Los Angeles' 10 Greatest Teams
Note that this includes Anaheim (Angels 1965-present, Rams 1980-94, Ducks 1993-present), Inglewood (Lakers 1967-99, Kings 1967-99, and the Rams and Chargers will start playing there in 2020), and Carson (Galaxy 2003-present).
Honorable Mention to teams of the University of Southern California (USC), the Trojans.
Honorable Mention to teams of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), the Bruins.
Football: USC claims 11 National Championships: 1928, 1931, 1932, 1939, 1962, 1967, 1972, 1974, 1978, 2003 and 2004; 38 Conference Championships, including last year's; and 25 Rose Bowl wins. UCLA claims the 1954 National Championship (as does Ohio State) 17 Conference Championships, the last in 1998; and 5 Rose Bowl wins, the last in 1986.
Basketball: It's the reverse of football, with UCLA far more successful. They have won 11 National Championships, more than any other school: 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975 (all under coach John Wooden) and 1995. They also reached the Final Four in 1962, 1974, 1976, 1980, 2006, 2007 and 2008. They've won 37 Conference Championships, most recently in 2013, and 4 Conference Tournaments. USC has made the Final Four in 1940 and 1954, won 7 Conference Championships (most recently in 1985), and won the 2009 Conference Tournament.
Baseball: USC has won 12 National Championships, more than any other school: 1948, 1958, 1961, 1963, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978 and 1998. They've made a total of 24 appearances in the College World Series, and won 38 Conference Championships. UCLA has won the 2013 National Championship, reached 5 College World Series, and won 9 Conference Championships. USC can claim Tom Seaver, but UCLA can claim Jackie Robinson, even though his best sport at UCLA as football.
Honorable Mention to the 1978-86 California Angels. The Angels -- officially, the Los Angeles Angels from 1961 to 1965, the California Angels from 1966 to 1996, the Anaheim Angels from 1997 to 2004, and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim since 2005 -- are one of the better expansion teams in MLB history. To this day, in their 58th season, they have never lost more than 95 games in a season. Only 3 times have they lost more than 92. They topped .500 in 4 of their 1st 10 seasons (1961-70), and got as high as 3rd place in 1962, '69 and '70.
In 1978, they reached 2nd in the American League Western Division. They won the Division in 1979, 1982 and 1986, just missing in 1984 and '85. But they couldn't win the AL Championship Series, looking particularly bad in blowing leads of 2-0 in '82 and 3-1 in '86. They blew a huge Division lead in 1995, losing a 1-game Playoff to the Seattle Mariners, and finished just 3 games out in 1998.
Honorable Mention to the 1983-88 Los Angeles Dodgers. In 6 seasons, they won 3 NL West titles, but only 1 Pennant. Even that 1988 Dodger team was, talent-wise, one of the weakest Pennant winners ever. Still, they shocked the Mets in the NL Championship Series, and the Oakland Athletics in the World Series.
The Dodgers missed the 1991 Division title by 1 game, were in 1st when the Strike of '94 hit, won the Division in '95, won the Wild Card in '96, and missed the Division by 2 games in '97. After that, it was time to rebuild. They won the Division in 2004, the Wild Card in '06, and the Division and the NLDS in both '08 and '09, but lost both NLCS to the Philadelphia Phillies.
They've now won 5 straight NL West titles, reached 3 NCLS in that span, and, last year, finally won another Pennant after 29 years, but lost the World Series in 7 games to the Houston Astros, just as they lost that 1980 NL West Playoff to the Astros, who moved to the American League in 2013.
Honorable Mention to the 1973-80 Los Angeles Rams. They won the NFC Western Division in each of their last 7 seasons at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and the Playoffs once more in their 1st season in Anaheim. But despite winning 12 regular-season games in 1973, '75 and '78, and reaching the NFC Championship Game in 1974, '75, '76 and '78, they only won the NFC Championship once after the 1970 merger.
That was in 1979, and belied a 9-7 regular-season record. They had to go on the road to beat both the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, earning them a berth in Super Bowl XIV at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, making them the 1st team ever to play in a Super Bowl in their own metropolitan area, though not in their own stadium. (The former has only happened once since, while the latter still hasn't.) And they were leading the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 4th quarter, but Terry Bradshaw struck, and...
And while they won another NFC West title in 1985, and reached the NFC Championship Game that season and again in 1989, they didn't reach another Super Bowl as a Los Angeles team. They moved to St. Louis in 1995, had a brief run of success from 1999 to 2004 (including winning Super Bowl XXXIV), and then fell back into mediocrity until moving back to L.A. for 2016, winning the NFC West last year. The new version of the L.A. Rams could be something big.
Honorable Mention to the 1960 Los Angeles Chargers. They won the Western Division in the 1st season of the American Football League, but lost the AFL Championship Game to the Houston Oilers.
Then they moved down the coast to San Diego, losing the AFL title game again in 1961, 1964 and 1965, but winning it in 1963. They won the AFC Western Division title in 1979, 1980, 1981, 1992, 1994, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. They reached the AFC Championship Game for the seasons of 1980, 1981, 1994 and 2007, winning it in 1994 to reach Super Bowl XXIX. Of course, none of that did Los Angeles any good.
They moved back to L.A. for 2017, going 9-7 despite playing in the soccer-specific StubHub Center in Carson, before 25,000 fans a game. And, having ceded the Rams a season's head start, they may have already blown their chance at reclaiming Southern California from the Hornheads.
Certainly, the stadium going up in Inglewood to open in 2020 is already seen by NFL fans as being the Rams' stadium, with the Chargers being relegated to second-class citizen status, as the Jets were at Giants Stadium from 1984 to 2009. We shall see.
Honorable Mention to the 1982-85 Los Angeles Raiders. "Da Raiduhs" (Los Angelenos don't have that kind of accent, but Brooklyn-born owner Al Davis did) made the Playoffs their 1st 4 seasons after arriving from Oakland, winning 3 AFC Western Division titles, and winning Super Bowl XVIII, the only Super Bowl ever won by a Los Angeles area team, and the only NFL Championship won by one since the 1951 Rams.
But after 1985, they missed the Playoffs for 4 straight seasons, before getting all the way back to the AFC West title and the AFC Championship Game in 1990. They made the Playoffs twice more, missed in 1992 and 1994, and then moved back to Oakland.
But then they made the next 6 Playoffs, in the 2012 to 2017 seasons. They won Playoff series in 2012, 2014 and 2015, but they still haven't gotten past the next round. Despite a 42-40 record, they missed the Playoffs in 2018.
Honorable Mention to the 1988-93 Los Angeles Kings. Gretzky got them to the Smythe Division Finals in 1989, 1990 and 1991, the last of these seasons being the one in which they won the 1st regular-season Division title in franchise history, in their 24th season.
Finally, in 1993, they reached the 1st Stanley Cup Finals, and were a few minutes away from going up 2 games to 0 with Games 3 and 4 in Inglewood. Of course, Marty McSorley got caught cheating, and the Kings didn't win another game until October. They never reached the Playoffs again until after Gretzky was gone.
Honorable Mention to the 2002-09 Anaheim Ducks. In 6 seasons (there was no 2004-05 season), they made the Playoffs 5 times, reached the Western Conference Semifinals 4 times, the Conference Finals 3 times, and the Stanley Cup Finals twice, losing to the New Jersey Devils in 2003 before beating the Ottawa Senators in 2007. They've made the Conference Finals twice since, in 2015 and 2017.
Honorable Mention to Los Angeles Football Club. They're a 1st-year expansion team, but they're almost certain to make the MLS Cup Playoffs, and have a shot at the Western Conference regular-season title.
Honorable Mention to the Los Angeles Wolves. They were actually Wolverhampton Wanderers of England's West Midlands, playing in America during English soccer's off-season, and won the 1st championship of the United Soccer Association in 1967. When the USA was merged with the National Professional Soccer League to form the North American Soccer League for the 1968 season, the Wolverhampton players went home, the L.A. Wolves missed the Playoffs, and they were folded.
Honorable Mention to the Los Angeles Aztecs. They only lasted 8 seasons, but in their 1st, 1974, they won the North American Soccer League title. The closest they came after that was the 1977 Semifinals, and they folded after the 1981 season. They had George Best in 1976, '77 and '78; and Johan Cruijff in 1978 and '79 -- and yet, despite having both Bestie and Cruijff, perhaps the 2 greatest players in European soccer history, in 1978, they only got to the Conference Semifinals. (Best was washed-up.)
Honorable Mention to the 1996-2002 LA Galaxy. Yes, they usually write their location signifier as "LA," no periods, instead of "Los Angeles" or even "L.A." They won the MLS Western Conference regular-season title 5 times in 7 years, finishing 2nd the other 2. They lost the MLS Cup Final in 1996, 1999 and 2001, finally winning it in 2002. In 2000, they became the 1st American team to win the CONCACAF Champions League. In 2001, they won the U.S. Open Cup.
Honorable Mention to the 2005 LA Galaxy. They won the MLS Cup in this season, but, aside from a lost U.S. Open Cup Final the next year, they didn't do much between 2003 and 2008. Signing David Beckham was sizzle, but no steak: He was over the hill, and had very little to do with their success after that.
Now, the Top 10:
10. 2002-09 Anaheim Angels/Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Finally, in 2002, it all came together. They won the AL's Wild Card, and then won their 1st Playoff series ever, beating my Yankees in the AL Division Series. They took their 1st Pennant in their 42-year history by beating the Minnesota Twins in the ALCS. And in their 1st World Series, they rode a big Game 6 comeback to beat the San Francisco Giants in 7 games. After playing second fiddle to the Dodgers for so long, the Angels were World Champions.
And then they had a losing record in 2003. They bounded back in 2004 and '05, winning the AL West both times, but got swept by the Boston Red Sox in '04 and freaked out over an apparent bad call to drop 4 straight ALCS games to the Chicago White Sox after winning Game 1. They missed the Playoffs in 2006, then won 3 straight AL West titles, but got no closer to another Pennant than a 6-game ALCS loss to the Yankees in 2009. Aside from another Division title in 2014, they haven't done so well since then.
9. 1974-81 Los Angeles Dodgers. In 8 seasons, they made the Playoffs 5 times, won the NL Western Division 4 times, won the Pennant all 4 of those times, and then smacked into Reggie Jackson and Catfish Hunter in the World Series, losing to the Oakland Athletics in 1974, and to the Yankees in 1977 and 1978.
By 1981, Catfish was retired, and Reggie, for once, did not have a good October. The Dodgers finally got over the hump. After a Playoff near-miss in 1982, they essentially retooled for 1983, which is why I'm counting the (chronologically) next good Dodger team as a separate entry.
They lost a Divisional Playoff to the Detroit Lions in 1952, and lost the Championship Game to the Browns in 1955. After that, despite going 8-4 in 1958 and 8-6 in 1966, they didn't make the Playoffs again until 1967. They went 11-1-2 that year, but lost a Playoff game to the Green Bay Packers. They were Division Champions again in 1969.
7. 1960-74 Los Angeles Lakers. They made the Playoffs in each of their 1st 14 seasons as a Los Angeles team, but it was frustrating. They reached the NBA Finals in 1962, '63, '65, '66, '68, '69 and '70, but never won. Even the end of the Boston Celtic dynasty couldn't help them, as they lost to the Knicks in 1970.
After a Conference Final loss in 1971, they finally got it done in the 1971-72 season, winning 33 straight games, still a record for a North American major league sport, and stormed through the postseason, going 12-3, including avenging their defeat to the Knicks in a 5-game Finals.
The Knicks got them back the next year, though, and after 1 more good season, the retirement of Jerry West put them into a transition. The acquisition of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975 helped, but they needed more. They would get it.
6. 2009-14 LA Galaxy. In 6 seasons, they won 3 MLS Cups (2011, '12 and '14), reached another Final (2009), won 2 Supporters' Shields for best overall regular-season record (2010 and '11), and won 1 other Western Conference regular-season title (2009).
This run of success gave them 5 MLS Cups, more than any other team. And those 5 titles are as many as the Dodgers have won since their move, as many as the Lakers have won since the Galaxy's founding in 1996, and as many as all other current L.A. area teams combined (Kings 2, Angels 1, Ducks 1, Rams 1 not counting their 1 in St. Louis, Clippers none, Chargers none).
Prior to The Trade, getting Wayne Gretzky in 1988, the Kings' best performances had been reaching the Stanley Cup Playoffs' round of 4, under whatever name, in 1969, and the round of 8 in 1968 (their 1st season), 1974, 1976, 1977 and 1982. In other words, they usually made the Playoffs, but didn't get very far.
5. 2007-13 Los Angeles Lakers. Finally, it was Kobe's team. But they didn't quite get it done in 2008, losing in the Finals to the Boston Celtics as in days of yore (1962, '63, '65, '66, '68, '69 and '84). Still, Kobe led them to back-to-back titles, making the final count Kobe 5, Shaq 4. Kobe followed with 2 more Division titles before he finally got old.
4. 2009-14 Los Angeles Kings. After 6 seasons (7 if you count the canceled 2004-05) of not making the Playoffs, they reached again in 2010. They lost in the 1st round that year and the next, but in 2012, they finally won the team's 1st Stanley Cup, in their 45th season (or 44th). Unfortunately for me, they beat my New Jersey Devils in the Finals, following some tactics that can only be described as cheating.
They lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Conference Finals in 2013, but reversed those in the 2014 Conference Finals, and then beat the New York Rangers to make it 2 Cups in 3 seasons. They've struggled since, winning only 1 Playoff game in the last 4 seasons, but I wouldn't put another Cup run past them just yet.
3. 1959-66 Los Angeles Dodgers. The Bums' 1st season in L.A., 1958, was a bad one, but it was a transition year, as some of the Brooklyn Boys of Summer finally lost their places, although Duke Snider and Gil Hodges hung on a little longer. But in 1959, they tied the Milwaukee Braves for the Pennant, won a Playoff, and then beat the Chicago White Sox for the 1st World Series ever won by a team west of St. Louis.
They weren't that close in 1960 or '61, and lost a Playoff to the San Francisco Giants in '62, shades of their New York loss of '51. But by then, Sandy Koufax had emerged as the best pitcher in baseball, and they won the Pennant going away in 1963, and swept the Yankees in the World Series. An injury to Koufax kept them from repeating in 1964, but they won it all again in 1965, and another Pennant in 1966. Then Koufax retired, and some other players fell victim to age and/or injury. By the time they got back to the postseason, it was a very different team. Still, this is the team that defines the Dodgers' West Coast experience.
2. 1999-2004 Los Angeles Lakers. The years of Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant -- and, no matter how much it might burn Kobe up, it is in that order. Which, I suppose, makes the next great Laker team Wings to these Lakers' Beatles.
You can talk about how the referees gave the Lakers the Conference Finals against Portland in 2000 or Sacramento in 2002. But the Lakers did win 3 straight NBA Championships, including 2001, when they went 15-1, losing only once to the Philadelphia 76ers in the Finals. That was appropriate, since the previous best record in an NBA Playoffs was set by the Sixers in 1983, when they went 12-1, including a sweep of the Lakers in the Finals.
After a loss in he Conference Semifinals in 2003, the Lakers went for broke in 2003-04, adding future Hall-of-Famers Karl Malone and Gary Payton. It almost worked, but the Detroit Pistons beat them in the NBA Finals. The team was then broken up, until a team could be built around Kobe, not Shaq.
1. 1979-91 Los Angeles Lakers. Add Earvin "Magic" Johnson to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and... "Showtime!" 12 seasons, 12 Playoff berths, 10 Pacific Division titles, 10 Conference Finals, 9 Western Conference Championships, and 5 NBA Championships. This may have been the greatest team in NBA history, especially the 1985 and 1987 editions of the Lakers. Certainly, it was the greatest sports team that Southern California has ever had, and up there with the 1980s San Francisco 49ers as California's greatest.