1927 NEW YORK YANKEES (Wikipedia).

If the Dodgers win the World Series this year and grab their third consecutive baseball crown, does that give them some claim to being among the best teams ever?

Well, let’s not count our triples until they hatch, but even with a three-peat, they’d have quite a hill to climb regardless.

Most sports historians continue to lean Yankee, tapping either the 1927 or 1939 Bronx Bombers as the greatest of all time.

The stats look good. The ’27 Yanks were 110-44-1 with a 376 run differential. The ’39 Yanks were 105-45-1 with a a 411 run edge.

But one has to approach those seasons and stats with a slightly skeptical eye. Both Yanks’ teams were in the segregated era of baseball (no Black players), playing a slightly shorter season (154 games instead of the current 162, plus playoffs) with mostly day games and no trans-continental travel with all the teams concentrated in the eastern part of the nation.

There were three teams in New York City and two teams in Boston, Chicago and St. Louis and not a ball club further west. Travel can be fatiguing and playing under the lights does add a small (but potentially significant) challenge.

Sporting News’ “Blue Ribbon Panel” ranks the ’27 Yanks in first, the 1998 Yankees second and the ’39 Yanks third in an evaluation which might make one wonder which part of Queens or the Bronx these voters resided.

The highest-rated Dodger team – if you’re curious – was the 1955 Brooklyn team that finally beat the Yanks after five World Series heartbreaks. They did have quite a lineup, featuring seven Hall of Famers including the rookie Sandy Koufax.