The unlikely part of this 98 win team is that they were down 3-0 to a talented New York Yankees team. From there, they carried the momentum in a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals.
9 2010 San Francisco Giants
The Giants weren't thought to be a contender at the beginning of the year. But their pitching proved that they could carry a team that had little offense. Without one really big bat in their lineup, the Giants upset the heavily favored Philadelphia Phillies and went on to beat the Texas Rangers in five games.
8 1916 Boston Red Sox
Like the 2010 San Francisco Giants, they were carried by a very good pitching staff. And like the Giants, they had a weak offense; third worst in the league. But they got it done in the end, defeating the Brooklyn Dodgers.
7 2000 New York Yankees
For a Yankees team that captured the championship, they were probably the worst. They slept walked through the entire season, winning only 87 games. 87 wins for a World Series champion is third worst of all time, but they defeated the New York Mets in five games.
6 1964 St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals were able to make the playoffs due to beating up on two expansion teams (New York and Houston) along with being the beneficiaries of one of the worst collapses in baseball history; Philadelphia blowing a 6 and a half game lead with 12 games to go.
5 1985 Kansas City Royals
The Royals benefited from being in the leagues worst division, only escaping by one game. From there, they upset a superior Toronto team and a very good St. Louis team. Besides George Brett, no one hit higher than .278.
4 2003 Florida Marlins
The Marlins were an underrated wild card team. They first defeated the Chicago Cubs in one of the greatest postseason series of all time. They were down and out until Bartman and the Cubs choked at Wrigley Field. They got the pleasure of playing the heavily favored Yankees where Josh Beckett and the Marlins upset the Yankees in 6 games.
3 2011 St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals were written off before the season even started. Their best pitcher Adam Wainwright went down for the season with an elbow injury. In the regular season, the Cardinals jogged along, behind for most of the way. Then the Braves collapsed, the Cardinals surged and they found themselves in the playoffs. No one gave them a chance to defeat the league's best Phillies, but they did. They were the underdogs against an explosive Brewers team. They beat them. They were the underdogs against the Rangers and even when down to their last out and last strike twice in the same game, they came back and won. The 2011 Cardinals are a cinderella story for the ages.
2 2006 St. Louis Cardinals
This Cardinals team was an 83 win regular season team who benefited from a weak division. They somehow made it to the NLCS where they took on the heavily favored New York Mets, who were destined to go to the World Series. The Cardinals made spectacular plays to defeat the Mets in a classic seven game series. Then in the World Series, experts didn't give the Cardinals a chance, some taking the Tigers in three games. The Cardinals used that as motivation to go right through the Tigers in five games to conclude one of the most improbable runs in baseball history.
1 1987 Minnesota Twins
The Twins were labeled as a very average team. They were a lousy road team who were simply a little bit better than the other teams in the AL West. They upset the Cardinals in seven games thanks to a dome field advantage. The Twins were nothing spectacular, making them the most unlikely champion in MLB History.
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