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Following the Milwaukee Brewers’ historic five-game victory over the Tampa Bay Rays to secure their first World Series title in franchise history, CBS Sports evaluated and ranked the last decade of Major League Baseball’s marquee event. The ranking assesses each Fall Classic from a neutral perspective, prioritizing competitive seven-game battles, iconic late-inning moments, and compelling drama.
Bottom Tier: Disrupted Seasons and Quick Finishes
Ranking at the bottom at tenth place is the 2020 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays. Played during the COVID-19 pandemic at a neutral site with minimal fan presence following a shortened 60-game regular season, the series lacked the atmosphere of traditional postseason baseball despite memorable plays, such as Tampa Bay’s Game 4 rally and the Dodgers’ decisive Game 6 comeback.
Ninth place belongs to the 2023 matchup, where the Texas Rangers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games to claim their first title. Highlighted by an extra-inning thriller in Game 1 that featured Corey Seager’s game-tying homer and Adolis García’s walk-off shot, the series subsequently lacked sustained late-game drama as Texas controlled much of the remaining action.
The 2026 championship, featuring the Brewers’ 4-1 victory over the Rays, ranks eighth. The series pitted two top seeds against each other and included an intense 12-inning victory for Tampa Bay in Game 4, alongside an eight-run, two-out fifth inning for Milwaukee in Game 3. However, Milwaukee’s dominant stretch made the overall outcome feel largely inevitable.
Competitive Five and Six-Game Battles
The 2018 series comes in seventh, showcasing the Boston Red Sox’s four-games-to-one victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Boston capped a 108-win regular season with dominant offensive displays, overcoming a marathon 18-inning loss in Game 3 with decisive late-game comebacks in Games 4 and 5.
Sixth position goes to the 2024 Fall Classic, where the Los Angeles Dodgers topped the New York Yankees in five games. The series was headlined by Freddie Freeman’s extra-inning walk-off grand slam in Game 1—part of a four-game home run streak for Freeman—and a dramatic fifth-inning rally by Los Angeles in Game 5 to erase a multi-run deficit.
In fifth place is the 2021 series, which saw the Atlanta Braves claim their first championship in 25 years by defeating the Houston Astros in six games. Powered by Jorge Soler’s clutch home runs in Games 1, 4, and 6, Atlanta secured the title despite a spirited Game 5 comeback effort from Houston.
The 2022 World Series ranks fourth, standing as the highest-rated series that did not reach a seventh game. The Houston Astros defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in six games, featuring a combined no-hitter by Houston in Game 4, defensive highlights from Trey Mancini and Chas McCormick in Game 5, and Yordan Alvarez’s towering three-run home run in the Game 6 clincher.
The Top Three: Iconic Seven-Game Classics
Third place goes to the 2017 series between the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers. The seven-game battle featured a high-scoring 13-12 extra-inning thriller in Game 5 that saw 25 runs and seven home runs. However, the series lost points due to a non-competitive Game 7 and the subsequent fallout from Houston’s sign-stealing revelation.
Second place belongs to the 2019 matchup, where the Washington Nationals capped a dramatic postseason run by beating the Houston Astros. In a unique series where the visiting team won all seven games, Washington captured Game 7 following Howie Kendrick’s dramatic seventh-inning home run off the right-field foul pole against reliever Will Harris.
Taking the top spot as the best World Series of the past decade is the 2025 clash between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays. The seven-game series featured historic performances, including a 9-run inning by Toronto in Game 1, a complete game by Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2, an 18-inning Game 3 featuring a walk-off home run by Freddie Freeman, a 12-strikeout display by rookie Trey Yesavage in Game 5, and an intense Game 7 finish that cemented the Dodgers as MLB’s first repeat champions since 2000.
