Ranking the top 5 teams in MLB is difficult because there have been so many great baseball teams. One of the great things about baseball is that there are so many statistics. This is true at the major league level, though ranking the baseball team strictly by record is not a good idea because the league might be better or worse in certain years. One would need to control this variation in baseball teams. Despite the difficulty ranking baseball teams, this article encompasses a 5-team honorable mention list. How would you rank these baseball teams, personally?
5. 1970 Baltimore Orioles
(108-54)
The 1970 Orioles had 108 wins and a +218-run differential. The pitching staff had a 3.15 team-earned run average. Brooks and Frank Robinson led the offense, while Jim Palmer led the pitching staff. Palmer went 20-10 with a 2.71 ERA. Mike Cuellar won 24 games with a 3.48 ERA, and Dave McNally had 24 wins with a 3.22 ERA. Frank Robinson hit 25 HR and had a .918 OPS, while Brooks was a defensive wizard but had a .764 as well. Boog Powell led the team with 35 HR and a .962 OPS. Powell won the American League Most Valuable Player award.
4. 1975 Cincinnati Reds
(108-54)
The 1975 Big Red Machine was one of the best baseball teams ever. But this franchise had some 1970s staying power. All told, the Reds won 6 National League West Division titles, 4 National League pennants, and 2 World Series. The 1975 Reds scored 840 runs and would win the World Series over Boston in seven games, in one of the best World Series ever. The Hall of Famers and All-Stars on this team included Joe Morgan, who hit .327 and stole 67 bases in 1975, Pete Rose, Ken Griffey, Tony Perez, and Johnny Bench. The pitching staff was good, also.
3.1927 New York Yankees
(110-44)
The 1927 Yankees are an iconic bunch. They had Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Earle Combs, and Tony Lazzeri. This was the Murderers’ Row Yankees, and Ruth had 60 HR and 165 RBI. He hit .356 and Gehrig had 47 HR and 175 RBI. The rotation featured two future Hall of Famers, Waite Hoyt and Herb Pennock. Their pitching staff had a 3.20 ERA. They had a +376-run differential and a .488 team slugging percentage. This was the best-hitting team of all time.
2. 1939 New York Yankees
(106-45)
The 1939 New York Yankees won 106 games and swept the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series. They had a +411-run differential and a 3.31 ERA as a team. The offense has a batting and slugging average with an on-base percentage of .287,.374, and.451. This was a base team with Joe DiMaggio on it. But the 1939 Yankees also had Bill Dickey, Joe Gordon, Red Ruffing, and Lefty Gomez. DiMaggio hit .381 with 30 HR and 126 RBI. Dickey 24 HR and 105 RBI, while Gordon finished with a .876 OPS. Ruffing won 21 games with a 2.91 ERA, and Gomez had a 3.41 ERA. The 1939 Yankees had the highest run differential in history.
1. 1998 New York Yankees
(114-48)
One could name plenty of Yankees teams going through their franchise, but this one was the best baseball team ever. The 1998 Yankees’ core of players was dominant for many years. The 1998 Yankees hit .288 as a team and ranked first in runs in the American League. This was not the best pitching staff they had talent-wise, but had a 3.82 ERA, also ranking first in the American League, and they threw 2 perfect games. The 1998 Yankees also had the best pitcher ever in Mariano Rivera. The 1998 Yankees had a +309-run differential and went 11-2 in the postseason, including a World Series win.
Honorable Mention
It was difficult to rank these baseball teams. There have been a lot of good clubs over the years. Five teams just missed the cut. These are the teams that make the honorable mention list.1986 New York Mets (108-54), 1961 New York Yankees (109-53), 1984 Detroit Tigers (108-54), 1976 Cincinnati Reds (102-60), 1967 St. Louis Cardinals.
Conclusion
The New York Yankees are numbers one to three on this list, and the Yankees occupy 60% of the top baseball team list. The Yankees also have one of the teams on the honorable mention list. It is reasonable to ask why the Yankees no longer dominate every year. There are three reasons for this. Including the draft, free agency, and revenue sharing. Also on the list of the top five baseball teams is the Big Red Machine. One of the greatest teams of all time, they won 6 division titles in a row.
