We will spend looking back at the previous seasons in the 2025 season, especially the 50 greatest teams in history, which are what I call the best 50 people. The best team in baseball.
Here is a quick boilerplate note attached to each story I have in this series:
I compiled the best 50 by analyzing 2,544 major league teams from 1903 to 2024. (The historical percentile for a given club is the percentage of its other 2,543 teams.)
Please refer to my book to explain my TS calculations. The book also offers a separate breakdown of the best and worst clubs every decade, along with a comprehensive overview of the best 50 (including a position-by-position lineup and more information than you will find in this newsletter), and a similar summary of the 10 worst teams of all time.
Now enter today’s profile.
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Team: Auckland Track and Field 1974
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Team Score: 88.029
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Ranking History: 21 of 2,544
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Historical percentile: 99.21%
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Seasonal record: 90-72 (.556)
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Season position: No. 1 in the Western Conference of the American League
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Final identity: World Champion
Track and Field won the second consecutive world championship in 1973, owner Charlie Finley In March 1974, their commemorative ring was unveiled. Each band has a synthetic emerald, but lacks traditional diamonds. “The new ring is a horse,” dive ace cat fish hunter. sl Reggie Jackson Agree: “These are garbage rings.”
But Jackson saw a glimmer of hope. A has flourished over the past few seasons and now the pot has been boiling in 1974. “I predicted the third world champion,” he said. “We have already had turmoil, undercurrents.”
Turbulence extends to the manager’s office. “A man can take so much Finley,” Dick WilliamsResigned after the ’73 World Series. Alvin Dark replaced him.
This dysfunctional atmosphere may suffocate most dome clworms. Not A. Their pitchers announced the best era in the Grand Slam (2.95), and their batsman ranked second in the American League. Oakland soared in mid-July, taking five games ahead of AL West. Finally, it’s still the edge.
Get a complete low in 50 greatest (and 10 weakest) clubs of all time
Track and field worked hard in the playoffs in 1972 and 1973, winning each championship in the maximum allocation of 12 games. Over two years, Oakland’s opponents extended the American League Championship Series and the World Series to their respective five and seven games.
But 1974 is a different story. pitcher Ken Holtzman and Vader Blue Throwing a pair of closed doors in ALCS, A’s A sent out the Baltimore Orioles in four games.
World Series is also easy. The track and field games and the Dodgers split the first two games, and then Oakland swept the last three games. Joe RudiHomer in the seventh game provided a gap for a 3-2 victory in Game 5. “I’m not a home batsman,” Rudy said. “But sometimes you have to try. It’s time.”
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Several players have left since Oakland’s first championship in 1972, but the main members of the roster still appeared in 1974.
Right fielder Reggie Jackson remains the main source of power. He beat 29 home runs in the American League and ranked second in the American League. Jackson also ranked second by average (.514). Third baseman Sar Banto It is the runner-up of AL at RBIS (103), and left fielder Joe Rudi is ranked fifth (174). Rudi is rare and is a quiet person on a lively team. “I’m just trying to shut up, do my job and stay away from people’s paths,” he said.
New immigration is nothing new. Swift center fielder Bill NorthThe man who led AL in 1974 with 54 stolen bases was obtained from the Cubs. GeneTennesseewhich was the reserve catcher of the ’72 lineup, gained the star of the moment by blowing up four home runs in that year’s World Series. His only downside is that he can’t throw out the baseman in Cincinnati. A reporter asked Tennessee if he hoped to win the MVP trophy for the series. He joked, “Even if I do, the Reds will steal it from me.” (Spoiler Alert: Tennessee Wins.) The 1974 solution was to plant him on the first base.
The club’s famous starting pitchers – Catfish Hunter, Ken Holtzman and Vida Blue jointly won 46 games in 1972. They increased their total to 61 in 1974. Hunter ruled the undisputed ACE. He led the AL with victory (25) and ERA (2.49) and locked in the Cy Young Award.
