Top Ten Teams of the 2053 Season
Mar 17, 2020 10:17:58 GMT -5
AstrosGM_Shane, RandyP, and 6 more like this
Post by sansterre - Milwaukee Brewers on Mar 17, 2020 10:17:58 GMT -5
#10, Los Angeles Dodgers - The fifth best run prevention led them to a 99-win pythag and 96 wins for the season. A wild-card round loss was the only blemish on a strong season.
#9, Colorado Rockies - Their regular season record of 89 wins concealed solid underlying metrics, including a 93-win pythag and 97-win WAR. Once in the playoffs they made it as far as the ALCS before falling to the White Sox.
#8, Cleveland Indians - The Indians were better than they looked, which is saying something because they looked great. Bolstered by some strong trade acquisitions they Indians may have won 95 games but their pythag and WAR were 99 and 103 wins respectively. A hard loss in the Wild Card round sold this team short.
#7, Cincinnati Reds - The Reds won a bye with a dominant 106-win season, even if their pythag and WAR were not on that level. Their excellent season came to an end against the Nats in the NLDS.
#6, Washington Nationals - The Nats skillfully played rope-a-dop with the league for the first several months before going on a blistering pace in the final third of the season to cap a 97-win season. They won the Pennant but fell to the White Sox in the World Series.
#5, Kansas City Royals - The best team to lose in the Wild Card Round. 104 wins, a 105-win pythag and 106-win WAR make clear that the Royals were an elite team. Only five teams were a standard deviation from the mean in all three metrics (wins, pythag and WAR), and of those five the Royals were probably in the middle. It was bad luck that put them in Texas' division to keep them from a bye, and worse luck to be in an AL that was incredibly top-heavy with great teams.
#4, New York Yankees - They won 108 games and threw up a 107-win WAR; their pythag was their only weak spot, and that was still rated at 98-wins. The Yankees dominated their division from pole to pole, correctly looking like a lock for a bye most of the year. Their season ended when they were upset by the Rockies in the ALDS.
#3, Texas Rangers - Texas posted one of their best seasons ever, one of only three teams to throw up metrics all 1.3 standard deviations above the mean. They won 108 games, had a 107-win pythag and 104-win WAR. They lost hard to the White Sox in the ALDS, but given their distressingly strong farm system, there's every reason to think that the Rangers aren't going anywhere.
#2, San Diego Padres - The Padres were the obvious best team in the league by every standard except one. They had the most wins (109), the best pythag (108) and the highest WAR (111). Just to be clear, the same team being #1 in all three is pretty rare. Unfortunately, even as their Regular Season played out the way it had in years past (with unflinching dominance) their playoffs played out the same way as well; with an unreasonably early exit, this time against the Phillies.
#1, Chicago White Sox - The Sox weren't the best team of the regular season but they held their own just fine, with 105 wins, a 104-win pythag and 100-win WAR. Despite winning 105 games they failed to get a bye (remember when I said that the AL was top-heavy?) and got stuck in the Wild Card round against division rival Cleveland. The Sox then proceeded to maul their way through four very strong teams en route to their second championship in two years.
I'd have been happy to write about more teams, but the lower you go the less teams want to be reminded, and I don't want anything to come off negative.
#9, Colorado Rockies - Their regular season record of 89 wins concealed solid underlying metrics, including a 93-win pythag and 97-win WAR. Once in the playoffs they made it as far as the ALCS before falling to the White Sox.
#8, Cleveland Indians - The Indians were better than they looked, which is saying something because they looked great. Bolstered by some strong trade acquisitions they Indians may have won 95 games but their pythag and WAR were 99 and 103 wins respectively. A hard loss in the Wild Card round sold this team short.
#7, Cincinnati Reds - The Reds won a bye with a dominant 106-win season, even if their pythag and WAR were not on that level. Their excellent season came to an end against the Nats in the NLDS.
#6, Washington Nationals - The Nats skillfully played rope-a-dop with the league for the first several months before going on a blistering pace in the final third of the season to cap a 97-win season. They won the Pennant but fell to the White Sox in the World Series.
#5, Kansas City Royals - The best team to lose in the Wild Card Round. 104 wins, a 105-win pythag and 106-win WAR make clear that the Royals were an elite team. Only five teams were a standard deviation from the mean in all three metrics (wins, pythag and WAR), and of those five the Royals were probably in the middle. It was bad luck that put them in Texas' division to keep them from a bye, and worse luck to be in an AL that was incredibly top-heavy with great teams.
#4, New York Yankees - They won 108 games and threw up a 107-win WAR; their pythag was their only weak spot, and that was still rated at 98-wins. The Yankees dominated their division from pole to pole, correctly looking like a lock for a bye most of the year. Their season ended when they were upset by the Rockies in the ALDS.
#3, Texas Rangers - Texas posted one of their best seasons ever, one of only three teams to throw up metrics all 1.3 standard deviations above the mean. They won 108 games, had a 107-win pythag and 104-win WAR. They lost hard to the White Sox in the ALDS, but given their distressingly strong farm system, there's every reason to think that the Rangers aren't going anywhere.
#2, San Diego Padres - The Padres were the obvious best team in the league by every standard except one. They had the most wins (109), the best pythag (108) and the highest WAR (111). Just to be clear, the same team being #1 in all three is pretty rare. Unfortunately, even as their Regular Season played out the way it had in years past (with unflinching dominance) their playoffs played out the same way as well; with an unreasonably early exit, this time against the Phillies.
#1, Chicago White Sox - The Sox weren't the best team of the regular season but they held their own just fine, with 105 wins, a 104-win pythag and 100-win WAR. Despite winning 105 games they failed to get a bye (remember when I said that the AL was top-heavy?) and got stuck in the Wild Card round against division rival Cleveland. The Sox then proceeded to maul their way through four very strong teams en route to their second championship in two years.
I'd have been happy to write about more teams, but the lower you go the less teams want to be reminded, and I don't want anything to come off negative.