Dodgers’ elimination ends remarkable streak of players named Will Smith winning the World Series
With the Los Angeles Dodgers eliminated from the postseason, the World Series is going to look a little different this year: There won’t be any Will Smiths.
With the Dodgers’ elimination on Thursday, this year will mark the first time since 2019 that the World Series champion will not have a player named Will Smith on its roster.
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From 2020 through 2025, two different players named Will Smith were members of World Series-winning teams.
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Will Smith of the Dodgers and Will Smith of the Rangers. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images; Sam Hodde/Getty Images)
In 2020, catcher Will Smith won with the Dodgers. Then reliever Will Smith made sure the trend continued.
Reliever Smith won the World Series with the Atlanta Braves in 2021. At the trade deadline the following season, the Houston Astros acquired Smith from the Braves to fortify their bullpen. The Astros went on to win the World Series in 2022, marking three straight seasons in which a Will Smith had won it all.
After the 2022 season, the Astros declined Smith’s club option, and he became a free agent. Smith signed with the Texas Rangers ahead of the 2023 season and achieved the improbable: winning a World Series with three different teams after the Rangers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2023 Fall Classic.
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Will Smith No. 51 of the Texas Rangers celebrates in the clubhouse after Game 5 of the 2023 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix, Ariz., on Nov. 1, 2023. (Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
After the 2023 World Series, Smith signed with the Kansas City Royals. The Royals, however, were eliminated in the ALDS by the New York Yankees.
Dodgers catcher Will Smith then picked up the slack, as the Dodgers not only won the World Series in 2024, but in 2025 as well.
Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith (16) and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) celebrate after the ninth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 of baseball’s World Series in Toronto on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
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Relief pitcher Will Smith has not pitched in the major leagues since 2024, so when the Milwaukee Brewers swept the Dodgers, it put an end to the remarkable Will Smith streak.
That is, unless Oscar-winning actor Will Smith gets signed by the eventual World Series champion and joins the active roster ahead of the Fall Classic. But even that seems a little too farfetched for Hollywood.
