January 23, 201313 yr I agree the bullpens seem to be the hardest to quantify. The articles give his reasoning and some relevant stats. There were others in the pens, I just listed the ones mentioned most prominently. Gotcha. (Didn't read the articles) Thought he was just comparing just those particular individuals you had listed.
January 24, 201313 yr Top 10 Rotations 10. 1905 Philadelphia Athletics: Eddie Plank, Rube Waddell, Chief Bender, Andy Coakley 9. 1939 New York Yankees: Red Ruffing, Lefty Gomez, Atley Donald, Monte Pearson, Bump Hadley 8. 1948 Cleveland Indians: Bob Lemon, Bob Feller, Gene Bearden, Sam Zoldak, Don Black 7. 1971 Baltimore Orioles: Mike Cuellar, Pat Dobson, Jim Palmer, Dave McNally 6. 1986 Houston Astros: Nolan Ryan, Mike Scott, Bob Knepper, Jim DeShaies 5. 1907 Chicago Cubs: Mordecai Brown, Ed Ruelbach, Carl Lundgren, Jake Pfeister 4. 1954 Cleveland Indians: Early Wynn, Bob Lemon, Bob Feller, Mike Garcia, Art Houtteman 3. 2011 Philadelphia Phillies: Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt, Joe Blanton 2. 1966 Los Angeles Dodgers: Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Claude Osteen, Don Sutton 1. 1997 Atlanta Braves: Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Denny Neagle Thoughts? Here's the link to the article where he gives his reasoning behind the rankings and his honorable mentions etc. Again, you have to be an ESPN Insider to read the whole article. Top 10 Rotations Doesn't the Orioles rotation in 1971 need to be higher? I believe all four guys won 20 or more games that year. I believe it has never been done before or since.
January 24, 201313 yr Top 10 Infields 10. 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers:1B Gil Hodges, 2B Jackie Robinson, SS Pee Wee Reese, 3B Billy Cox 9. 1930 New York Giants: 1B Bill Terry, 2B Hughie Critz, SS Travis Jackson, 3B Freddie Lindstrom 8. 1996 Baltimore Orioles: 1B Rafael Palmeiro, 2B Roberto Alomar, SS Cal Ripken and 3B B.J. Surhoff 7. 1971 Baltimore Orioles: 1B Boog Powell, 2B Davey Johnson, SS Mark Belanger, 3B Brooks Robinson 6. 1982 Milwaukee Brewers: 1B Cecil Cooper, 2B Jim Gantner, SS Robin Yount and 3B Paul Molitor 5. 1914 Philadelphis Athletics: 1B Stuffy McKinnis, 2B Eddie Collins, SS Jack Barry, 3B Home Run Baker 4. 2009 Tampa Bay Rays: 1B Carlos Pena, 2B Ben Zobrist, SS Jason Bartlett, 3B Evan Longoria 3. 1999 New York Mets: 1B John Olerud, 2B Edgardo Alfonzo, SS Rey Ordonez, 3B Robin Ventura 2. 2009 New York Yankees: 1B Mark Teixeira, 2B Robinson Cano, SS Derek Jeter and 3B Alex Rodriguez 1. 1976 Cincinnati Reds: 1B Tony Perez, 2B Joe Morgan, SS Davey Concepcion, 3B Pete Rose Thoughts? Here's the link to the article where he gives his reasoning behind the rankings and his honorable mentions etc. Again, you have to be an ESPN Insider to read the whole article. Top 10 Infields Duh...Of course they are #1 :lol: I grew up listening to the Big Red Machine in the 70's, I don't think I would ever go against them. Add Bench behind the play and that is one incredible infield.
January 24, 201313 yr Top 10 Infields 10. 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers:1B Gil Hodges, 2B Jackie Robinson, SS Pee Wee Reese, 3B Billy Cox 9. 1930 New York Giants: 1B Bill Terry, 2B Hughie Critz, SS Travis Jackson, 3B Freddie Lindstrom 8. 1996 Baltimore Orioles: 1B Rafael Palmeiro, 2B Roberto Alomar, SS Cal Ripken and 3B B.J. Surhoff 7. 1971 Baltimore Orioles: 1B Boog Powell, 2B Davey Johnson, SS Mark Belanger, 3B Brooks Robinson 6. 1982 Milwaukee Brewers: 1B Cecil Cooper, 2B Jim Gantner, SS Robin Yount and 3B Paul Molitor 5. 1914 Philadelphis Athletics: 1B Stuffy McKinnis, 2B Eddie Collins, SS Jack Barry, 3B Home Run Baker 4. 2009 Tampa Bay Rays: 1B Carlos Pena, 2B Ben Zobrist, SS Jason Bartlett, 3B Evan Longoria 3. 1999 New York Mets: 1B John Olerud, 2B Edgardo Alfonzo, SS Rey Ordonez, 3B Robin Ventura 2. 2009 New York Yankees: 1B Mark Teixeira, 2B Robinson Cano, SS Derek Jeter and 3B Alex Rodriguez 1. 1976 Cincinnati Reds: 1B Tony Perez, 2B Joe Morgan, SS Davey Concepcion, 3B Pete Rose Thoughts? Here's the link to the article where he gives his reasoning behind the rankings and his honorable mentions etc. Again, you have to be an ESPN Insider to read the whole article. Top 10 Infields Hard to imagine that some of the late 20's Yankee Infields didn't make this list... example 1928 Yankees Infield Gerhig .374 47hr 1.115OPS Lazzari .332 .932 OPS Koenig .319 Dugan .276 Pretty good numbers not to make top 10
January 24, 201313 yr Pitching rotation, check out the 1968 Cardinals: 1968 St. Louis Cardinals Batting, Pitching, & Fielding Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com That's the year Gibson had the 1.12 ERA. The four main starters were Gibson, Nelson Briles, Steve Carlton and Ray Washburn. All four had ERA's under 3.00. Another one to look at is the 1986 Mets: http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYM/1986.shtml Gooden, Darling, Ojeda, Fernandez and Aguilera. Better than the Astros staff he has listed IMO.
January 25, 201313 yr Author He released the his final two rankings. The first one is top lineup. He ranked these strictly from an offensive standpoint. Not necessarily how they finished in the standings or anything. Top 10 Lineups 10. 1930 St. Louis Cardinals: Only National League team to ever score more than 1000 runs. 9. 1996 Colorado Rockies: 961 runs scored, 3 hitters with 40 or more homers. Hit 221 homers and stole 201 bases as a team. 8. 1927 New York Yankees: Ruth hit 60 homers, Gehrig had 117 extra-base hits. The team slugged .489, second best all-time. 7. 1996 Seattle Mariners: 993 runs scored. OPS of .850 as a team. 6. 1998 New York Yankees: 965 runs scored, team OBP of .364/ 5. 1959 Boston Red Sox: 1027 runs scored, team batting average of .302. 4. 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers: 955 runs scored, team slugging percentage of .474. 3. 1936 New York Yankees: 1065 runs scored, team batting average of .300. 2. 1995 Cleveland Indians: 844 runs scored (in 144 games), team OPS of .839. Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez hit 6th and 7th respectively. 1. 1931 New York Yankees: 1067 runs scored, team batting average of .297. Thoughts? Here's the link to the article where he gives his reasoning behind the rankings and his honorable mentions etc. Again, you have to be an ESPN Insider to read the whole article. Top 10 Lineups
January 25, 201313 yr Author Here's his ranking of the top 10 teams of all time: 10. 1993 Toronto Blue Jays: Won back to back World Series, had the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishers for the batting title. 95-67, World Series Champions. 9. 1986 New York Mets: run differential of 205. 108-54, World Series Champions. 8. 1907 Chicago Cubs: Won the National League by 17 games. Run differential of 181 in the dead ball era. 107-45, World Series Champions. 7. 1984 Detroit Tigers: Started the season 35-5. 104-58, World Series Champions. 6. 1929 Philadelphia Athletics: Run differential of 286. 104-46, World Series Champions. 5. 1975 Cincinnati Reds: Won the National League West by 20 games. Run differential of 254. 108-54, World Series Champions. 4. 1927 New York Yankees: Babe Ruth's 60 homers were more than any other Americal League team. Run differential of 376. 110-44, World Series Champions. 3. 1970 Baltimore Orioles: Led Americal League in Runs Scored and Team ERA. Run differential of 218. 108-54, World Series Champions. 2. 1939 New York Yankees: Team ERA was 1.31 runs better than the Americal League average--best in league history. Run differential of 411, 106-45 World Series Champions. 1. 1998 New York Yankees: Their run differential of of 309 is the highest since the end of World War II. Only one other team since then has reached 300--the 2001 Seattle Mariners. 114-48, World Series Champions. Thoughts? Here's the link to the article where he gives his reasoning behind the rankings and his honorable mentions etc. Again, you have to be an ESPN Insider to read the whole article. Top 10 Teams
January 28, 201313 yr Author I thought for sure that the Reds fans would be up in arms over the 1975 team only being 5th on the list of best teams.
January 28, 201313 yr I thought for sure that the Reds fans would be up in arms over the 1975 team only being 5th on the list of best teams.I can live with them being 5th, but I think the 76 team should have been 6th. Honestly I would move 27 Yankees to 3rd, Reds to 4th and drop Orioles to 5th.
January 30, 201313 yr Which modern day Yankee rotation would you have in there? Most of those Yankee teams were driven by offense and bullpens. Bob Knepper went 17-12 with a 3.14 ERA in 258 innings that season. Jim DeShaies was 12-5 with a 3.25 ERA in 144 innings. Both had better numbers that season than Ryan. Nolan Ryan was 12-8 with a 3.34 ERA in 178 innnings. And while they didn't win the World Series they lost one of the more memorable playoff series in recent memories to one of the greatest teams of the last 30 years to the New York Mets. Had their bullpen held on in Game 6 they would have had Mike Scott going in Game 7 after he had dominated the Mets in his first two starts. I would put that 1986 Mets rotation in ahead of any of the modern day Yankee rotations. Which put the #2,3,4 in that rotation, pitching half their games in the Astrodome a tick above league average. I'll pass on that Astros 86 rotation on any top 10 all time list. That's ludicrous.
January 30, 201313 yr Pitching rotation, check out the 1968 Cardinals: 1968 St. Louis Cardinals Batting, Pitching, & Fielding Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com That's the year Gibson had the 1.12 ERA. The four main starters were Gibson, Nelson Briles, Steve Carlton and Ray Washburn. All four had ERA's under 3.00. Another one to look at is the 1986 Mets: 1986 New York Mets Batting, Pitching, & Fielding Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com Gooden, Darling, Ojeda, Fernandez and Aguilera. Better than the Astros staff he has listed IMO. Agreed, the 86 Mets rotation was heads above the Astros.
January 30, 201313 yr He released the his final two rankings. The first one is top lineup. He ranked these strictly from an offensive standpoint. Not necessarily how they finished in the standings or anything. Top 10 Lineups 10. 1930 St. Louis Cardinals: Only National League team to ever score more than 1000 runs. 9. 1996 Colorado Rockies: 961 runs scored, 3 hitters with 40 or more homers. Hit 221 homers and stole 201 bases as a team. 8. 1927 New York Yankees: Ruth hit 60 homers, Gehrig had 117 extra-base hits. The team slugged .489, second best all-time. 7. 1996 Seattle Mariners: 993 runs scored. OPS of .850 as a team. 6. 1998 New York Yankees: 965 runs scored, team OBP of .364/ 5. 1959 Boston Red Sox: 1027 runs scored, team batting average of .302. 4. 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers: 955 runs scored, team slugging percentage of .474. 3. 1936 New York Yankees: 1065 runs scored, team batting average of .300. 2. 1995 Cleveland Indians: 844 runs scored (in 144 games), team OPS of .839. Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez hit 6th and 7th respectively. 1. 1931 New York Yankees: 1067 runs scored, team batting average of .297. Thoughts? Here's the link to the article where he gives his reasoning behind the rankings and his honorable mentions etc. Again, you have to be an ESPN Insider to read the whole article. Top 10 Lineups That "vaunted" 1930 Cards offense had 1/2 it's starters OPS+ under 90. You can't rank teams strictly by numbers, you have to take the era they played in into consideration. Olney fails miserably in that regard.
January 30, 201313 yr Author That "vaunted" 1930 Cards offense had 1/2 it's starters OPS+ under 90. You can't rank teams strictly by numbers, you have to take the era they played in into consideration. Olney fails miserably in that regard. 1000 runs is 1000 runs. Especially given that the lack of homeruns in that era drove slugging percentages down for league wide. Why didn't the juiced NL lineups of the past 20 years break the 1000 run barrier?
February 18, 201313 yr An infield that I would have included (in addition to the Dodgers' infield that Clyde referenced) was the 1987 Cardinals: Jack Clark, Tommy Herr, Ozzie Smith, and Ken Oberkfell. Truly the level of play far exceeded the sum of its parts.
February 18, 201313 yr Author An infield that I would have included (in addition to the Dodgers' infield that Clyde referenced) was the 1987 Cardinals: Jack Clark, Tommy Herr, Ozzie Smith, and Ken Oberkfell. Truly the level of play far exceeded the sum of its parts. Terry Pendleton was the 3rd Baseman on that Cardinals team, not Oberkfell.
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