World Series 2025: The Yankees dynasty, a mirror for Dodgers
How can the Dodgers replicate in this World Series the dynasty that the Yankees built with their consecutive MLB championships?
When Joe Torre He was leading the last Major League team to win consecutive championships and the New York Yankees were facing situations similar to those the Los Angeles Dodgers are now experiencing, on the verge of elimination, he reminded the players how great they were.
“It was always one of the key points of the speeches of Joe Torre“he recalled Paul O’Neillright fielder for the Yankees at the time. “He said, ‘The talent in this clubhouse is enough to win this.’ When he said it, you believed him.”
The achievements of those Yankees are impeccably presented in the record books, like perfectly preserved museum relics: those Yankees won the World Series in 1998, 1999 and 2000, three consecutive seasons, the heart of a dynasty that began with the 1996 championship and ended with a loss in the seventh game of the 2001 World Series. Four championships in five years; five World Series appearances in six years.
But in forging that legacy, the Yankees were repeatedly pushed to the limit, and during those long regular seasons and short, intense playoff rounds, they at times looked older, tired or vulnerable, just as some rival analysts have perceived the Dodgers over the past 72 hours.
In a conversation last week, Torre recalled how the Yankees won 114 games in the 1998 regular season and suddenly played very stiffly in the American League Championship Series. Losing two of the first three games against Cleveland in the best-of-seven series, you sensed that they were more focused on consolidating their summer achievement than on the postseason itself. Torre called a meeting and remembers saying, “Guys, you’ve got to have fun. You’re trying to prove that 114 wins aren’t a fluke.” After the meeting, O’Neill found Torre and told him: “Skip, there’s no fun if you don’t win.”
In 1999, Torre left the team to undergo cancer treatment and the Yankees played sluggishly in his absence, falling to second place before recovering. At the end of the 2000 regular season, the Yankees lost 15 of their last 18 games and their last five, qualifying only because the Boston Red Sox had lost one game; Torre had to remind them to celebrate, to recognize an achievement forged throughout the long season. In the Division Series against Oakland, the Yankees lost Game 4 at Yankee Stadium and flew coast to coast for a decisive Game 5. They won, narrowly surviving an A’s team that looked younger, faster and better. In the end, there was another parade of champions, another fundamental piece of a legacy.
Whether the Dodgers can respond in similar fashion and become the first team in a quarter-century to win back-to-back titles will be decided over the next two days. Like those Yankees, they have a star-studded roster, some future Hall of Famers and so much postseason experience that their impact is palpable. O’Neill explained that during the dynasty, Yankee players learned to trust each other and believe that, in difficult times, they would respond, both individually and collectively. “You just come to believe that everyone will do their part,” he said. Darryl Strawberrya member of the Yankees’ championships in 1996, 1998 and 1999.
David Cone He was a leader on those teams and believes that pitching was a determining factor for the Yankees, the backbone of their success. “Pitching in general, and Mariano (Rivera) at the end of games,” he wrote in a text message. “We had four top-tier starters, similar to the Dodgers’ rotation.”
Roger Clemenswho was part of that rotation in 1999 and 2000, highlighted the inherent luck it takes to repeat as champions, avoiding injuries that can destroy a team. “Throughout the entire season, over 50 players are used just to complete the marathon that is the year,” he wrote in a text message. “Once you have the pieces that the Dodgers have, it’s about executing and taking advantage of the opportunities that arise in each game.”
Strawberry said: “You have to stay focused. It’s not always easy.”
“Joe always reminded us how good we were and to keep pushing.”
The manager of the Dodgers, Dave Robertsmaintains a long friendship with Torre, who contacts him from time to time to check on him and encourage him. Under these circumstances, it is possible that Roberts’ words to his team before Yoshinobu Yamamoto takes the mound for Game 6 of the World Series reflect much of what Torre said during his years managing the Yankees.
In his first year as manager of the Yankees, Torre told the players: “I don’t want to win a World Series. I want to win three in a row.”
Torre recalled: “I said it so they would know, ‘Once they win, that’s fine. But they still have work to do. I don’t care what they do: once they stop to admire what they’ve accomplished, they stop doing it.'”
The Dodgers of 2025 may have reached that crossroads, and like Torre, Roberts could remind them how extraordinary they have been and that they still have a lot to do. Building a dynasty can be—and sometimes should be—a somewhat messy process.
