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Lordandmaster -> Vote for the best baseball team of all time! (6/19/2007 5:12:43 PM)
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Here are your choices:
1902 Pirates. Despite a stunning 103-36 record (.741 winning percentage), this team had a bunch of guys no one remembers except for pitcher Jack Chesbro. (Real aficionados have heard of Tommy Leach, their third baseman.) Still, it's hard to argue with that won-loss record. There was no World Series in 1902.
1907 Cubs. 107-45 regular-season record (.704), and a 4-1 World Series win over the Detroit Tigers. Some people say the 1906 Cubs, with a 116-36 record (.763), were even better, but I'm picking 1907 as the best of the Tinker-Evers-Chance years, because the 1906 team lost to the White Sox in the World Series. The 1906-8 Cubs also had the best pitching staff in baseball history. I really don't think anyone else is close.
1927 Yankees. 110-44 (.714), and a Series sweep of the Pirates. I reckon you know about this team, so I won't say too much about it. Murderers' Row.
1929 Athletics. 104-46 (.693), and 4-1 WS win over the Cubs. People forget about this team, but you won't believe how many top-flight Hall-of-Famers they had: Mickey Cochrane, Jimmy Foxx, Al Simmons, Lefty Grove, and some damned good players like Maxie Bishop and Eddie Rommel.
1939 Yankees. 106-45 (.702), and a Series sweep of the Reds. The best of the DiMaggio teams by far. Who was the weakest starter on this team? Tough call--maybe Frankie Crosetti, and he was damned good.
1961 Yankees. 109-53 (.673), and a 4-1 Series win over the Reds. A sentimental favorite because of the M&M boys, but not my pick. But do you know that their catchers together hit 60 HR's?
1975 Reds. 108-54 (.667), and an epic 4-3 win over Boston in the World Series. The best of the Big Red Machine teams, but also not my pick for best of all time.
1986 Mets. 108-54 (.667), and another epic 4-3 win over Boston in the World Series. An amazing pitching staff, but not my pick either. Clearly the best team of the 80's though.
1998 Yankees. 114-48 (.704), 11-2 playoff record, and a Series sweep over the Padres. This team was 92-30 before coasting the rest of the way. Probably only Jeter and Rivera are going to be Hall-of-Famers from this group, but an opposing player put it best that year (and I'm kicking myself for not writing down at the time who it was): "If you score six runs a game and give up four, you're going to have a way-above-average chance of winning every game you play."
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