Outside of the 1919 Chicago White Sox, no Major League Baseball team ever wants to lose a game in the World Series. Even teams down 3-0 want to believe they can buck the odds and win the next four. There's also wanting to avoid the embarrassment of a sweep.
But we're not here today to talk about teams closing out the World Series. It's actually just the opposite, as the focus here is the start of the Fall Classic, more specifically, the importance of winning Game 1.
Now, it's obviously not impossible to win the World Series after dropping the opener -- far from it. But winning Game 1 certainly puts you in a much better spot.
So, precisely what percentage of Game 1 winners go on to win the World Series? Let's take a look.
What percentage of Game 1 winners win the World Series?
Since MLB introduced what we call the modern World Series in 1903, 118 editions of the Fall Classic have been played.
The only years it wasn't were 1904, when the NL champion New York Giants refused to play the AL champion Boston Americans (now Red Sox), and 1994, when the Fall Classic was lost to a players' strike.
Of the 118 World Series played, 114 have been contested using the best-of-seven format. The very first edition was a best-of-nine series, as were those played in 1919, 1920, and 1921. And as that skews the data a touch, as does the aforementioned 1919 "Black Sox" scandal, those four series are not included in this analysis.
So, let's get to it.
Of the 114 World Series played under the best-of-seven format, 73 teams (64.04%) who've won Game 1 have won the series.
The 1905 New York Giants were the first to do so, taking Game 1 over the Philadelphia Athletics before taking the series in five. The 2021 Atlanta Braves were the most recent team to accomplish the feat, winning the opener over the Houston Astros on the road en route to a six-game series victory.
The first to lose Game 1 and win the Fall Classic were Babe Ruth and the 1915 Boston Red Sox, who dropped the opener to the Philadelphia Phillies but then won the following four. The 2022 Houston Astros were the most recent team to lose the opener but win the series. The Phillies were on the wrong side there as well, losing the '22 edition in six.
So, again, while not impossible to win the World Series after losing Game 1, it's best just to go ahead and get off to a good start.
