Mid-summer baseball debate season: Would the 1998 Yankees actually dominate today? Or would Ohtani-era offenses turn them into a .500 team?
We ran cross-era matchups through the MyGameSim MLB Game Simulator — real season stats, full lineups, starting pitching sampled from each staff. 100 full games per matchup. No home-field advantage.
Not a video game slider. Not a Twitter poll. Here are the results that made us stop and argue.
Main event: 2025 Dodgers vs. 1998 Yankees
The setup every r/baseball thread eventually reaches: today's superteam vs. the team that won 125 games and never took a back seat to anyone.
That's it. That's the post. The sim doesn't lecture you about eras or PEDs. It plays the games. And it's basically a coin flip — with more than half the games decided by one run.
So the next time someone says the '98 Yanks would sweep any modern team, show them this. And the next time someone says today's game is so much better the Yankees wouldn't stand a chance, show them this too.
Run Dodgers vs. 1998 Yankees →
Plot twist: the 2001 Mariners don't care about your ring count
The team that won 116 games and never got a parade still causes problems in the model:
| Matchup | Avg Score | Favorite | Win % | 1-Run Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 Mariners vs. 2025 Dodgers | 4.9 – 4.6 | Mariners | 54.5% | 65.6% |
| 2025 Dodgers vs. 2001 Mariners | 5.0 – 4.7 | Dodgers | 59.9% | 60.5% |
| 2001 Mariners vs. 1998 Yankees | 5.0 – 4.7 | Mariners | 56.7% | 58.4% |
The Mariners beat the modern Dodgers and the team everyone puts on Mount Rushmore — narrowly, but consistently. Ichiro erasure is apparently still loading in 2026.
Mariners vs. 2025 Dodgers | Mariners vs. 1998 Yankees
A few more for the thread
| Matchup | Avg Score | Favorite | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 Red Sox vs. 2025 Dodgers | 4.5 – 5.0 | Dodgers | 56.6% |
| 2025 Braves vs. 1998 Yankees | 5.5 – 6.3 | Coin flip | 50.0% |
| 2025 Dodgers vs. 2001 D-backs | 5.0 – 4.4 | Dodgers | 57.0% |
The Braves–Yankees one is wild: New York scores more on average but Atlanta wins exactly half the sims. Baseball.
What we're not claiming
- This isn't proof of who'd "really" win across eras (different balls, mounds, bullpen usage, etc.)
- These are 100-game samples, not 100 seasons. Variance is real.
But that's the point. The close results are the debate. If everything came out 70–30, the thread would be boring.
Run your own
- Engine: MyGameSim play-by-play MLB simulator
- Volume: Up to 100 simulations per matchup
- Teams: Any two MLB franchises by season year (e.g.
LAD,NYY,SEA) - Date run: June 19, 2026
Drop a matchup in the comments. Some ideas: 2017 Astros vs. 1998 Yankees, your team's best season vs. the 2001 Mariners, 2025 Dodgers vs. 2004 Red Sox.
