Throughout the long, long history of Major League Baseball, there have been franchises who have withstood the test of time.

Teams like the New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, and Los Angeles Dodgers have, for the most part, been the top franchises in the league.

While the Cardinals might have slipped a little bit in the past few years, their history runs deep with winning. The Yankees have plenty of World Series rings to flash around over the past quarter century, too.

Yet even the Yankees haven't been baseball's sparkling diamond in the rough, so to speak, all the time.

That title and position now belong solely to the Dodgers. At least, that's the way it's being presented in an article looking at MLB's top franchises.

In a new article published by The Athletic on Thursday, March 12, the Dodgers are the No. 1 franchise in the MLB world. Now, the rankings in this article were based on a points system used by MLB Senior Writer Stephen J. Nesbitt.

"Back-to-back champs," Nesbitt wrote. "Three World Series in six years. Five pennants in nine years. Thirteen consecutive postseason berths. The Dodgers have finally taken their rightful place at No. 1.

"The best team in baseball somehow got better this winter, signing the top free-agent hitter, Kyle Tucker, and the top closer on the market, Edwin Díaz," Nesbitt continued. "Their dominance shows no signs of slowing, with Tucker plugged into a lineup already featuring Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.

"According to our scoring system, the Dodgers aren’t just the runaway team of the decade; they are now the gold standard of the last quarter-century," Nesbitt wrote.

Look at this playoff run the Dodgers have been on in the past 25 years. They reached the National League Division Series in 2004 and 2006; the National League Championship Series in 2008, 2009, and 2013.

Additionally, NLDS appearances in 2014 and 2015; another NLCS appearance in 2016; World Series losses in 2017 and 2018; another NLDS appearance in 2019; World Series champions in 2020; NLCS appearance in 2021; NLDS in 2022 and 2023; and World Series champions in 2024 and 2025.

That's quite a run for an organization that goes back to its time in Brooklyn, New York. Longtime Dodgers fans might look at this as a true post-Tommy Lasorda run, one where Dave Roberts led the ballclub through a heck of a run.

It's no secret that Los Angeles has a ton of money to spend on players. The franchise has made incredible strides in carefully choosing who would help them continue this run of success.

Because of where the Dodgers have placed themselves in the pantheon of the baseball world, the franchise is now getting its flowers.

Some well-deserved flowers, indeed.

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