Excessive groups: Athletics and Blue Jays

The Athletics have received 4 world titles in baseball’s Fashionable Period, although my laptop isn’t overly impressed with any of their championship golf equipment.

I’ve calculated the staff scores (TS) for all 62 of the franchise’s seasons between 1961 and 2022, a interval that the A’s cut up between Kansas Metropolis (1961-1967) and Oakland (1968-present). Every rating signifies the relative energy of a selected squad, as plotted on a 100-point scale. (Click on right here to be taught extra.)

The Athletics reached their peak in 1990, based on my method. Oakland dominated the American League West with a 103-59 report, then swept the Boston Crimson Sox within the American League Championship Sequence. The A’s appeared to be unstoppable.

Till, that’s, they met the upstart Reds within the World Sequence. Cincinnati received all 4 video games, outscoring Oakland 22-8 within the course of.

But the 1990 Athletics have been nonetheless sturdy sufficient to emerge with the franchise’s finest TS within the Fashionable Period, 89.366 factors. That ranks because the seventh-highest rating in the complete period — outpointing 99.6 p.c of all golf equipment — and the perfect TS for any staff that didn’t win a championship.

I’m specializing in the acute groups — the period’s finest and worst — for 2 franchises every Friday. (Click on right here to see final week’s debut, which featured the Angels and Astros.) Becoming a member of the A’s within the highlight right now — primarily based on the alphabetical order of nicknames — are the Toronto Blue Jays.

Finest 12 months for the Athletics: The 1990 A’s had pace: Left fielder Rickey Henderson stole 65 bases. That they had energy: First baseman Mark McGwire and proper fielder Jose Canseco mixed for 76 homers. They usually had pitching: Bob Welch notched 27 wins and Dave Stewart secured 22. The one factor they didn’t have was a world championship. (Oakland’s 4 title golf equipment are second, third, fourth, and sixth within the franchise rankings.)

Worst 12 months for the Athletics: The 1979 Athletics fell 13 video games off the tempo within the AL West earlier than the top of Might, they usually completed 34 video games again with a depressing .333 successful share (54 wins towards 108 losses). Pitcher Rick Langford deserved credit score for fashioning a 12-16 report underneath such dismal circumstances.

Finest 12 months for the Blue Jays: The Toronto franchise, which first fielded a staff in 1977, has two world titles to its credit score (1992 and 1993). The TS rankings give a slight edge to the latter membership. The 1993 Jays have been led by first baseman John Olerud, who received the American League batting title with a .363 common, designated hitter Paul Molitor (.332), and second baseman Roberto Alomar (.326).

Worst 12 months for the Blue Jays: No franchise loved 1981, a season that misplaced two months to a contentious labor dispute. Nevertheless it was a very unhealthy 12 months for the Jays, who completed with a .349 successful share (37-69). One of many membership’s few vivid lights was pitcher Dave Stieb, who went 11-10 with a pleasant 3.19 ERA.

Look beneath for the highest and backside 10 seasons for each franchises within the Fashionable Period. You can too seek the advice of the team-by-team rankings within the print version of Baseball’s Best (and Worst) 2023 Yearbook.

Every staff is proven beneath with the 12 months in brackets, its regular-season win-loss report, its postseason outcomes (if any) in parentheses, its margin between runs scored and allowed per recreation, and its Fashionable Period percentile. (These are the postseason abbreviations: P for a playoff look, L for a league championship, and W for a world title.)

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• 1. Athletics [1990], 103-59 (LP), plus-1.01 margin, 99.6% in period

• 2. Athletics [1974], 90-72 (WLP), plus-0.85 margin, 99.1% in period

• 3. Athletics [1989], 99-63 (WLP), plus-0.84 margin, 98.9% in period

• 4. Athletics [1972], 93-62 (WLP), plus-0.95 margin, 98.5% in period

• 5. Athletics [1988], 104-58 (LP), plus-1.11 margin, 97.3% in period

• 6. Athletics [1973], 94-68 (WLP), plus-0.88 margin, 97.0% in period

• 7. Athletics [2001], 102-60 (P), plus-1.48 margin, 91.0% in period

• 8. Athletics [1975], 98-64 (P), plus-0.94 margin, 90.9% in period

• 9. Athletics [1971], 101-60 (P), plus-0.79 margin, 88.5% in period

• 10. Athletics [2014], 88-74 (P), plus-0.97 margin, 86.5% in period

• 1. Athletics [1979], 54-108, minus-1.77 margin, 1.1% in period

• 2. Athletics [1964], 57-105, minus-1.32 margin, 2.4% in period

• 3. Athletics [1997], 65-97, minus-1.12 margin, 2.8% in period

• 4. Athletics [2022], 60-102, minus-1.25 margin, 4.0% in period

• 5. Athletics [1967], 62-99, minus-0.79 margin, 4.8% in period

• 6. Athletics [1965], 59-103, minus-1.05 margin, 5.0% in period

• 7. Athletics [1961], 61-100, minus-1.11 margin, 7.1% in period

• 8. Athletics [1993], 68-94, minus-0.81 margin, 7.9% in period

• 9. Athletics [2016], 69-93, minus-0.67 margin, 10.5% in period

• 10. Athletics [1982], 68-94, minus-0.79 margin, 13.0% in period

• 1. Blue Jays [1993], 95-67 (WLP), plus-0.65 margin, 98.1% in period

• 2. Blue Jays [1992], 96-66 (WLP), plus-0.60 margin, 97.4% in period

• 3. Blue Jays [2015], 93-69 (P), plus-1.36 margin, 96.0% in period

• 4. Blue Jays [1985], 99-62 (P), plus-1.06 margin, 91.7% in period

• 5. Blue Jays [1987], 96-66, plus-1.17 margin, 91.4% in period

• 6. Blue Jays [1991], 91-71 (P), plus-0.38 margin, 85.9% in period

• 7. Blue Jays [2021], 91-71, plus-1.13 margin, 82.8% in period

• 8. Blue Jays [1990], 86-76, plus-0.65 margin, 79.4% in period

• 9. Blue Jays [2016], 89-73 (P), plus-0.57 margin, 79.1% in period

• 10. Blue Jays [1984], 89-73, plus-0.33 margin, 78.1% in period

• 1. Blue Jays [1981], 37-69, minus-1.29 margin, 1.5% in period

• 2. Blue Jays [1979], 53-109, minus-1.54 margin, 1.6% in period

• 3. Blue Jays [1977], 54-107, minus-1.35 margin, 3.5% in period

• 4. Blue Jays [1978], 59-102, minus-1.15 margin, 3.6% in period

• 5. Blue Jays [1980], 67-95, minus-0.85 margin, 11.8% in period

• 6. Blue Jays [1995], 56-88, minus-0.94 margin, 12.3% in period

• 7. Blue Jays [2004], 67-94, minus-0.65 margin, 14.4% in period

• 8. Blue Jays [2012], 73-89, minus-0.42 margin, 21.0% in period

• 9. Blue Jays [2019], 67-95, minus-0.63 margin, 26.3% in period

• 10. Blue Jays [2017], 76-86, minus-0.56 margin, 27.7% in period