Category: Brain Teasers

Trivia: What is the only current MLB team to never play in a World Series?

Chicago White Sox
Tampa Bay Rays
Detroit Tigers
Seattle Mariners

Correct Answer: Seattle Mariners

So why is this answer correct? : Of the 30 current MLB teams — 15 in the American League and 15 in the National League — only the Seattle Mariners have never appeared in a World Series. Seattle has been home to some of the game’s biggest superstars through the years, including Ken Griffey Jr., Felix Hernandez, and Alex Rodriguez, but it has also played host to some of the most disappointing moments. In 2001, for example, the Mariners tied the MLB record for single-season wins (116), but lost to the Yankees in the ALCS.

Trivia: What team swept the Oakland A’s in four games in the 1990 World Series?

Boston Red Sox
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
San Francisco Giants

Correct Answer: Cincinnati Reds

So why is this answer correct? : As of 2021, there have been a total of 21 World Series sweeps. One of the most famous happened in 1990, when the Cincinnati Reds took the title in a four-game sweep against the defending champion Oakland A’s, who had won in a four-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants the previous year. More than three decades after Cincinnati’s surprise victory — the franchise’s fifth and most recent World Series win — fans still refer to that Reds team as “the Big Red Machine.”

Trivia: What team ended a 107-year championship drought with a win in 2016?

Atlanta Braves
Chicago Cubs
San Francisco Giants
New York Mets

Correct Answer: Chicago Cubs

So why is this answer correct? : After a thrilling Game 7 — which included a leadoff homer, an extra inning, and a rain delay — the Chicago Cubs triumphed over the Cleveland Indians to win their first World Series since 1908. Their 107-year run without a championship was the longest title drought in MLB history, so the 2016 celebration was appropriately massive. An estimated 5 million people attended the official victory parade in November, making that event one of the largest gatherings in human history.

Trivia: Who pitched the only perfect game in World Series history?

Bob Gibson
Cy Young
Lefty Grove
Don Larsen

Correct Answer: Don Larsen

So why is this answer correct? : When New York Yankees pitcher Don Larsen took the mound against the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series, he was nearing the end of his fourth MLB season. His career to that point had been unremarkable, but on that day, October 8, 1956, he did what no one else had done before — or has done since — and pitched the first (and so far only) perfect game in World Series history. Twenty-seven batters from the Dodgers’ star lineup stepped up to the plate, only to return to the dugout without a hit or even a walk. The Yankees won 2-0.

Trivia: Who won Major League Baseball’s first modern World Series in 1903?

New York Giants
Pittsburgh Pirates
Boston Americans
Chicago Cubs

Correct Answer: Boston Americans

So why is this answer correct? : The Boston Americans, later renamed the Boston Red Sox, represented the American League against the National League champion Pittsburgh Pirates in the first modern World Series in 1903. Game 1 was played on October 1 of that year; Pittsburgh won easily by a score of 7-3, but Boston bounced back in the next game. The Americans ended up taking the best-of-nine series in eight games, five to three, becoming MLB’s first official world champions.

Trivia: The World Series MVP Award is named for what Hall of Famer?

Willie Mays
Hank Aaron
Johnny Bench
Joe DiMaggio

Correct Answer: Willie Mays

So why is this answer correct? : The Willie Mays Most Valuable Player Award is named for one of the all-time greats of the game. A Hall of Fame center fielder, Mays played in four World Series during his 22-year MLB career with the New York/San Francisco Giants and the New York Mets. In 2015, Mays was honored as one of baseball’s “Greatest Living Players” with Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench, and Sandy Koufax. Later that year, he received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from then-President Barack Obama.

Trivia: What player holds the record for most World Series home runs?

Pablo Sandoval
Willie Stargell
Mickey Mantle
Reggie Jackson

Correct Answer: Mickey Mantle

So why is this answer correct? : Mickey Mantle, one of the best-known players in baseball history, hit 536 home runs in his nearly two-decade-long career. A record 18 of those homers came in his 12 World Series appearances, which led to him taking home seven championship rings. A leader among switch hitters, Mantle claimed to be a better right-handed batter, but ultimately hit 372 of his career home runs from the left side.

Trivia: What team has the most World Series appearances?

Los Angeles Dodgers
New York Yankees
Boston Red Sox
St. Louis Cardinals

Correct Answer: New York Yankees

So why is this answer correct? : The New York Yankees are the team to beat in the World Series: They’ve made a whopping 40 appearances in the Fall Classic, with their first in 1921. They lost that series, and the one after, but there’s no other franchise like the Yankees when it comes to World Series wins. They’re the only team to have won more than three consecutive championships, and they did it twice, winning four times from 1936 to 1939, and five times from 1949 to 1953.

Trivia: The World Series is the championship of what professional sports league?

NFL
NHL
MLB
NBA

Correct Answer: MLB

So why is this answer correct? : The World Series has served as Major League Baseball’s championship event since its inception in 1903. This series determines the better team between the winners of the American and National leagues. Since 1903, there have been two occasions where the World Series didn’t occur: first in 1905, when the New York Giants refused to play Boston, and in 1994, due to a labor strike.

What was the name of the Romanian secret police force that kept Nicolae Ceausescu in power until 1989, when some of its disaffected members participated in his overthrow?

Securitate
Stasi
Sigurimi
Urzad Bezpieczenstwa
NKVD

Correct Answer: Securitate