City of Angels is City of Titles

Jesse Spector|published: Sun 13th February, 22:01 2022

Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams reacts following a fourth down stop during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LVI against the Cincinnati Bengals at SoFi Stadium on February 13, 2022. source: Getty Images

The Rams have made history by joining the Colts and Raiders as the only franchises to win the Super Bowl representing different cities, but they’ve also accomplished something just for Los Angeles.

By besting Cincinnati in the Super Bowl, 23-20, L.A. has completed a grand slam for the 21st century: championships in all four of North America’s top sports leagues.

The Lakers got things going with their 2000-02 three-peat, then added titles in 2009, 2010, and 2020. The Kings have won the Stanley Cup twice, while the Dodgers won the 2020 World Series, and even the Angels and Ducks chipped in with a championship apiece from Anaheim to pad the market’s total.

The Rams make it 12 championships for L.A. teams across the NFL, NBA, NHL, and Major League Baseball since 2000, tying Boston for the lead since the turn of the century. Beantown only has one team in each sport, but also has had all four sports the entire time — the Rams only came home from St. Louis in 2016, with the Chargers coming up from San Diego the next year. (LA breaks the tie if you count the WNBA’s Sparks, who won three titles, but Boston doesn’t have an WNBA team.)

Boston became the first city this century to win all four major championships when the Bruins won the Stanley Cup in 2011, joining the Patriots (2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016, 2018), Red Sox (2004, 2007, 2013, 2018), and Celtics (2008).

Who’s next in the club? New York is the closest, but it’ll take the Big Apple snagging an NBA crown, and the Knicks are the Knicks while the Nets are quickly turning into one of history’s great what-if teams.

Here’s how the four-sport markets stack up since 2000.

New York/New Jersey: 2 Stanley Cups, 2 Super Bowls, 2 World Series

San Francisco/Oakland: 3 NBA titles, 3 World Series

Chicago: 3 Stanley Cups, 1 World Series

Miami: 3 NBA titles, 1 World Series

Detroit: 2 Stanley Cups, 1 NBA title

Denver: 1 Stanley Cup, 1 Super Bowl

Philadelphia: 1 Super Bowl, 1 World Series

Washington: 1 Stanley Cup, 1 World Series

Dallas: 1 NBA title

Phoenix: 1 World Series

Minneapolis-St. Paul: 0

One other city has titles in three of the four major leagues this century: St. Louis, with the Cardinals, the Blues, and the Rams, who won Super Bowl XXXIV on January 30, 2000.