Best Offense Ever

[Bombers]

In light of the article on Deadspin today about a game that featured Albert Belle, him having a 3 HR game, an AB where he didn't want to take first base on a HBP, and that HBP leads to a walk off win by Cal Ripken ...

 

http://rabbithole.deadspin.com/no-hitter-has-ever-been-more-terrifying-than-albert-bel-1686132645/+marchman

 

Besides the video getting me excited for some baseball, it got me thinking what is the best offense ever? To me I guess it's a toss up of the 1995 Indians (seemed like every hitter hit .300) and the 1997 Seattle Mariners (and their 264 HR's in 1 season) Key Players from both teams are below and the key link I guess is Alvaro Espinoza who had the privilege of playing on both these teams. So what say you BrewerFan? Excited for some baseball? What is the best offense you can remember. (Side note, sure you could take some teams from a long, long time ago - but I never saw them play.) I was in HS when these two teams were playing in the 90's ...

 

95 Indians

[pre]Rk Pos Name HR RBI SB BA OBP SLG OPS

1 C Tony Pena 5 28 1 0.262 0.302 0.376 0.679

2 1B Paul Sorrento* 25 79 1 0.235 0.336 0.511 0.847

3 2B Carlos Baerga# 15 90 11 0.314 0.355 0.452 0.807

4 SS Omar Vizquel# 6 56 29 0.266 0.333 0.351 0.684

5 3B Jim Thome* 25 73 4 0.314 0.438 0.558 0.996

6 LF Albert Belle 50 126 5 0.317 0.401 0.69 1.091

7 CF Kenny Lofton* 7 53 54 0.31 0.362 0.453 0.815

8 RF Manny Ramirez 31 107 6 0.308 0.402 0.558 0.96

9 DH Eddie Murray# 21 82 5 0.323 0.375 0.516 0.891

10 C Sandy Alomar 10 35 3 0.3 0.332 0.478 0.81

12 1B Herbert Perry 3 23 1 0.315 0.376 0.463 0.839

13 IF Alvaro Espinoza 2 17 0 0.252 0.264 0.322 0.585

14 DH Dave Winfield 2 4 1 0.191 0.285 0.287 0.572

18 IF Billy Ripken 2 3 0 0.412 0.412 0.765 1.176

19 UT Brian Giles* 1 3 0 0.556 0.556 0.889 1.444

20 UT Jeromy Burnitz* 0 0 0 0.571 0.571 0.714 1.286

21 3B David Bell 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Team Totals 207 803 132 0.291 0.361 0.479 0.839

Rank in 14 AL teams 1 1 1 1 1 1

Rk Pos Name HR RBI SB BA OBP SLG OPS[/pre]

 

97 Mariners

[pre]Rk Pos Name HR RBI SB BA OBP SLG OPS

1 C Dan Wilson 15 74 7 0.27 0.326 0.423 0.749

2 1B Paul Sorrento* 31 80 0 0.269 0.345 0.514 0.859

3 2B Joey Cora# 11 54 6 0.3 0.359 0.441 0.8

4 SS Alex Rodriguez 23 84 29 0.3 0.35 0.496 0.846

5 3B Russ Davis 20 63 6 0.271 0.317 0.488 0.805

6 LF Jose Cruz# 12 34 1 0.268 0.315 0.541 0.856

7 CF Ken Griffey* 56 147 15 0.304 0.382 0.646 1.028

8 RF Jay Buhner 40 109 0 0.243 0.383 0.506 0.889

9 DH Edgar Martinez 28 108 2 0.33 0.456 0.554 1.009

10 LF Rich Amaral 1 21 12 0.284 0.327 0.326 0.653

11 1B Mike Blowers 5 20 0 0.293 0.376 0.427 0.802

12 3B Brent Gates# 3 20 0 0.238 0.298 0.351 0.649

13 LF Rob Ducey* 5 10 3 0.287 0.311 0.524 0.836

15 LF Roberto Kelly 7 22 2 0.298 0.328 0.529 0.857

16 3B Andy Sheets 4 9 2 0.247 0.299 0.416 0.715

17 C John Marzano 1 10 0 0.287 0.34 0.356 0.697

18 MI Alvaro Espinoza 0 7 1 0.181 0.213 0.194 0.408

19 UT Raul Ibanez* 1 4 0 0.154 0.154 0.346 0.5

Team Totals 264 890 89 0.28 0.355 0.485 0.839

Rank in 14 AL teams 1 10 4 3 1 1[/pre]

[torts]

93 Blue Jays were pretty darn good. Olerud, Molitor, Alomar, Carter, but I think that was more because of my fandom of Molitor than anything else. Growing up in Erie, PA i'd catch bluejays games across the lake on our antennae, it was awesome.

[3and2Fastball]

If you use run differential as the main stat, the 1939 Yankees were the best

[SRB]

Best I've Seen

 

2003 Red Sox

 

CF Johnny Damon (LHB) 12 HR, 30 SB, .273/.345/.405/.750

2B Todd Walker (LHB) 13 HR, 1 SB, .283/.333/.428/.760

SS Nomar Garciaparra (RHB) 28 HR, 19 SB, .301/.345/.524/.870

LF Manny Ramirez (RHB) 37 HR, 3 SB, .325/.427/.587/1.014

DH David Ortiz (LHB) 31 HR, 0 SB, .288/.369/.592/.961

1B Kevin Millar (RHB) 25 HR, 3 SB, .276/.348/.472/.820

RF Trot Nixon (LHB) 28 HR, 4 SB, .306/.396/.578/.975

3B Bill Mueller (SHB) 19 HR, 1 SB, .326/.398/.540/.938

C Jason Varitek (SHB) 25 HR, 3 SB, .273/.351/.512/.863

 

Good luck pitching to that lineup in the postseason. Of course, it was still the era where boneheaded managerial decisions held sway, and you put the two worst hitters at the top of the lineup and the guy with the best OBP in the eight-hole solely because of the positions they played (CF/2B guys are speedy, they hit first! 3B/C hit low in the order!).

 

Greatest of all time is the 1927 Yankees, with Ruth/Gehrig hitting 3-4 with an incredible 1.258/1.240 OPS combo. Then you had a couple of .900+ OPS guys (Earle Combs and Bob Meusel) and some .800+ OPS guys (Pat Collins and Tony Lazzeri).

[danzig6767]

That 95 Indians team had Burnitz and Brian Giles on the bench unable to get playing time. Thinking about it now, Giles in his prime was one of if not the most underrated players of his time, but he just happened to play on bad Pirates teams so he didn't get much attention. He was a Votto like hitter who also had pretty good speed. Really good power, hit for a high average, took a ton of walks, and didn't strike out a lot.

[Bombers]

SRB that was an awesome team. You are right about guys at the bottom should have been moved up. And their manager blew it that year by leaving Pedro in during the 8th inning (Game 7.) I remember that game, Pedro shaking off the manager saying I'm good. Then gives up 3 runs. They should have advanced to the WS. But they came back the next year and had the miracle down 3 and went on to win it all.

[Ennder]

Greatest of the really really old teams - 1927 Yankees.

Greatest of the really old teams - 1953 Dodgers

Greatest of the old teams - 1976 Reds

Greatest of the newer teams - 1999 Indians

[SRB]

Interesting that basically every contender for best offense from the last 20 years had either Manny Ramirez (Indians, Red Sox), or A-Rod (Mariners, Yankees).

[Bombers]

Greatest of the really really old teams - 1927 Yankees.

Greatest of the really old teams - 1953 Dodgers

Greatest of the old teams - 1976 Reds

Greatest of the newer teams - 1999 Indians

The 76 Reds was before my time but that lineup is bananas (HOF'ers Bench, Morgan, Perez and another should be HOF in Rose - then many other great pieces)

 

[pre]Rk Pos Name AB R H HR RBI SB BA OBP SLG OPS

1 C Johnny Bench 465 62 109 16 74 13 0.234 0.348 0.394 0.741

2 1B Tony Perez 527 77 137 19 91 10 0.26 0.328 0.452 0.779

3 2B Joe Morgan* 472 113 151 27 111 60 0.32 0.444 0.576 1.02

4 SS Dave Concepcion 576 74 162 9 69 21 0.281 0.335 0.401 0.736

5 3B Pete Rose# 665 130 215 10 63 9 0.323 0.404 0.45 0.854

6 LF George Foster 562 86 172 29 121 17 0.306 0.364 0.53 0.894

7 CF Cesar Geronimo* 486 59 149 2 49 22 0.307 0.382 0.414 0.795

8 RF Ken Griffey* 562 111 189 6 74 34 0.336 0.401 0.45 0.851

9 UT Dan Driessen* 219 32 54 7 44 14 0.247 0.362 0.402 0.764

10 MI Doug Flynn 219 20 62 1 20 2 0.283 0.312 0.338 0.65

11 C Bill Plummer 153 16 38 4 19 0 0.248 0.311 0.379 0.69

12 LF Mike Lum* 136 15 31 3 20 0 0.228 0.331 0.346 0.677

13 LF Bob Bailey 124 17 37 6 23 0 0.298 0.376 0.508 0.884

14 OF Ed Armbrister 78 20 23 2 7 7 0.295 0.341 0.462 0.803

Team Totals 5702 857 1599 141 802 210 0.28 0.357 0.424 0.781

Rank in 12 NL teams 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1[/pre]

[DuWayne Steurer]

If you take out the pitchers, the '27 Yankees had a .906 OPS. That's absolutely ridiculous, by any standard, in any era. The league OPS that year was a really high, but not outrageous .751.

[Warning Track Power]

Not saying the 1982 Brewers were the best offense ever but one of my favorite stats of that team...

 

1982 AL Hit Leaders

1. Yount 210

2. Cooper 205

3. Molitor 201

 

Only three players in the AL with over 200 hits that season (Willie Wilson of KC came closest with 194) and they hit 1-2-3 in the Brewers lineup. Love that stat.

[Bombers]

Not saying the 1982 Brewers were the best offense ever but one of my favorite stats of that team...

 

1982 AL Hit Leaders

1. Yount 210

2. Cooper 205

3. Molitor 201

 

Only three players in the AL with over 200 hits that season (Willie Wilson of KC came closest with 194) and they hit 1-2-3 in the Brewers lineup. Love that stat.

Ya, that is awesome. That team could flat out rake. And it wasn't just a front loaded lineup. (Gorman had 39 HR's, Gantner hit .295, Money was 284/360/531, Oglivie 34 HR's, Simmons 23 HR's)

[torts]

looking at those numbers it just depresses me they lost in game 7 that year to team of the Greatest Baseball Fans™

[SRB]

If you take out the pitchers, the '27 Yankees had a .906 OPS. That's absolutely ridiculous, by any standard, in any era. The league OPS that year was a really high, but not outrageous .751.

 

It was heavily centered in two players though, Ruth and Gehrig. Though they had two other great hitters as well. Interesting to think whether having a balanced lineup with a lower team OPS is better than an unbalanced lineup with a higher team OPS.

 

For one, you could just IBB Ruth and Gehrig every time they stepped to the plate and actually decrease the team OPS (1.000 each).