As Cliff requested, here are the worst ten postseason series based on combined team record per playoff era.

First, before the advent of the League Championship Series, i.e., pre-1969. You'll note that aside from a couple of clunkers, these are pretty good teams. That's what happens when you only let two teams into the postseason:

Next the middle era, 1969 to 1993 when there were four playoffs teams, two per league, and two rounds (LCS and World Series) of playoffs (except for the strike shortened 1981 season when we had basically the current system of eight teams albeit decided by split season). You'll note a dropoff around here:

So how did the average series change over time? Here are the average per playoff era and round:

The quality of World Series teams has dropped dramatically as the number of playoff teams has expanded. This is may be due to lower caliber teams —based on regular season records— slipping farther into the postseason. There are, of course, other factors such as improved competitive balance (due to free agency, the draft, etc.) and a lower threshold to reach the playoffs in the first place—why invest to win 100 games when 90 will get you to the postseason?

Still, better teams tend to go further into the postseason though the combined winning percentage difference between each round is getting smaller.

Now, let's look at the average per era. You'll note that the difference between the last two eras is less than one would expect:

Finally, here are the averages per playoff round. Again expanding to 8 teams has not tended to weaken the field substantially, That was accomplished when they opened Pandora's box by adding divisional play in 1969:

I never expected that the arguments against the wild card and an additional round of playoffs would boil down to a matter of preference, but Selig be damned, it has not been the bane that I anticipated.

Now the best-of-five playoff series, that's another story…

As for Cliff's other question, it's odd to see Larry Bowa in a Dodgers uniform, but probably equally odd to see Davey Lopes in a Phillies uni. How about Zimmer as a Ray?