I found this this article showing the closest four-game sweeps. There have been three that had a total margin of victory of six runs. So. . .
What was the most lopsided four-game sweep?
What was the closest seven-game series? (The ultimate answer would be where all seven games were decided by one run.)
I could dig thru the records and find this myself, but I figured some baseball expert might know these immediately.
Most lop-sided with a twist.
1960 World Series
Yankees out-score Pirates 55-27
Yankees out-hit Pirates 91-60
Yankees out-hit Pirates .338 to .256
Yankees lost
Closest 7 game could be 1991 between Twins and Braves. Five games were 1 run games. Three were extra inning. Five had a team score the winning run in their last at bat.
Game 1: 5-2 Twins
Game 2: 3-2 Twins - Twins take lead in bottom of 8th and hold in 9th
Game 3: 5-4 Braves in 12 innings
Game 4: 3-2 Braves - Braves score winning run in bottom of 9th
Game 5: 14-5 Braves
Game 6: 4-3 Twins in 11 innings - Kirby!!!
Game 7: 1-0 Twins in 10 innings
Edit: Add a link.
As much as it pains me to say it, 1989 might have been the most lopsided WS ever. The A’s outscored the Giants 32-14 and won every game by 3 runs or more.
I would stick an asterisk of sorts on it, since the earthquake meant the A’s were able to reset their rotation with their 2 great frontline starters, but the score remains.
Another close 7-game series in 1975 (BOS-CIN):
Game 1: 6-0
Game 2: 3-2
Game 3: 5-6 in 10
Game 4: 5-4
Game 5: 2-6
Game 6: 7-6 in 12
Game 7: 3-4, winning run in the 9th
Also five 1-run games. Probably doesn’t beat '91, though.
In the 1966 World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers quickly fell behind in Game 1, losing 4-0 in the top of the second. But they scored a run in each of the second and third to make it 4-2.
They did not score another run for the rest of the World Series.
runner pat and mcgato are exactly, precisely, beyond a doubt, wonderfully basebally right.
The most lopsided world series,in terms of one team outscoring another, was 2007. Boston Red Sox scored 29 runs vs 10 by the Colorado Rockies. To most baseball fans, the most memorable thing was Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriquez announcing he was voiding his contract while game 4 was still being played.
1989 and 1932 featured 18 run differentials.
6 of 7 games were decided by 1 run. The only exception was a game-6 Cincinnati 8-1 win. Despite losing, Cincinnati outscored Oakland 21-16. 7 games, 5 run differential. Not the smallest differential, but certainly the most 1-run games.
If Mariano Rivera could have held a 9th-inning lead in the 2001 series, the Yankees would have been on the other side of the coin; aside from their one-run win in game 7, the Diamondbacks got their other three wins by a combined 28 to 3; the Yankees’ three wins in the series were all by one run.
2007 had a couple one-run games, though. In 1989, the closest game was decided by 3 runs (as markdash mentioned above); 1928 (Yankees-Cardinals) is the only other year that happened, though the total margin that year was 14.
Looking at other numbers, in 1928 the Cardinals only led for four innings of the series; the Rockies held a lead for 3 innings in 2007; in 1989 the Giants didn’t lead for a single inning, and were only tied (including 0-0) for 2 innings the entire series.
So it looks like 1989 might actually be the least competitive World Series on record.
(Not sure about 7 game LCS’s).
Which team is which in your format above? If it’s Boston on the left and Cinci on the right, then Boston won 4 games, but played a 7th game?
http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1975_WS.shtml
B 6, C 0
B 2, C 3
B 5, C 6
B 5, C 4
B 2, C 6
B 7, C 6
B 3, C 4
B (3-4): 30, C (4-3): 29
The 2012 Series would be in the middle of their list based on the margin, but it seems like it was pretty lopsided to me: the Giants’ total margin was 10 runs, 16 to 6, but they scored more than twice as many runs as the Tigers did, trailed for a total of only two innings (early in game four), and shut out the Tigers for 20 consecutive innings spanning games two and three and the start of game four.
Some people may go by stats, but as a Yankee fan…
The 1976 World Series, in which the Reds walloped my Yanks, sure FELT like the most lopsided World Series ever. The Reds could do no wrong and the Yanks could do no right.