1989 World Series

The 1989 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1989 season. The 86th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Oakland Athletics and the National League (NL) champion San Francisco Giants. The Series ran from October 14 through October 28, with the Athletics sweeping the Giants in four games. It was the first World Series sweep since 1976, when the Cincinnati Reds swept the New York Yankees.

This marked the third all-California World Series matchup, as well as the fourth World Series matchup, and first since 1913, between the Athletics and Giants. The previous three matchups occurred when the Giants were in New York and the Athletics resided in Philadelphia. The then New York Giants defeated the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1905 World Series four games to one, the Athletics defeating the Giants in the 1911 World Series four games to two, and then again in the 1913 Fall Classic four games to one. The series would be historic in other ways as well: the 76-year gap between matchups was the longest in World Series history, a record this World Series would hold until 2018 when the Red Sox and Dodgers met for their first World Series meeting in 102 years; it also marked the first time two franchises had faced off in the World Series after having once played each other when both were based in a different city. As of 2026, this is the last time in which two teams from the same state met in the World Series back-to-back, and it was the first time that it had occurred since the Yankees and Dodgers met in the World Series in 1955 and 1956.

Fay Vincent, who had just taken over as the commissioner of baseball after the sudden death of his predecessor Bart Giamatti in September, presided over his first World Series and dedicated it to his predecessor's memory.

This Series was also known as the "Bay Bridge Series," "BART Series," "Battle of the Bay," and "Earthquake Series"; the two participant cities lie on opposite sides of San Francisco Bay, connected by the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge and the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system, and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred before the start of Game 3. It was the first cross-town World Series (involving two teams from the same metropolitan area) since 1956, and only the third such series that did not involve New York City (the 1906 and 1944 World Series, which featured matchups between the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Browns respectively, were the others). Until 2023, this marked the last time that consecutive championships were won by different teams from the same state.

Prior to the start of Game 3 on October 17, at about 5:04 PM PDT, the Loma Prieta earthquake struck, damaging Oakland and San Francisco (particularly the Cypress Street Viaduct in the former and the Marina District in the latter) as well as the Bay Bridge's upper deck. Candlestick Park in San Francisco suffered damage to its upper deck as pieces of concrete fell from the baffle at the top of the stadium and the power was knocked out. The game was postponed out of concerns for the safety of everyone in the ballpark as well as the loss of power. The series resumed on October 27 and finished the next day.

At the time, October 28 was the latest end date ever for a World Series, tying the 1981 World Series and surpassing the 1986 World Series by one day, even though the 1989 series only lasted the minimum four games. Had the Series run the full seven games, it would have ended on October 31 or November 1, potentially extending the season into November for the first time in history.

This was the third all-California World Series (1974, 1988). The San Francisco Giants won the NL West division by three games over the San Diego Padres, then defeated the Chicago Cubs four games to one in the National League Championship Series. The Oakland Athletics won the AL West division by seven games over the Kansas City Royals, then defeated the Toronto Blue Jays four games to one in the American League Championship Series.

It was the Giants' first World Series appearance since 1962, while the Athletics were playing in their second straight Fall Classic following the 1988 Series.