Looking through the history books, you can always find things that tie World Series winners together whether it’s through the movement of players or finding common ground in statistics.

One statistic that ties 77 of the teams together is having a regular season win-loss percentage of .600 or greater. Another could be that 87 World Series winners posted a .388 slugging percentage or better in the regular season, just up from the World Series era’s regular season average of .386. Or that teams who win the World Series have a regular season OPS that’s 0.09 points higher average.

There’s one other thing that links a dozen of the past 119 World Series trophy winners: they were no-hit at some point during that regular season.

One of this year’s odd-on-favourites to win the World Series, the Toronto Blue Jays, just fell victim to such an event on Monday night, when Houston Astros pitcher Ronel Blanco threw nine innings without allowing one single hit. It’s a tough pill for these Jays to swallow, given the offensive success they were fresh off of at The Trop where they split a four-game set with the Tampa Bay Rays.

But fear not, as what’s been done before can be done again.

Here’s a look at each of those 12 teams who won the World Series after being no-hit during their regular season campaign.

1917 Chicago White Sox

The 1917 White Sox are a unique group in the bunch, given they’re the only club to have been no-hit twice in a single season and still go on to win the World Series.

Skipper Pants Rowland had the club playing great ball nonetheless as the best team in either the American League, or National League, with a 100-54 record. They squared up against the New York Giants, who ran roughshed over the NL with their own 98-56 record.

The Sox got up two games to none in the fall classic backdropped by the First World War, with Eddie Cicotte and Red Faber getting credit for those wins, before the Giants roared back with two wins of their own. While Faber would throw a full nine in game two, he would come in during the top of the eighth to close out game five, while throwing another full nine in game six.

The games in which they were no-hit actually came in succession, both by the St. Louis Browns. Their first came on May 5th, 1917 falling 1-0, as Ernie Koob only allowed five base runners, all in the form of walks. The following day, in the second of a doubleheader, it was Bob Groom who shut them out. These were their 19th and 21st games of the year.

The White Sox would go out and secure three straight wins against the Browns in the days that followed, before splitting a four-game series with the New York Yankees.

1940 Cincinnati Reds

These Reds had a 100-win regular season in their own right, as manager Bill McKnchie had them roll through the National League with a 100-53-2 record. They won their World Series in a back-and-forth seven-game set against the Detroit Tigers, in which teams went punch for punch through the first five, before the Reds closed out the final two games of the series.

The game in which they were no-hit came on April 30th, 1940, when the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Tex Carlton had a career day on the mound throwing nine no-hit innings. It was just the ninth game of the season, and the Reds would respond winning nine of their next 10.

What’s notable in this World Series was that it saw the Reds win their second title in franchise history, with their other coming against the scandal-clad 1919 Chicago “Black Sox.”

1952 New York Yankees

Led by the likes of Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra, the ’52 Yanks couldn’t put it together against the Tigers’ Virgil Trucks on August 25th, who fanned eight batters and allowed just one walk, being to Mantle. The Commerce Comet would struggle in his other two at-bats, striking out both times, while Hank Bauer would also get caught swinging on two of four at-bats.

The Yankees would go 10-5 in their next six series, finishing the year with a 95-59 record, best in the AL and second to the NL’s Brooklyn Dodgers, who went 96-57. The two teams would meet in the World Series, where the Yankees would go on to win their fourth consecutive title.

1958 New York Yankees

This was an iconic World Series win for the Yankees, who had a rematch with the Milwaukee Braves from the previous year. In ’57, the Braves would win the series in seven games and after falling 3-1 in the series, it appeared Milwaukee would win again.

But skipper Casey Stengel helped lead the charge, as the Yankees would roar back to win three straight, clinching their seventh title in 10 years.

The no-hitter? Well, that came on September 20th, 1958 against the Baltimore Orioles, who struggled that season going 69-77. It gave Hoyt Wilhelm one of his three wins on the season, as he struck out eight batters and walked two. The game was amid a tough stretch to end the season in which the Yankees dropped seven of their final 10 games of the season.

1969 New York Mets

Another New York team would be next to be no-hit and win the World Series, as the Mets dropped a 4-0 decision to the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 20th. For the Pirates, it came amid a career year for Bob Moose, whose .824 W-L% was a career-high, and on that day, he threw a full nine innings, striking out six while allowing three walks.

The Mets would respond going 9-1 through the final nine games of the regular season, facing off against the Atlanta Braves in the first year of divisional ball. They would sweep them, and roll over what’s commonly believed to be one of the best teams the Baltimore Orioles put together four games to one for the World Series win.

1973 Oakland Athletics

Boy, those Athletics of the ’70’s were fun. Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando, Vide Blue, and Catfish Hunter were some of the biggest names they had, but on July 30th, they would be no-hit by the Texas Rangers’ Jim Bibby. He would dominate the A’s that day across nine innings, striking out a staggering 13 batters, while issuing six walks.

The A’s would finish the year 94-68 and top in the AL West, before beating the Orioles 3-2 in the AL Championship series, setting up a World Series against the Mets. In the 70th edition of it, Jackson would be named MVP as the A’s won four games to three.

1974 Oakland Athletics

The following year’s Athletics would also be no-hit, this time on July 19th against the Cleveland Indians. Dick Bosman would throw nine innings of nearly perfect ball that day, striking out four batters, while issuing no walks. What held him back from a perfect game, however, was an error of his own in the top of the 4th inning.

“The best thing he had was a strike,” said Jackson after the game. “I didn’t have a bad swing all night. I can’t swing any better than I did tonight and he no-hit me.”

The A’s would meet the O’s in the Championship Series again, winning 3-1, before rolling the LA Dodgers four games to one, as Rollie Fingers played a key role, securing a win and two saves as World Series MVP.

1981 LA Dodgers

The Dodgers would find themselves in a no-hitter and eventual World Series win of their own, as on September 26 against the Houston Astros, they would fall to none other than the legendary Nolan Ryan. It was Ryan’s fifth of an MLB record seven, and he struck out 11 batters while walking three.

At 34 years old, Ryan had been tied with Sandy Koufax with four no-hitters for the MLB record.

”It’s hard to believe I got the no-hitter,” said Ryan. ”It’s the one thing I wanted. I’ve had a shot at it for a long time. At my age, I thought I wouldn’t get it.”

The Dodgers would get the last laugh, though, beating Ryan’s Astros in the NL Divisional round 3-2, before downing the Montreal Expos 3-2 in the Championship series. They met the Yankees in the World Series for the third time in five years, winning it in six games.

1988 LA Dodgers

The ’88 Dodgers would follow suit, not just getting no-hit, but by having Cincinnati Reds pitcher Tom Browning pitch the 12th perfect game in MLB history. He became the first lefty to do so since Koufax in 1965.

The game itself was delayed by two hours and 27 minutes due to a rain delay, but was completed in just one hour and 51 minutes. What’s remarkable about Browning’s perfect game was he painted the strike zone with 70 of 102 pitches being called strikes, and never ran the count to three balls against any Dodgers batters.

The Dodgers themselves also became the first team in MLB history to have a perfect game pitched against them in a season, and still win the World Series that year. They would beat the Mets in the NL Championship series, before beating the A’s 4-1 in the finals.

2018 Boston Red Sox

It took 30 years for a team to be no-hit and win the World Series, but these Red Sox would be no-hit by Oakland Athletics pitcher Sean Manaea, who struck out 10 batters and issued just two walks. 75 of his 108 pitches found the strike zone.

“Honestly, it still doesn’t feel real,” Manaea said. “Even after the last out, I couldn’t imagine throwing a no-hitter in the big leagues, especially against a team like the Red Sox. It’s incredible. I don’t even know what to say.”

He would walk the first batter he faced, Mookie Betts, and wouldn’t hand out another until there were two outs in the ninth, using a changeup to induce a groundout that ended the game.

Alex Cora’s Red Sox would go on to cruise through the postseason, downing the Yankees 3-1, Astros 4-1, and the Dodgers 4-1 in the World Series.

2021 Atlanta Braves

The most recent team to be no-hit and win the World Series were the ’21 Braves, but this one comes with an asterisk and technically doesn’t count as a true ‘no-hitter.’ That’s because it was the second game of a back-to-back between the two clubs that day, so despite Madison Bumgarner twirling seven innings of no-hit, no-walk baseball, this one doesn’t count in the record books.

That’s because according to Elias Sports Bureau, MLB’s official statistician, “neither a team nor an individual pitcher will be credited with a no-no in a scheduled seven-inning game of a doubleheader — unless that game goes to extras. If the contest extends to at least nine innings and that pitcher (or a team’s group of pitchers) has still not allowed a hit, then it goes down in the history books as a no-no.”

Nonetheless, for the sake of this article, the Braves didn’t get a hit in a game, and still won the World Series, so it counts in these eyes. Jorge Soler would win MVP after batting .300 with three home runs in the World Series against the Houston Astors, who Atlanta bear four games to two. In order to get there, the Braves beat the Milwaukee Brewers 3-1, and the Dodgers 4-2.


Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.


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