Wow. I have a pretty good memory to say the least (nearly photographic) and have always been a stat nut, especially when it comes to my teams and their rivals.
You're exactly right there, Fred. It would be nearly impossible today to win 4 WS in 5 years, especially coming out of today's AL East, where it is always at least a 4 team race. Even if you played in the AL Central like the Tigers, you would always have a tough time in the playoffs because you would probably end up facing the same perennial contenders. In recent years, that has been the Yankees and the Angels/Rangers, but the A's are getting up there. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that with all these playoff teams and Wild Cards, it's hard to win continuously. Think about what the Rays had to do this season. They played their final series in Toronto, flew to Dallas for game 163 the next night, then had a day off until flying to Cleveland for the WC game, and then went to Boston for the ALDS. A path like that will make it hard to ever win 4 in 5 years. Hats off to the Yanks for doing that, because even then it was hard to do.