Where there’s a Will (Smith), there’s a way: 5 straight years with a title

There are some wild stats in baseball history.

Stan Musial had 1,815 hits at home and 1,815 hits on the road during his Hall of Fame career. Khris Davis batted exactly .247 in four consecutive seasons from 2015-18. And that’s just to name a couple.

Here’s an incredible streak that was extended when the Dodgers won Game 5 of the World Series to clinch the eighth championship in franchise history on Wednesday night: a player named Will Smith won a World Series ring for a fifth consecutive year.

Dodgers catcher Will Smith won his second ring with the Game 5 win over the Yankees in New York. Smith, who belted three home runs this postseason, including one in Game 4 of the Fall Classic, won it all with the Dodgers in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign before helping them win another title on Wednesday.

But what about the seasons in between?

That gap was filled by Will Smith. No, the other Will Smith. No, not the actor — the other Will Smith in MLB.

That Will Smith is a veteran left-handed reliever who pitched for the Royals this past season. He won a World Series ring each year from 2021-23, becoming the first player in MLB history to be on the World Series roster with three teams in three consecutive years and win it all each time. He won a World Series ring with the Braves in 2021, the Astros in ’22, and the Rangers in ’23.

So make it 5-for-5 for the Will Smiths. They’re on quite a championship run.