Dodgers: Elusive World Championship A Win Away

The Dodgers go into Game 6 of the World Series on Tuesday night needing one more win to claim a world championship for the first time since 1988. That's a 32-year championship drought for the Dodgers.

And the frustrations are growing.

Just what has happened since the Dodgers swept the Oakland A's in October of 1988, a World Series remembered for Kirk Gibson limping to home plate in the ninth-inning of Game 1 as a pinch-hitter, and delivering the game-ending home run off of Dennis Eckersley.

Now, it's not like the Dodgers haven't had their chances since then. They just have not cashed in.

Well, they are in the post-season this year for the eighth year in a row, and the 14th time since that last world championship. They are in the World Series for the third consecutive year.

They lost in five games to Boston in 2018 and in 2017 they suffered a seven-game disappointment against Houston.

How long has it been since the Dodgers have won a World Series? Well, baseball has expanded twice, adding the Colorado Rockies and Miami Marlins in 1993, and the Tampa Bay Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks in 1998.

The Marlins and the Diamondbacks are among the 19 teams have won at least one World Series since the Dodgers last enjoyed the final celebration of the baseball season.

As for the 11 teams who have not won a World Championship since the Dodgers last celebrated. ...

-- The Rockies did not even play their first game until five years after the Dodgers last celebrated, and Tampa Bay played it's first game 10 years after the Dodgers celebration.

-- Seattle, created in 1977, San Diego and Milwaukee, founded in 1969 as the Seattle Pilots, and Texas, an expansion product in 1961 as the Washington Senators II, are still searching for a world championship.

-- And then there are the Cleveland Indians, who have now gone 71 years since that last world championship in 1948.

It's not like the Dodgers have faced a major overhaul during the drought. They have had a winning record in every season during their World Championship drought. Only the Yankees, Braves and Red Sox have a better combined record since 1988.