We will spend looking back at the previous seasons in the 2025 season, especially the 50 greatest teams in history, which I call the best 50. 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 1990
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Team score: 91.092 points
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Ranking History: 9 of 2,544
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Historical percentile: 99.69%
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Seasonal record: 103-59 (.636)
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Season position: No. 1 in the Western Conference of the American League
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Final identity: League champion
Track and field won the American League flags in 1988 and 1989 in a grand manner. The club’s collective base values for batsmen and pitchers totaled 364 and 361 in each season. Since 1903, only 11% of major league teams have exceeded 360 on the BV scale.
The A’s somehow played at an even higher level in 1990. Oakland’s batteries launched more homers (164) than in either of the previous two years, and the pitchers allowed fewer runs (3.52 per game) than in 1988 or 1989. The club’s collective base value soared to plus-460, a sum unsurpassed by any American League team between the 1984 Tigers and 1995 Indians.
“They’re so good,” said the Boston Center Guard. Ellis Burks. “They are so daunting, lineup.” Oakland’s bill is the most valuable player in AL (Ritchie Henderson) and Cy Young Award winners (Bob Welch). A took the Al West lead in mid-April, fed up the July challenge of White Sox and won the division with nine games.
Get a complete low in 50 greatest (and 10 weakest) clubs of all time
As most experts expected, the 1990 American League Championship Series unfolded. Track and field played the Red Sox in four straight games, none of them particularly close. Collective score: Oakland 20, Boston 4.
World Series is expected to follow a similar script. A is clearly superior to the Reds, with normal season record (Oakland 103-59, Cincinnati 91-71) and all-time rankings (Oakland Ninth, Cincinnati 152nd) proving A.
However, the Reds beat A’s 7-0 and pushed the most unlikely scan ruthlessly. Cincinnati beat Oakland 22-8 in four games. “We won our department, we won the championship,” the track and field athlete said. Dennis Eckersley. “But now we’ll be remembered for kicking our ass.”
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In 1990, only five American leagues (including a pair of brothers on the Oakland roster) made more than 30 home runs. First baseman Mark McGwell and the right fielder Jose Canseco Obviously, while the track and field marketing department does see it as a “carnival brother,” there is obviously no genetic correlation.
McGwire and Canseco ranked second and third in the AL with 39 and 37 home runs, respectively. They combined 209 runs. But their seemingly optimistic story has a dark side. Both detractors will later be associated with steroid abuse, and Canseco has been considered the head case. After the first game of the 1990 World Series, he rushed into the clubhouse and shouted in anger: “Why do we have to play all these extra games?” His teammates were speechless.
Left fielder Rickey Henderson once again played the club’s engine, leading the league in scoring (119), stolen bases (65) and base percentages (.439). He even showed unexpected strength, hitting a career-high 28 home runs. “I want to think I’m a money player,” Henderson said. “When we need to steal or drive home, I want to think I’ll deliver.”
Pitcher Bob Welch (27) and Dave Stewart (22) More wins than any other pitcher. Welch has always had a fiery fastball, but he added a sharp forklift in 1990. Dave Duncan. Welch’s award is the Cy Young Award. Stewart ranked third in CY’s league-wide voting, with substitute Dennis Eckersley (48 saves) ranked fifth.
