Fantasy Baseball can be tricky. There are a lot of statistical categories to consider. That’s why guys like Brandon Funston and Andy Behrens have jobs writing article after article ranking players, projecting statistics and evaluating talent. Just because a guy has hit between 38-46 home runs each of the last 7 seasons doesn’t mean he won’t completely collapse hitting .159 with 11 homers (ask any owner of Adam Dunn in 2011). The opposite can also be true, just because a guy hits 59 home runs over the first 7 years of his career doesn’t mean he won’t hit 97 over the next two (see Jose Bautista). The point is, it’s a tricky job, declaring with any certainty what will or won’t happen during the course of the next 162-game season. And that doesn’t even take injuries into consideration.
Frustrated owners, looking up at the leaders from the bottom of the standings, often go back to their draft to see what went wrong. If only they’d taken Ryan Braun over A-Rod. Analyzing each pick and looking to see who was still available. Trying to figure out which player they should have taken in each round that would have yielded them the perfect team.
Courtesy: Detroit Athletic Co.
Expanding on that idea, looking back throughout major league history, I decided to compile a fantasy “Dream Team.” And unlike Kobe’s claim that the 2012 Olympic team could beat Michael Jordan’s 1992 “Dream Team,” fantasy sports are all about statistics, so no one is saying that if A-Rod played in the ’20s he wouldn’t have been great, or that Babe Ruth could never hit a Mariano Rivera cutter.
Before revealing the players who make up the team, we need to go over the ground rules (because what fun is a hypothetical fantasy baseball argument without arbitrary rules?) No player can be used more than once. So that mean the outfield can’t be littered with the best of Ruth or Bonds’ seasons and A-Rod can’t be the shortstop and the third basemen from different seasons. The offensive positions for the fantasy team will be 1 Catcher, 1 First Baseman, 1 Second Baseman, 1 Short Stop, 1 Third Baseman, 3 Outfielders, and a Utility player (an additional player from any position). As for pitchers, I decided on 5 starting pitchers and 3 closers. Different leagues have different formats and in those formats, different statistics. So, for the sake of this article the statistical categories we will be evaluating on are, for hitters: Runs(R), Hits (H), Home Runs (HR), Runs Batted In (RBI), Stolen Bases (SB), Batting Average (AVG) and On-Base plus Slugging (OPS). The pitching stats will be Wins (W), Earned Run Average (ERA), Saves (SV), Strike Outs (K), Walks + Hits / Innings Pitched (WHIP).
Catcher
This was an easy selection. When looking at the all-time greatest seasons by a catcher, Piazza’s 1997 campaign is a cut above the rest. He contributes spectacularly in every category other than stolen bases (a category where catchers rarely excel).
Honorable Mentions: Joe Mauer—2009, Roy Campanella—1953.
Mike Piazza: Los Angeles Dodgers (1997)
Notable ranks among catchers: R: 10th, H: 1st, HR: 5th, RBI: 7th, AVG: 2nd, OPS: 1st.
R: 104
H: 201
HR: 40
RBI: 124
SB: 5
AVG: .362
OPS: 1.070
First Base
This was a much more difficult selection but Gehrig’s 1927 eventually won out. While other players had better numbers in certain categories but Lou’s numbers across the board put him at the head of the pack.
Honorable Mentions: Mark McGwire—1998, Jimmy Foxx—1932.
Lou Gehrig: New York Yankees (1927)
Notable ranks among first basemen: R: 6th, H: 12th, HR: 22nd, RBI: 3rd, AVG: 6th, OPS: 1st.
R: 149
H: 218
HR: 47
RBI: 175
SB: 10
AVG: .373
OPS: 1.240
Second Base
Looking over the all-time greatest seasons by second basemen, you find one list over and over. In fact, of the 10 best, 8 were by Rogers Hornsby. Excluding the 1926 season, each of Hornsby’s seasons between 1921-1929 we in the top 10. So the question now isn’t who, but when. In the end, Hornsby’s 17 SBs and 42 HRs pushed 1922 to the top of the list.
Honorable Mentions: Rogers Hornsby—1925, Rogers Hornsby—1929.
Rogers Hornsby: St. Louis Cardinals (1922)
Notable ranks among second basemen: R: 10th, H: 1st, HR: 2nd, RBI: 1st, AVG: 4th, OPS: 3rd.
R: 141
H: 250
HR: 42
RBI: 152
SB: 17
AVG: .401
OPS: 1.181
Short Stop
At the short stop position you will find several players who soared in a few categories but crashed and burned in others. Alex Rodriguez’s 2001 season, one of many seasons by Rodriguez under consideration, takes the cake.
Honorable Mentions: Alex Rodriguez—2002, Alex Rodriguez—1996.
Courtesy: The Bleacher Report.com
Alex Rodriguez: Texas Rangers (2001)
Notable ranks among short stops: R: 20th, H: 38th, HR: 2nd, RBI: 8th, OPS: 6th.
R: 133
H: 201
HR: 52
RBI: 135
SB: 18
AVG: .318
OPS: 1.021
Third Base
While statistically, the best season by a third baseman is probably Alex Rodriguez’s 2007 season with the Yankees, he already appeared on this list at short stop and is therefore ineligible to appear at third as well. That being said, several other great players had seasons worthy of this top honor. However, the crown goes to Al Rosen’s 1953 season with the Cleveland Indians who just barely edged out Chipper Jones’ 1999 season. His hits, RBI, and AVG numbers outweighed the bump Chipper would have given to stolen bases.
Honorable Mentions: Alex Rodriguez—2007, Chipper Jones—1999
Al Rosen: Cleveland Indians (1953)
Notable ranks among third basemen: R: 49th, H: 33rd, HR: 19th, RBI: 2nd, AVG: 39th, OPS: 7th.
R: 115
H: 201
HR: 43
RBI: 145
SB: 8
AVG: .336
OPS: 1.034
Outfielders
If you list the top 15 seasons by an outfielder, in terms of OPS, you will find all three of my outfield selections. You will also find only 4 names: Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and finally at 15th—Hack Wilson. Hack found his way into this list for a few reasons, the first of which was his all-time record for RBI (191) because, while I didn’t include every record holder, there is something to be said for having the all-time leader in a category on your fantasy team to help ensure you dominate that category. Aside from Ted Williams’ .406 AVG and 1.286 OPS in 1941, Wilson’s stats are better across the board. And finally, our old rule about not using the same player’s numbers from different seasons kept me from limiting our list to 2 Barry Bonds seasons and one by “The Sultan of Swat, The King of Crash, The Colossus of Clout, The Colossus of Clout, BABE RUTH!!!” (Sorry, Sandlot flashback.) Bonds’ herculean run of seasons from 2001-2004, albeit allegedly steroid driven, in which he dumped hundreds of balls into McCovey cove, were the best fantasy seasons seen since Ruth was sending them soaring out into what would later be Monument Park.
Honorable Mentions: Barry Bonds—2004, Barry Bonds—2002, Babe Ruth—1920, Babe Ruth—1923, Barry Bonds—2003, Babe Ruth—1927
Barry Bonds: San Francisco Giants (2001)
Notable ranks among outfielders: HR: 1st, RBI: 3rd, OPS: 4th.
R: 129
H: 156
HR: 73
RBI: 137
SB: 13
AVG: .328
OPS: 1.379
Babe Ruth: New York Yankees (1921)
Notable ranks among outfielders: R: 2nd, HR: 7th, RBI: 2nd, AVG: 41st, OPS: 5th.
R: 177
H: 204
HR: 59
RBI: 171
SB: 17
AVG: .378
OPS: 1.359
Hack Wilson: Chicago Cubs (1930)
Notable ranks among outfielders: R: 40th, HR: 9th, RBI: 1st, OPS: 15th.
R: 146
H: 208
HR: 56
RBI: 191
SB: 3
AVG: .356
OPS: 1.177
Utility
The Utility position is not unlike the designated hitter in the American League. It allows the opportunity to select a player from any position. This is the position where the most complaints about the selection will probably come. Many seasons from many players could easily have been included in this list, but as the list is about fantasy baseball, and not real baseball, some of the biggest seasons by other fantasy players were excluded here. The one glaring hole, you may have noticed, on this list is a lack of stolen bases, sure some of these guys swiped a few bags: Gehrig, Hornsby, Rodriguez, Bonds and Ruth all snagged double figures, but none of them had stolen base numbers that could really shock you. That’s where Arlie Latham’s 1887 season comes in. Not the all-time leader for steals in a season, Latham’s other statistics (most notably 163 runs and a .316 AVG) are strong enough to carry him to the top.
Honorable Mention: Rickey Henderson—1982, Charlie Comiskey—1887
Arlie Latham: St. Louis Cardinals (1887)
Notable ranks among utility players: R: 9th, SB: 3rd.
R: 163
H: 198
HR: 2
RBI: 83
SB: 129
AVG: .316
OPS: .779
Pitchers
Starters
As I move onto starting pitching, I worried that the list would simply be filled with old timers from before the turn of the century, when the differences in rules and mount height made pitching a different animal. But I was pleasantly surprised to find 3 “modern era” pitchers amongst the top 5. While the first two pitchers are relative unknowns who could have possibly fought in the Civil War, their win totals were too staggering to leave them off the list—not to mention some pretty impressive other stats to boot. Rounding out the list, you’d be hard pressed to find an all-time great list without the names of our final three.
Honorable Mentions: Pedro Martinez—2000, Walter Johnson—1913, Christy Mathewson—1908, Bob Gibson—1968, Matt Kilroy—1886, Nolan Ryan—1974, Jim Galvin—1884, Bob Feller—1946, Randy Johnson—1999, Randy Johnson—2000
* ERA and WHIP were not officially ranked by MLB.com for seasons before 1900
Charley Radbourn: Providence Grays (1884)
When it comes to pitchers, his notable ranks are as follows: W: 1st, ERA*: ≈16th, Ks: 3rd, WHIP*: ≈ 33rd
W: 59
ERA: 1.38
SV: 1
Ks: 441
WHIP: 0.92
Guy Hecker: Louisville Eclipse (1884)
Notable ranks among pitchers: W: 3rd, Ks: 5th, WHIP*: ≈ 15th
W: 52
ERA: 1.80
SV: 0
Ks: 385
WHIP: 0.87
Nolan Ryan: California Angels (1973)
Notable ranks among pitchers Ks: 6th
W: 21
ERA: 2.87
SV: 1
Ks: 383
WHIP: 1.23
Sandy Koufax: Los Angeles Dodgers (1965)
Notable ranks among pitchers: Ks: 7th, WHIP*: ≈ 12th
W: 26
ERA: 2.04
SV: 2
Ks: 382
WHIP: 0.86
Randy Johnson: Arizona Diamondbacks (2001)
Notable ranks among pitchers: Ks: 8th
W: 21
ERA: 2.49
SV: 0
Ks: 372
WHIP: 1.01
Closers
While the closer game is almost always exclusively about saves, and cheap saves, this list is shockingly missing the two highest single season save totals of all-time. However, the seasons compiled by the men on the list, outweigh the few save differences between them and the record holders.
Honorable Mentions: Francisco Rodriguez—2008, Bobby Thigpen—1990, John Smoltz—2002, Mariano Rivera—2004, Eric Gagne—2002, Dennis Eckersley—1992
* MLB.com also does not rank closers statistically amongst that of pitchers, so these ranks are in comparison with the top 50 MLB pitchers in terms of single season saves*
Dennis Eckersley: Oakland Athletics (1990)
Notable ranks among closers: W: 10th, ERA: 1st, SV: 14th, WHIP: 1st.
W: 4
ERA: 0.61
SV: 48
Ks: 73
WHIP: 0.61
Trevor Hoffman: San Diego Padres (1998)
Notable ranks among closers: W: 10th, ERA: 5th, SV: 5th, Ks: 12th, WHIP: 5th.
W: 4
ERA: 1.48
SV: 53
Ks: 86
WHIP: 0.85
Eric Gagne: Los Angeles Dodgers (2003)
Courtesy: ESPN
Notable ranks among closers: ERA: 2nd, SV: 3rd, Ks: 1st, WHIP: 2nd.
W: 2
ERA: 1.20
SV: 55
Ks: 137
WHIP: 0.69
So there you have it; no Mantle, Mays, Griffey, Clemens or Rivera. But this is the greatest team that could ever be assembled…in the Fantasy World that is.
