To repeat as World Series champs, a little luck is needed

What Joe Torre's Yankees did in the postseason from 1996 until the 2001 World Series appears more freakish with every passing year: They played .746 baseball

Tom Verducci | Mar 18, 2014

To repeat as World Series champs, a little luck is needed /

John Farrell will try to lead Boston to a second straight title for the second time in team history. — John Farrell will try to lead Boston to a second straight title for the second time in team history :: Gene J. Puskar/AP

What Joe Torre's Yankees did in the postseason from 1996 until the 2001 World Series appears more freakish with every passing year: They played .746 baseball in postseason games (53-18) in winning 14 out of 15 series. They were Wooden's UCLA teams, too good to be beaten by chance. In today's game, without a dominant team, what greater competitive balance means is that there are more teams in the postseason and more teams with a legitimate chance of winning the World Series. Chance rules October more than ever.

Published Mar 18, 2014

TOM VERDUCCI

Tom Verducci is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated who has covered Major League Baseball since 1981. He also serves as an analyst for FOX Sports and the MLB Network; is a New York Times best-selling author; and cohosts The Book of Joe podcast with Joe Maddon. A five-time Emmy Award winner across three categories (studio analyst, reporter, short form writing) and nominated in a fourth (game analyst), he is a three-time National Sportswriter of the Year winner, two-time National Magazine Award finalist, and a Penn State Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient. Verducci is a member of the National Sports Media Hall of Fame, Baseball Writers Association of America (including past New York chapter chairman) and a Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 1993. He also is the only writer to be a game analyst for World Series telecasts. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, with whom he has two children.