The 2023 World Series featured a highly improbable matchup between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Texas Rangers.
The Diamondbacks were 60-1 preseason long shots to win the National League pennant and the Rangers were 25-1 to win the American League pennant.
Two years removed from a 52-110 finish, Arizona went 84-78 to clinch a wild card playoff spot. The Diamondbacks beat the Brewers in the wild card series before upsetting the heavily-favored Dodgers in the NL Division Series and outlasting the Phillies in seven games in the NL Championship Series.
The Rangers, who went 90-72 in the regular season after finishing 68-94 in 2022, beat Arizona in five games to claim their first World Series title in franchise history.
The Diamondbacks are the fourth-biggest betting long shots in MLB history to win a pennant, according to sportsoddshistory.com, which has tracked the odds dating back to 1911.
Here are the three biggest long shots:
1991 Atlanta Braves, 75-1
The Braves were the first team in NL history to ascend from worst to first after winning the NL West a year after they finished last. Atlanta, which ascended from 65-97 in 1990 to 94-68 in 1991, beat the Pirates in seven games in the NLCS. It was considered one of the best-pitched seven-game series of the modern era, featuring four one-run games, including three 1-0 finishes.
The Braves went on to lose to the Twins in seven games in what is widely considered one of the best World Series ever. Minnesota, which was 40-1 to win the AL pennant, was the first team to go from a last-place finish to a World Series title after improving from 74-88 in 1990 to 95-67 in 1991.
2008 Tampa Bay Rays, 75-1
The Rays went 97-65 and won the AL East in their first winning season in franchise history. Tampa Bay, which was known as the Devil Rays until 2008, endured 10 straight losing seasons before notching its first winning campaign. The Rays beat the White Sox in the ALDS before upsetting the defending World Series champion Red Sox in seven games in the ALCS. They lost the World Series in five games to the Phillies.
1967 Boston Red Sox, 100-1
Known as “The Impossible Dream” team, the 1967 Red Sox had suffered eight straight losing seasons before going 92-70 and winning the AL pennant.
Boston trailed the Twins by one game before sweeping the final two-game series of the regular season against Minnesota at Fenway Park behind Triple Crown winner Carl Yastrzemski, who went 7-for-8 with a homer and six RBIs.
The Red Sox clinched the pennant when the Tigers lost their regular-season finale to the Angels and advanced to the franchise’s first World Series since 1946. Boston lost the World Series in seven games to the Cardinals.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.
