Title Town Odds: Can Gotham Gather Gold?
New York has amassed more sports championships than any other city, a whopping 54 titles in 115 years since John McGraw’s New York Giants beat Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics in the 1905 World Series. Considering that New York has been the home to two or three major league teams in all of these years, that number might be seen as inflated.
Nonetheless, if you discount the championships from all but one team from each league, New York’s 39 are still the most, a slim one championship more than Boston’s 38 (discounting the lone Boston Braves title from its total). In all those championship seasons, New York has never held titles in more than two sports at one time, and never for longer than two seasons. New York has been a title town holder of more than one championship on ten occasions.
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27 Rings for the Pinstripers
The Yankees have won a North American best 27 titles in their history, outpacing the next best Montreal Canadiens’ 24. Mind you, the Yankees are no Al Ahly Sporting Club or Glasgow Rangers Football Club, but they are without doubt the most storied franchise in American sports. 1923 was the year of the first title, the first season in Yankee Stadium, led by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Ruth added three more rings before hanging up his cleats.
Joe McCarthy was hired as manager and new superstar Joe DiMaggio emerged in the Babe’s wake. The Bombers won four consecutive titles from ’36-’39 and three more in the ‘40s. Casey Stengel was hired to manage in 1949, launching a title streak from ’49-’53 behind Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and Whitey Ford, and two more in ’56 and ’58. Roger Maris and Mantle teamed up for titles in ’61 and ’62, before a decade of mediocrity set in to the mid ‘70s.
New owner George Steinbrenner brought the “New York Zoo” to Yankee Stadium in manager Billy Martin, captain Thurman Munson, and “the straw that stirs the drink,” slugger Reggie Jackson. Championships followed in ’77 and ’78. It was not until the Joe Torre era with Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera that the Yankees would pop champagne again winning four World Series in five years from ’96-2000. Jeter and skipper Joe Girardi’s crew brought the Yanks their most recent title in 2009.
Other NY Teams Add Eight More World Series
Before the Yankees tasted a championship, the New York Giants had won three, in 1905 and back to back in ’21 and ’22 under John McGraw. Bill Terry and Carl Hubbel’s squad interrupted Yankee dominance with a title in 1933. Leo Durocher led a team with a young star named Willie Mays to the 1954 crown, before the team headed west in ’58. Brooklyn’s Bums, the Dodgers, managed only one championship in Gotham before heading to Los Angeles.
Walter Alston’s 1955 team was loaded with Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Sandy Koufax, and Don Newcombe. The expansion Mets took up the mantle when the Amazings came out of nowhere to win in 1969 behind Tom Seaver. The Mets’ other title came in one of the most memorable World Series in 1986, when the likes of Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez, and Doc Gooden kept the Curse of the Bambino alive.
The New York Football Giants Lay Claim to Eight Championships
1927 was the first time that New York held two championships, when the Giants won the NFL title, joining the Yankees who had won that fall and would again in ‘28. The Giants prevailed again in ‘34 and again shared a New York title in 1938 with the Yanks of ’38 and ’39. They would wait until 1956 for their next title when Frank Gifford led the squad, again bringing a second title to town along with the Yankees.
Bill Parcells’ team, led on defense by Lawrence Taylor took home the G-men’s first Super Bowl in 1986, this time sharing the Title Town honors with the Mets. The team returned for a second Lombardi in 1990. The Giants would wait until 2007 and 2011 for their next Super Bowl Championships, both times behind Tom Coughlin solving the New England Patriots. New York’s other NFL franchise has but one title, albeit a famous one, when Joe Namath upset the Colts in Super Bowl III in 1968. The Jets held the crown for a younger team New York Title Town twosome with the Mets of ’69.
Hockey Titles Have Been More Democratic Among NY Squads
New York’s two NHL franchises follow the same pattern as baseball and football, the Rangers an original team from the birth of the league, the Islanders appearing half a century later with expansion. Where their old time brethren share a large advantage in title count, the Rangers and Isles have each hosted Lord Stanley’s chalice four times.
The Rangers shared Title Town honors with the Yankees in each of their three early titles in 1928, ’33, and ’40. The ’33 title team then held the city crown with the Giants as well. The Rangers waited until 1994 for their most recent cup under the outstanding play of Mark Messier and Brian Leetch. The Islanders were a force in the early ‘80s, capturing four straight championships from 1980-83, led by Mike Bossy, Dennis Potvin and Bryan Trottier.
New York’s Basketball Teams Have Been Far Less Successful
The New York Knicks have had far less success than even the Rangers throughout the team’s history. The Knicks played for 23 seasons prior to their NBA championships seasons. Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, and Dave DeBusschere broke through in 1970 and again in 1973. Meanwhile, the ABA’s upstart New York Nets starring “Dr. J” Julius Erving, won championships in their seventh year in 1974, and again in the league’s last year before being consumed by the NBA in 1976.
In perhaps the strangest Title Town twosome, the Knicks and Nets both held championships for two days, May 10-11, 1974. In close to half a century since the mid-70s, neither the Knicks of New York nor the Nets of New York, New Jersey, or Brooklyn, have won an NBA finals.
What are the New York Teams Futures Odds?
The Yankees are the favorites in to win the 2020 World Series at +350. The Mets are a middle-of-the-pack +2200. There is little oddsmakers’ love for either the Giants (+6600) or Jets (+7000) to lay claim to a New York Super Bowl championship in 2021. The Islanders are in the thick of the playoff hunt this season, currently in fifth place in the Eastern conference and have +2300 odds of winning the 2020 Stanley Cup. The Rangers are struggling to keep pace and are battling for the last playoff spot, with odds of +8000. The Nets are under .500 on the season and at the tail end of playoff seeding, with odds of +10000 to win the 2020 NBA Championship. The Knicks are near the bottom of the league and have odds of +25000.
New York Title Town Parlay odds
The best odds for a New York Title Town championship double play are the Yankees and the Islanders with parlay odds of +10700.
The best odds for a New York Title Town championship hat trick adds the Giants to the mix with parlay odds of +723500.
The best odds for a New York Title Town championship grand slam of four titles is the Yankees, Islanders, Giants, and Nets, with parlay odds at +73083500.
