbers.

By the TRACR model, this is the best team in MLB history, and it’s not a particularly close. Second place is the team immediately following the 1939 Yankees on this list. This Joe DiMaggio-led Yankees club is among the small handful of teams ever to finish with a winning percentage better than .700, with a 106-45-1 record. And, considering TRACR includes playoff baseball, probably didn’t hurt that they swept the 97-win Cincinnati Reds in the World Series, their fourth consecutive title. 

16. 1949 Yankees, 1.437

17. 1961 Yankees, 1.397

18. 1941 Yankees, 1.382

19. 2009 Yankees, 1.382

20. 1951 Yankees, 1.359

21. 2024 Dodgers, 1.300

We’re using our TRACR model to find out how good this year’s New York and Los Angeles teams are in the big picture of MLB history.

Those 1905 Cubs that are second in defensive rating rank 1,056th in offensive rating. The team with the No. 1 offensive rating of all time, the 1950 Boston Red Sox, are 2,491st in defensive rating. The team that’s second offensively, the 1931 Yankees, are 1,198th defensively. 

This title was smack-dab in the run of four titles in five years, and featured pretty much every iconic Yankee from that era either turning in peak seasons or contributing key moments – Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, Paul O’Neill, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Orlando Hernandez, David Cone, and the list goes on and on. 

22. 1999 Yankees, 1.232

23. 1958 Yankees, 1.229

24. 1952 Yankees, 1.203

25. 1977 Yankees, 1.189

26. 1981 Dodgers, 1.073

These probably weren’t the best Dodgers during their run – the 1949 and 1953 squads have better TRACR numbers – but this was the club that got the job done in the toughest way possible, shutting out the Yankees at Yankee Stadium in Game 7, a legendary complete-game effort by Johnny Podres, who earned series MVP honors. 

27. 2024 Yankees, 1.147

It’s more than a little bit crazy that Juan Soto posted a 7.9 WAR with 41 homers and a 178 OPS+ and was a Gold Glove finalist and he won’t receive a single first-place vote on an AL MVP ballot. That’s how incredible Aaron Judge was again this year. 

Feels weird to have a pandemic-shortened season this high, doesn’t it? The beauty of TRACR is that it’s one metric to compare teams across seasons and eras, and the pandemic certainly was a defining factor in the 2020 season, limiting the regular-season schedule to just 60 games.

• Babe Ruth, four such seasons
• Aaron Judge, three seasons
• Mickey Mantle, two seasons 

And they were shut out twice by the Chicago White Sox in the World Series – including an 11-0 shellacking in the opener – but still managed to claim championship.

28. 1943 Yankees, 1.032

29. 1962 Yankees, 1.012

30. 1978 Yankees, 1.002

RIP, Fernando. You were incredible, and you are loved. 

In 1923, they got their first one together. Ruth, in his age-28 season, batted .393 with 41 home runs and a .545 on-base percentage. He hit three home runs in the World Series, a 4-2 series win over the New York Giants. 

While it’s certainly true that both squads feature the type of star power – Aaron Judge and Juan Soto! Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts! – fans have gotten used to watching over the decades, neither 2024 team is as well-rounded as some of its predecessors. It’s not particularly close, either, but we’ll get back to that. 

31. 1965 Dodgers, 0.6953

32. 1963 Dodgers, 0.6948

33. 1988 Dodgers, 0.684

34. 2000 Yankees, 0.626

35. 1996 Yankees, 0.518

36. 1959 Dodgers, 0.178

The pitchers were dominant, led by starters Clayton Kershaw (2.16 ERA), Dustin May (2.57) and Tony Gonsolin (2.31). Mookie Betts posted a 3.6 WAR in just 55 games; he was one of five hitters on a full-season pace of 30-plus homers. 

Remember how Shohei Othani hit 54 home runs and stole 59 bases during the regular season, and had a 9.2 WAR as a designated hitter? And remember how he had three homers and 10 RBIs in the first 11 playoff games of his incredible career, now that he’s finally away from a Los Angeles Angels franchise mired in perpetual mediocrity (on a good day)? 

And, by the way, the best full-season Dodgers team on the TRACR ratings is the 2022 squad, which looked very similar to the 2020 roster. There are only 15 teams above 2.000 on the TRACR scale, and the 2022 Dodgers check in at 2.174.
Both the Yankees and Dodgers led their respective leagues in victories during the 2024 regular season, but (here’s the not-so-shocking spoiler) this is not the best Yankees team in franchise history, and it’s also not the best Dodgers team in franchise history.