Almost proving my point, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are playing in their 89th consecutive AFC championship game as I post. I don’t have the game on at present, so I don’t know what is happening.
One of the many back stories of this NFL final four is the possibility of the Chiefs repeating as Super Bowl champs-a feat that hasn’t happened in forever. I’d argue the Chiefs (or another NFL team in the near future) has a better chance of winning back-to-back titles than an MLB team winning back-to-back World Series.
I think most fans and experts would agree that Mahomes hasn’t been the reason the Chiefs haven’t done so yet. The variance in a top quarterback’s performance isn’t as great as the typical starting pitcher on a competitive team.
I think the Yankees of the late 90’s got me looking at World Series champs to see if they could repeat the following season, and maybe more importantly if they were built for sustained excellence. It turns out the Yankees were the outliers and every champ since then, has been a one-hit wonder. The Giants went on a nice run winning in 2010, ’12, and ’14, but failed to make the postseason the following seasons.
The Cubs and Phillies both were competitive in the seasons after winning (in ’16 and ’08 respectively, but really were heading down a steep slope to nowhere. After the Braves won it all in 2021, I thought they had what it would take to repeat especially since Ronald Acuna Jr,’s last game that season was July 10. I naturally assumed that with a healthy Acuna, they would have to be even better, but they weren’t.
Without picking on him, Charlie Morton is the current poster boy for starting pitcher-variance. He was excellent for the 2017 Astros and 2021 Braves and less so in bigger moments for other teams. He was God awful against the Phillies in the 2022 NLDS. I’m not blaming him for the loss as other pitchers weren’t as great as they were the previous season or weren’t available.
One has to consider the 15+ position players that contribute to the championship and wonder if they merely had a career year, or really are trending in the right direction. It’s almost 3pm CT and I have no idea if the Chiefs’ fate has been sealed yet or not.
As well constructed as they are and as ready as they are to spend big bucks, the Dodgers have only won it all twice since 1988 and last won in 2020 (so they aren’t repeating any sooner than 2025.
As promising as the Rangers position players appear to be, their pitching is a question mark, despite the acquisition of some new talent. As exciting as that WS title was for Ranger fans, I’m sure they’re expecting and rooting for sustained success.
