Sunday, January 11, 2015

Greatest Teams in Cities' Histories

UPDATE: Through Super Bowl LIII in February 2019, I see no reason to update any of these.

I broke it down by State. Now, by City. I'll limit this to metropolitan areas that have teams now -- American and Canadian, but not Regina or Hamilton, the cities that have only a CFL team, not one in any other sport.

Atlanta: 1995 Atlanta Braves, World Series winners.

Baltimore: 1958 Baltimore Colts, NFL Champions.

Boston: 1963 Boston Celtics, NBA Champions.

Buffalo: 1965 Buffalo Bills, AFL Champions.

Calgary: 1989 Calgary Flames, Stanley Cup Champions.

Charlotte: 2003 Carolina Panthers, NFC Champions.

Chicago: 1985 Chicago Bears, Super Bowl XX winners.

Cincinnati: 1975 Cincinnati Reds, World Series winners.

Cleveland: 1950 Cleveland Browns, NFL Champions.

Columbus: 1940 Columbus Bullies, American Football League Champions. This AFL only played in 1940 and '41, and the Bullies won both their titles. World War II put an end to their league.

Dallas: 1995 Dallas Cowboys, Super Bowl XXX Champions.

Denver: 1998 Denver Broncos, Super Bowl XXXIII winners.

Detroit: 1955 Detroit Red Wings, Stanley Cup Champions.

Edmonton: 1985 Edmonton Oilers, Stanley Cup Champions.

Houston: 1995 Houston Rockets, NBA Champions.

Indianapolis: 2006 Indianapolis Colts, Super Bowl XLI Champions.

Jacksonville: 1999 Jacksonville Jaguars, AFC Finalists.

Kansas City: 1969 Kansas City Chiefs, Super Bowl IV winners.

Los Angeles: 1987 Los Angeles Lakers, NBA Champions. Separate Anaheim: 2002 Anaheim Angels, World Series winners.

Memphis: 2013 Memphis Grizzlies, NBA Western Conference Finalists.

Miami: 1972 Miami Dolphins, Super Bowl VII winners.

Milwaukee: 1957 Milwaukee Braves, World Series winners. Separate Green Bay: 1962 Green Bay Packers, NFL Champions.

Minneapolis: 1991 Minnesota Twins, World Series winners.  

Montreal: 1979 Montreal Canadiens, Stanley Cup Champions.

Nashville: 1999 Tennessee Titans, AFC Champions. 

New Orleans: 2009 New Orleans Saints, Super Bowl XLIV Champions.

New York: 1998 New York Yankees, World Series winners. Separate Newark (standing in as the Meadowlands' "city"), 1986 New York Giants, Super Bowl XXI Champions. Separate Long Island, 1983 New York Islanders, Stanley Cup Champions.

Oklahoma City: 2012 Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA Western Conference Champions.

Orlando: 1995 Orlando Magic, NBA Eastern Conference Champions.

Ottawa: 1927 Ottawa Senators, Stanley Cup Champions. True, the 2007 Finalist Senators were probably better, but they didn't win.

Philadelphia: 1967 Philadelphia 76ers, NBA Champions.

Phoenix: 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, World Series winners.

Pittsburgh: 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers, Super Bowl XIV Champions.

Portland: 1977 Portland Trail Blazers, NBA Champions.

Raleigh: Carolina Hurricanes, 2006 Stanley Cup winners.

Sacramento: 2002 Sacramento Kings, NBA Western Conference Finalists.

St. Louis: 1967 St. Louis Cardinals, World Series winners.

Salt Lake City: 1998 Utah Jazz, NBA Western Conference Champions.

San Antonio: 2003 San Antonio Spurs, NBA Champions.

San Diego: 1963 San Diego Chargers, AFL Champions. It's the only San Diego major league team that went as far as the rules of the time allowed them to go.

San Francisco Bay Area: 1989 San Francisco 49ers, Super Bowl XXIV winners. Separate Oakland: 1973 Oakland Athletics, World Series winners. Separate San Jose:

Seattle: 1979 Seattle SuperSonics, NBA Champions.

Tampa Bay: 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Super Bowl XXXVII Champions.

Toronto: 1967 Toronto Maple Leafs, Stanley Cup Champions.

Vancouver: 1915 Vancouver Millionaires, Stanley Cup Champions. Yes, Vancouver won the Cup 100 years ago. 

Washington: 1982 Washington Redskins, Super Bowl XVII winners.

Winnipeg: 1902 Winnipeg Victorias, Stanley Cup Champions. Okay, there's little chance they could beat the current revived Jets in a best-4-out-of-7 series, let alone the 1978 Avco Cup-winning World Hockey Association Champion Jets. But they are the only Winnipeg, or even Manitoba, team to win a "world championships."

2 comments:

Paul said...

For the Islanders, I would've chosen either the 1981 or 1982 season instead of 1983. In addition to winning the cup in all of those years, they had the best regular season record in both 1981 and 1982. In 1983, they didn't even come close to doing that.

Uncle Mike said...

I was thinking of the way they plowed through the Playoffs. I also considered 1977 for the Canadiens, but in 1979 they had a rookie defenseman named Rod Langway, and that turned my head a little.