A few days ago, MLB Daily Dish at SBNation posed an interesting question:
Below is a list of the past ten World Series winners.
2000: Yankees
2001: Diamondbacks
2002: Angels
2003: Marlins
2004: Red Sox
2005: White Sox
2006: Cardinals
2007: Red Sox
2008: Phillies
2009: Yankees
But which of these squads is the best of them all?
They concluded that the 2004 Red Sox were the best champ of the decade, followed by the ’07 Red Sox and ’08 Phillies. Meanwhile, the poll on the site had the ’09 Yankees as the runaway winner, garnering 50% of the vote. I thought it would be interesting to look at the numbers, using OPS+ as a proxy for measuring offense and ERA+ for determining run prevention.
OPS+ (Overall League Rank)
’09 Yankees 122 (1st)
’04 Red Sox 110 (3rd)
’07 Red Sox 107 (3rd)
’02 Angels 105 (8th)
’00 Yankees 103 (8th)
’08 Phillies 98 (15th)
’03 Marlins 97 (11th)
’06 Cardinals 97 (16th)
’05 White Sox 95 (17th)
’01 D-Backs 94 (19th)
ERA+ (Overall League Rank)
’05 White Sox 124 (1st)
’07 Red Sox 123 (1st)
’02 Angels 120 (3rd)
’01 D-Backs 120 (3rd)
’04 Red Sox 116 (2nd)
’08 Phillies 113 (6th)
’03 Marlins 104 (12th)
’00 Yankees 101 (15th)
’09 Yankees 100 (18th)
’06 Cardinals 98 (19th)
Wins (Overall League Rank)
’09 Yankees 103 (1st)
’05 White Sox 99 (2nd)
’02 Angels 99 (4th)
’04 Red Sox 98 (3rd)
’07 Red Sox 96 (1st)
’08 Phillies 92 (5th)
’01 D-Backs 92 (6th)
’03 Marlins 91 (7th)
’00 Yankees 87 (9th)
’06 Cardinals 83 (13th)
Let us begin with a few general observations. The ’06 Cards, and to a lesser extent, the ’03 Marlins and ’00 Yankees, had no business winning a World Series. They were mediocre teams that got hot at the right moment or ended up in the right division. Additionally, it is important to note that being a simply good regular season club does not preclude postseason greatness. The 2009 Yankees are a prime example, in that they were able to hide their pitching weakness by using just their top 3 starters, and went from a solid pitching club in the regular season to a strong pitching team in the playoffs. Finally, it does seem that the maxim about pitching winning championships is true, as only the aforementioned ’06 Cards won with a below average pitching team, while 5 clubs won with a subpar offense.
Based on the above numbers, this is how I would (unscientifically) rate the clubs:
1. ’07 Red Sox
2. ’02 Angels
T3. ’09 Yankees
T3. ’04 Red Sox
5. ’05 White Sox
6. ’08 Phillies
7. ’01 D-Backs
8. ’00 Yankees
9. ’03 Marlins
10. ’06 Cardinals
Agree? Disagree? Chime in below!
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11 Responses to Best Champion Of The Decade
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TIQ IQ
I’m biased but I have to say the 2009 Yankees simply for how they dominated the league after the All-Star break and continued to win, without too much resistance, in the playoffs.
That’s fair. The numbers clearly do not capture all the relevant elements here, and are more like a rough estimate. You can make an argument for any of the top 4 teams.
In re pitching winning in postseason: how do you explain the Braves in the 90s? If you look through all of baseball history, teams that led the league in runs scored win in postseason slightly more often than teams with the lowest ERA. I think that, just like in the regular season, it’s 50% scoring and 50% stopping the other team from scoring.
As for the rankings, the ’04 Bosox didn’t even win their division.
Just because the #1 team doesnt always win does not mean that pitching does not win. At least over the last decade, the champions have won largely due to their pitching.
As for the Red Sox, they didnt win the division yet won 98 games, 4th most among the champs. It was a factor (which is why it was a tie with the ’09 Yankees, who were 18th in MLB in pitching), but not a disqualifier.
Definitely agree on the 2007 Red Sox. That team was unstoppable.
I agree too. Now I feel dirty and I’m going to bathe with bleach and gasoline.
I think I hate the ’07 team more than the ’04 team because in addition to the insufferable Papi/Manny/Varitek/Schilling quartet are the even more insufferable Pedroia/Youkilis/Beckett/Papelbon/Drew quintet. Nothing about Papelbon is likeable. Nothing.
Totally agree. Papi and Manny didnt bother me on a personal level. The ’07 team was filled with a-holes.
Totally agree. That was a really good team (I’d put the 2009 Yankees first, then the 2007 Red Sox) and I feel gross saying that. Man, was that team full of unlikable assholes. Papelbon is the easiest player to hate in baseball and I am SO HAPPY that I don’t have to hear how he’s actually better than Mariano in the postseason because “he never gave up a run!” Youkilis is just gross. Beckett is incredibly overrated trash and Schilling is a repulsive person. So’s Varitek. And you forgot Dice-K, and this is totally unfair, but Jesus, it’s SO HARD to watch that guy pitch.
Ew, I feel gross talking about how good the 2004 and 2007 Red Sox squads were, but… it’s true. Though I never want to hear how they were just the lil’engine that could, ever again.
I feel like I’m the only Yankee fan who likes Pedroia (maybe it’s cuz I’m 4’11″ and we have a short-person comraderie?) and I don’t get the hate for Drew. I love Lester and Tim Wakefield seems like a really nice guy. I love Manny and think he’s hilarious – when he’s not playing the Yankees because he destroys us. I didn’t mind Ortiz until the steroid thing came out because who ever though A-Rod would be a bigger man than Papi?
You forgot Millar and Mueller on the 2004 squad, they were extremely easy to hate (though the 07 squad was worse).
I’d argue that the Diamondbacks were a lot like the 2009 Yankees in terms of pitching in that, because of the playoff schedule, they could make their pitching seem better than it really was. IIRC, they had Schilling and Randy Johnson giving them two absolutely amazing seasons, and then a lot of … eh. Because of the playoffs and their schedule, they were able to run out Schilling and Johnson pretty much every game. It’s probably not fair and there sure was a lot of whining when the Yankees did it, but the playoffs are always pretty much a crapshoot. I’m not saying CC, AJ, and Andy were at the level of Schilling and Johnson in 2001 but it’s the same idea.
Kinda the same with the 2003 Marlins.
The 2005 White Sox were really underrated. I got to hear SO MUCH about them playing “small ball” and how great bunting was and whatever but seriously? It came down to the fact that their pitching was just SICK. How Bartolo Colon won the Cy Young that year, the world may never know. That’s one of the worst votes of all time.
Generally I think pitching wins… but I too think the thing with the Braves in the late ’90s and early ’00s is just odd.
From what I remember about the 2000 Yankees – they were strong heading into September and clinched their division very early, then went on a horrible September swoon that hurt everyone’s stats once the games were already meaningless for them. I was pretty amazed they turned it around for the postseason so quickly but they didn’t have “no business” winning the WS. I didn’t know they were 9th in their league in wins though, YIKES…
Those 2006 Cardinals were SO BAD. It wasn’t a 2000 Yankees thing where a terrible ending made their record/stats look worse, they had a ton of extended losing streaks throughout the regular season. I’m still surprised (and a little disgusted!) the Mets of 2006 lost to them, and the incredibly hot 2006 Tigers… it’d be interesting to use this post to compare the WS winners with their WS opponent and those they faced along the way.
I have no problem giving the 2009 Yankees the “best team of the decade” monker. Obviously I am biased ;) but hey even an ESPN article said so! They’re the only team to win the division, have 100+ wins, and win the WS. The last two teams to do that were the 1998 Yankees and the 1986 Mets (and the 1984 Tigers before that). Yes, I know about Pythag win/loss but luck is such a huge factor in baseball that I just can’t use that with any sort of authority… and I’d say the same thing if it said the 2009 Yankees should have won 120 games.
Good point. I think there is a strong case to be made for the 2009 team.
also, here’s my list:
09 Yankees
07 Red Sox
04 Red Sox
05 White Sox
02 Angels
01 Diamondbacks
08 Phillies
00 Yankees
03 Marlins
(insert several millennia here)
06 Cardinals