A League By Himself

                After thinking about my piece from the other night on Phelps and the greatness that he missed out on, I began thinking about other great athletes of my lifetime.  I have witnessed my share of great but my mind kept coming to one man who I didn’t mention.  A man who completely dominated his respective sport and did so with an arrogance and contempt for everyone else around him.  If you haven’t guessed it by now, the man is Barry Bonds possibly the greatest baseball player of all time, and the greatest sports villain I have ever seen. 

                Since Bonds ‘ last season in 2007 there have been many athletes that has become the biggest sporting villain to the public Kobe Bryant, Terrell Owens, Tiger Woods, Lebron James to its current holder Dwight Howard among others, but in all honesty no athlete compares to the way Barry Bonds held the title.  Look at this YouTube clip, those athletes above were reluctantly hated , and more often then not misunderstood people who made mistakes, Bonds on the other hand was a bonafide jerk.  He was downright mean to people and honestly didn’t care what people thought of him.  In a crazy kind of way I find this kind of refreshing for athletes in retrospect.  He wasn’t going to suck up to the media to come off as a nice guy or likeable person, and he gave the world a really easy person to collectively root against. 

                Now along with this Barry Bonds dominated baseball like very few people have dominated anything ever done.  From the years 1990 to 1998, the year before Bonds’ first alleged season on steroids Barry Bonds was the best player in baseball, baseball god Bill James said he was the best player of the 90s and the 16th best player of all time in 1999.  He won 3 MVP Awards, 8 Gold Gloves, hit 327 Homeruns, Stole 328 Bases, had a lowest on base percentage of .410, and had a lowest WAR of 6.0, and a 2^nd lowest WAR of 7.7.  He completely dominated baseball then took steroids and completely reinvented his career putting forth between the seasons 2001 and 2004 possibly the greatest 4 year run of a hitter in baseball history.

2001: .328/.515/.863 BA/OBP/SLG, 73 Homeruns, .539 wOBA, 12.9 WAR

2002: .370/.582/.799 BA/OBP/SLG, 46 Homeruns, .546 wOBA, 12. 5 WAR

2003: .341/.529/.749 BA/OBP/SLG, 45 Homeruns, .506 wOBA, 10.5 WAR

2004: .362/.609/.812 BA/OBP/SLG, 45 Homeruns, .538 wOBA, 11.9 WAR

Ok for perspective since that 2001 season the highest single season WAR is Sammy Sosa’s 2001 season of 10.4, the highest wOBA is Jason Giambi’s 2001 season where he had .466, the highest slugging is Sosa’s 2001 season where he had.737 and the highest OBP is Jason Giambi’s 2001 season where he had an OBP of .477.  Let’s puts this is perspective for a second no one has even come close to comparing almost any of Bonds’ numbers since that stretch he put forth.  Ok he basically broke wOBA, Fangraphs says a wOBA of .400 is excellent, not listing one for .500 since well that seems impossible by the metric’s standards.  Even if you want to criticize Bond’s for his steroid use over this period, which I don’t like to do, he still was competing against players that were doing the same exact thing and were having less success.  Look every year during this period he had an OBP over .515, meaning that when he came to bat that he was going to be on base more than 51 percent of the time and in 2004 about 61 percent.  Actually his dominance almost bred more dominance as he walked all the time, intentionally and unintentionally.  He had an uncanny eye, especially considering how few pitches he was given to hit over this period that is even more impressive he retained his unparrelled patience throughout, never changing his style. 

Barry Bonds completely dominated the sport of baseball in a way that was unique to him in my lifetime.  He did so by being the villain that sports desperately craves and instead of shying away from the role and backing away from it he embraced it, so thank you Barry Bonds for being the villain we needed but didn’t deserve you were one of a kind. 

Stay Hungry My Friends

MLB Weekly Recap: Deadline Madness

So it's that time of year again. The time when teams decide which direction they are going in this year and for the next few years. The time when some of the league's best players are traded, altering divisional, wild card, and pennant races dramatically. It's the MLB trade deadline. Although there is a few days left, many important moves have already been made.

The Dodgers are attempting to overcome their hitting woes to stay competitive in the NL West Race. Getting Matt Kemp and Andre Eithier back from injury helps but i'm not so sure trading for Hanley Ramirez will be of much assistance. After performing like one of the best players in baseball from 2006-2010; Ramirez has been rather pedestrian these past two years. He's hitting around .250 since the start of 2011 and has an OPS in the .700's. He has hit pretty well in his first four games in L.A (.374/.475/.750) so maybe all he needed was a change of scenery.

The White Sox attempted to improve their banged up pitching staff by taking a flier on Francisco Liriano. He's struggled a bit this year (3-10, 5.31 e.r.a), but he's shown that he can be an effective pitcher. He's never gotten back to his dominant 2006 form (12-3, 2.16 e.r.a) but he could turn out to be an effective 3rd starter for Chicago.

Like many other Yankees fans, I was incredibly excited by the acquisition of Ichiro. That was before I looked up his stats for the past two years. He's batting below .270 in both seasons while his on base percentage is down about 70 points from his career average, and his offensive wins above replacement is less than one. This isn't a bad trade for the Yankees by any means; just not as good as it sounded originally.

Now onto the biggest trade of the deadline. With the trade for Zack Greinke, the Angels are announcing that they are all in as World Series contenders this year. In fact, they may now be favorites. They have three legitimate aces in Greinke, Weaver, and Wilson. They also have a solid fourth starter if they need him (Haren). The offense is good but far from great. This may not matter as they have three of the most dangerous hitters in baseball in MVP canidate Mike Trout, slugger Mark Trumbo, and two time champion Albert Pujols. The trade for Greinke moves the Angels from World Series contenders to World Series favorites.

Hot Teams
Oakland: I know I talked about them last week but the A's are continuing to make Billy Beane look like a genius. They are now 18-3 in their last 21 and haven't lost a series since June. While Yoenis Cespedes gets most of the attention, Josh Reddick quietly is becoming one of the better hitters in baseball. Meanwhile, the A's have by far the best pitching in the American League. The rotation has no weak spot while the bullpen may be the best in the business. They'll have a spot in this section every week until they slow down.

Cincinatti: Despite the absence of MVP canidate Joey Votto, the Reds have won nine of ten and are fending off the pesky Pirates for NL Central supremecy. Johnny Cueto be the most under-rated pitcher in baseball (13-5, 2.39 e.r.a) and the bullpen is more than solid. However it might do the Reds a bit of good to try to find a bat in the last few days of the deadline.

Cold Teams
Milwaukee: A year after winning their first playoff series of my lifetime, the Brewers are downright bad again. The trade of Greinke symbolizes their collective giving up on the 2012 season. While it's obvious that Prince Fielder is a huge loss; no one expected the Brewers to fall this far this fast. They've lost eight of ten and are now a season worst ten games under .500. All this the year after coming within two games of the World Series. There is some good news though; they got quite a haul from the Angels for Greinke. Plus, as they now know, things can change in an instant.

Houston: Worth noting: after appearing in this section last week they preceeded to lose six more games in a row. They've now lost 12 in a row and have fallen to 34 games under .500. So no more time will be wasted talking about them.

Cleveland: The Indians have fallen back under .500 (50-51) and 5.5 games behind the White Sox for the division lead. They appear indifferent to many of their observers, they lack any kind of identity, and they're wildly inconsistent. After beating Verlander last week, they lost a combined 23-5 the last two games at the hands of the not so mighty Minnesota Twins. If they keep this cold streak up they could fall right out of contention even in the weakest division in baseball. They're right on their way to missing the playoffs for the fifth year in a row.

That's it for this week. Stay Hungry My Friends..

The Disappointment of Greatness

When Phelps didn’t medal in the 400 Meter IM, the first time he failed to medal since the 200 Olympics when he was 15, I couldn’t help but feel disappointment.  This disappointment wasn’t because Phelps was an American and that is one less medal for the American side, but that we wouldn’t see greatness.  If Phelps had a dominating Olympics he had the chance to go down in history as the greatest Olympian of all time.  Right now he is probably the greatest Olympic swimmer but you can still make an argument for Mark Spitz.  Now in all likelihood Phelps won’t be able to distinguish himself from the pack of great Olympians and will always be remembered as an all-time great instead of the greatest.  As a fan of sports outside of your own team winning a championship is to see elite levels of achievement.  This is why week after week I want to see Tiger Woods win because he isn’t the greatest athlete I have ever seen and I want to see the return of the athlete I once knew.  I want to witness greatness, that’s why Roger Federer is so special he is the greatest tennis player ever and watching a player like him is amazing.

Now this Olympics changes from Michael Phelps elevation to the coming out party for Ryan Lochte.  He has an opportunity to position himself in the Pantheon of great athletes and in the league of Phelps and Mark Spitz as the greatest swimmers in Olympic history.  This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Lochte and personally I will be hoping he pulls it off.  He came to London in better shape and more driven than Phelps and hopefully he will be rewarded for his efforts.

This is actually the same reason that I want Usian Bolt to win in this year’s Olympics because of the opportunity for greatness.  If he wins in both events this year than he has a strong case as the greatest Track star of all time.  He has the same opportunity that Phelps had and actually still has this year and that is to elevate oneself from one level of an elite athlete to another entirely.  I want to see that happen because greatness is unique, it isn’t something that we can see whenever we want, it takes special athletes to achieve it.  That’s the reason I want to see athletes like Phelps, Bolt, and Woods succeed, and is why I can appreciate what Lebron James has done.  These athletes either have, are, or have the opportunity to transcend the sports.

Stay Hungry My Friends

And A Thank You to the Director

To me the way to determine who the best director right now is, is to answer this question.  If the only information you know about a movie is who the director whose film would you want to see? To me the answer is quite simple, it is Christopher Nolan.  I have absolutely no idea what movie Christopher Nolan will direct next, I’m not sure if he knows, but I do know one thing, there is a 100% chance that I am going to see it.  Nolan is a genius who knows how to build stories, create and develop characters, unleash unbelievable sequences, and turn it all into a film that anyone would love to see.  He creates summer blockbusters, but destroys the stereotypes of what a summer blockbuster is supposed to be.  He doesn’t make the lighthearted simple story that everyone has come to expect, no he makes the gritty Dark Knight Trilogy, and the creative and thought provoking Inception. 

The greatness of Nolan while forever connected with the Batman movies goes much farther than that though.  To me the best job I have seen done in a film is his direction of the movie Memento.  It is a confusing non-linear story about a man who has short-term memory loss and his quest for the killer of his life.  The way the story is told makes you question your life your sanity, what reality is and the difference between good and evil.  It is a fascinating film and a must watch for any human being who has a Netflix account. 

Also I need to thank Nolan for what he gave to the world in the Dark Knight Trilogy.  As a fan of the character Batman the idea that there could be one great Batman movie let alone 3 seemed extraordinary, especially after considering the last one made was Batman and Robin.  He acted like he wasn’t making a superhero movie, and even downplayed some of the more comic booky themes, but the movies were for true Batman fans.  He created the dark world of Gotham that needed a Batman and the way in which that man would be tested.  The teacher Ra’s al Ghul, the terrifying Joker, the menacing Bane while all played brilliantly be the actors were truly creations of Christopher Nolan’s imagination.  Nolan created a world where these people seemed to be not only believable but real threats.  Nolan summed it up best himself when talking about the movies here, but this quote sums it up best “I will miss the Batman. I like to think that he’ll miss me, but he’s never been particularly sentimental.”  Well I will miss Christopher Nolan leading the Batman universe in film and taking it wherever he pleases, so as always…

Stay Hungry My Friends

MLB Weekly Recap:Hot Hot Hot and Not Not Not

This week's column will deal mostly with what teams are hot and cold right just because there are so many that fall under those categories right now. There is one team, however, that seems to fall under one of those two categories nearly every week. The Baltimore Orioles have already made appearances in several columns this year for a multitude of reasons. Now they're making an appearance because I have no idea what to think of them. They always seem to be on a streak of some sort but they never relinquish their post at second place in the AL East. Despite a -47 run differential, bad starting pitching, and a pretty average offense; the O's keep chugging away. But who knows? Maybe they'll have fallen to last place by next week, that's the way the Orioles have operated this year.

Five Hottest Teams:
New York Yankees: I hate to beat a dead horse but the Yankees have been really, really, good since Mid-May. In fact, they're 36-16 since then even with losses in the last three games. C.C's return is huge but Pettitte's fate is uncertain, Gardner may not be back for the rest of the year, and worst of all; Joba could return soon. Yikes. But the Yankees do have the benefit of having a rotation in which all five guys are pitching well, a solid bullpen, a lights out closer, and apparently some awesome German stem cells for their bench players(Jones, Ibanez, Chavez, Wise). They might just be hot for the rest of the year. Unless of course Joba returns.

Detroit: It appears as though I, among many, wrote off the Tigers just a little bit too soon. They've now won 11 of 13 and are fighting with Chicago for supremecy in the AL Central. The trio of Miguel Cabrera, Austin Jackson, and Prince Fielder is as good as any trio in the league, Justin Verlander has been brilliant as always, and the rest of the staff(Porcello, Fister) has shown improvement of late. The Tigers seem to be coming into their own lately and they might be legitimate World Series contenders. If two of the three of Porcello/Fister/Scherzer are on for the playoffs the Tigers are as dangerous as anyone. This is, of course, assuming Verlander is on. Pretty safe assumption to make I'd say.

Oakland: The A's have won 13 of their last 15 and are legitimately in the race for the second wild card spot now. All this with the AL's worst offense. Lucklily they also have the AL's best pitching staff. They're having trouble at the 5th starter spot but once they get McCarthy back it might not matter. The A's may finally have to change their tune at the deadline though. The perennial sellers may need to grab a bat or two if they want a chance at competing in October.

Cincinatti:The Reds have won 10 of 12 to retain control of the suddenly competitive NL Central. However, the Joey Votto injury has put somewhat of a damper on any excitement surrounding this recent streak. They were already going to need to trade for a bat at the deadline but now they're absolutely forced to. This is offense is simply not good enough to compete for a World Series without Votto returning AND another big bat in the line-up. Look for the Reds to make a move within the next ten days.

Three Coldest Teams:
New York Mets: The Mets are finally making their long anticipated trip back to Earth as they've lost 11 of the last 15. Much of this has to do with the putrid post-no hitter performance of Johan Santana (3-5, 6+ e.r.a). Niese and Dickey have been solid but they simply don't have a good enough offense behind David Wright to win. There is not much the Mets can do to stop simple, old regression to the mean. This was going to happen at some point, they had to know it

Houston: Ah so we find ourselves in the same spot as last year. Houston is again, by far, the worst team in baseball. How bad are they? They were the first team to crack the elusive -100 run differential, they've won only 12 of the last 50, and their best player is some guy named Jose Altuve. Despite a respectable start(22-23), the Astros are threatening to be the first team in eight years to lose 110 games. It's not all bad though; teams have had success after grabbing the top pick in multiple years(Tampa Bay, Washington). It's all about the distant future now for the Astros.

Kansas City: The Royals are about as cold as a franchise can get. For starters they've lost seven of the last ten. More importanly however Eric Hosmer hasn't impressed at all (.226/.296/.359), four of their staring pitchers are having Tommy John surgery, and they were harshly criticized for the fan's booing of Robinson Cano and other players. The season was already a wash so it's not a huge deal but the Hosmer situation has to be unsettling. Especially for a franchise that is starting to be considered the least relevant/biggest perennial doormat in baseball.

That's it for this week, Stay Hungry My Friends.

Behold the Real Chosen One

I have spent and will continue to spend a great portion of my life discussing in detail the Star Wars universe. The topic for this blog comes along a certain ambivalence with it because I am going to change your whole understanding of the Force, the idea of who the Chosen One is, and a character I did not think much of except for that Liam Neeson played him and that was sweet. You see I am an original trilogy guy, and I do not like conversations dealing with the prequel trilogy, and refuse to participate in any conversation that at any point holds the phrase "In the Extended Universe". Except for the first Force Unleashed video game, which I do consider canon. Unfortunately the Chosen one is only in the prequels and is in the worst Star Wars movie ever. Thats right Qui Gon Jinn is the Chosen One. First off lets start with what makes one the Chosen One. Well according to its Wikipedia page the Chosen One has to have a high Midi-Chlorian count, has to be strong with the Force, and destined to alter it forever. According to various characters in the movies the Chosen One will ultimately bring balance back to the force. That is a pretty big undertaking for anyone, and it is this idea of bringing balance back to the Force that is the trickiest part. You see the common person thinks due to the misguided ways of the Jedi Council that to bring balance to the Force, the Sith must be destroyed so that the Dark Side of the Force is defeated and that the Light Side of the Force will forever rule and the galaxy will prosper. You know what I say to that? Bullshit, that's what. The Jedi should probably study the Force a little less and a dictionary a little more because in no way is one side ruling the other completely considered balanced. There must be an equilibrium between the Light and the Dark, or an equilibrium between Life and Death. The Light Side will bring one peace and life, while the Dark Side brings power but it also brings death. The Chosen One must be able to bridge those two together. So why isn't Anakin Skywalker the Chosen One? That is a fair question to ask considering the movies and George Lucas himself has told you that he in fact is. I mean all six movies are really about Anakin's journey of discovery, rise to glory because of his natural ability and talent, fall from grace due to his corruption, and ultimately his redemption. So I can see where it makes sense that everyone would think that this main character of six movies would be the Chosen One, especially since the mastermind behind it all has confirmed it. The only problem is that George Lucas has shown over the years that he knows very little about what really happens in Star Wars and he should not be considered and expert on his own subject material. But just so you people have proof lets run down the list of what makes a Chosen One. Anakin did have the highest Midi-Chlorian count that the Jedi Council had ever seen, but too bad dumbass Lucas had to go and mention that Luke has the same count as his father in an interview, so it shows that highest doesn't mean Chosen One (see what I mean about him not being considered an expert in his own creation, I swear to God the man just says things just for the hell of it, even if it makes no sense). I will concede the fact Anakin is very strong with the force considering he mastered both the Light and Dark Side of it and was admitted to be trained as a Jedi despite his age due to his natural talent. However Anakin really did nothing to alter the Force forever, sure he killed the strongest Sith lord ever and possibly destroyed the Sith for a time but it is only a matter of time before some one with the Force choose Power over Peace. Finally Anakin never Balances the force neither since all he does is give more power to the Light side which again is not a real definition for the word balance. I can not stress enough how much I hate the prequel trilogy and how much I cannot stand the Phantom Menace. I want you to know that because I would not make this claim that Qui Gon is the Chosen One if I didn't know it to be true. They never say what his Midi-Chlorian number is so I have no clue, and to be honest I do not care, I am not a fan of Midi-Chlorians I think there could of been a better way of explaining the force but that is neither here nor there. Qui Gon is quite strong with the force he has a very deep understanding of the Force that often at times gets him in trouble with the Jedi Council because of differing beliefs in the ways of the Force. Qui Gon alters the Force by ever by being the first to become with the Force in Spirit. Through this he balances the force because know Jedi's are the masters of both life and death a la the Chosen One. Now you must be thinking "Wow Pat, you kinda skimmed over those last two points most important points there didn't ya?" This is true, I did, but only so I could give you crazy in-depth fanboy explanations that are broken up into more paragraphs instead of one long ass one. We all know that Lucas was inspired by Joseph Campbell's work on the ideas of mythology and how all myths have reoccurring themes and characters, like the Chosen One, or Savior, or Messiah or whatever the hell you want to call him, but it is with Qui Gon that Lucas mistakenly made a Christ figure. How so? Well Qui Gon has a completely new and revolutionary way of understanding the Force and it bothers the centuries old council. Kinda like how Jesus had a new and revolutionary way of understanding God and his Laws which bothered the centuries old council. He then dies a violent death only to come back from death and become one with the force and achieve immortality. He then passes this knowledge onto others so that they can then achieve immortality at the time of their deaths. I don't know about you but that sounds a little Force altering forever to me. So the fact that all the Jedi's in the future that will be trained by Luke and will hold this power means that the Jedi's of the future are the masters of death, and that they have finally taken control of their greatest enemy. Also to achieve this it is shown in Return that only Jedi's can have this power because Anakin and not Darth is shown at the celebration. Also the Emperor is no where in sight, because one must adopt an understanding of the force similar to Qui Gon's for a Jedi to become One with the Force. Qui Gon Jinn balanced the force and changed it forever. He did not eradicate the Sith because there will always be men and women who desire earthly goods and will not worry about what is after their time is done, but The Jedi will always give people the faith that if they work hard and are upstanding immortality is theirs. So I do not see any reason why anyone would think Anakin Skywalker is The Chosen One. He is a deeply interesting character that there is a ton of discussion to be had about, but the honor of the Chosen One is most certainly Qui Gon Jinn. Stay Hungry My Friends.

Ranking The Last Ten Stanley Cup Champions: Detroit Dominance

A couple weeks ago Mike ranked the past ten NBA Champions. We liked the idea so much, we decided to do it for the other three major sports. First i'll be covering the past ten Stanley Cup champions. This takes us back to 2002 because of the lockout in 2004-05. You remember...that totally necesary lockout where all the players had their demands met and the game was changed so that it would never be defensively dominated or low scoring ever again. Oh what's that? None of the players demands were met and hockey is back to being as much of a low scoring, shot blocking game as it's ever been? Ah I see.

Anywho I made quite the observation in researching these teams. Despite all the talk of the playoffs being random and the regular season not mattering; the teams that win generally deserve to win. You don't really see too many suprise teams, teams that got hot at the right time, or teams that weren't a championship caliber. Overall, this was the under-rated decade of champions and classic finals in general.

So there were a few factors I took into account when making my list and they're not nearly as complicated as the ones Mike used for his NBA list. You see, hockey is not as easy to judge by advanced stats. Instead I judged teams based on their regular season performance, their postseason performance, who they beat, and the manner in which they beat them. So without further ado, here's my list.

10. 2006 Carolina Hurricanes: If there's ever a championship you don't want to win, it's the one right after a lockout. Basketball and baseball have shown that lockouts tend to provide strange and forgettable champions. This year's Heat are an excpetion for a few reasons(LeBron, the over-pervasive media, Lebron, the decision, Lebron, the shortness of the lockout, and of course Lebron). But in general, post lockout championships are like winning a pick up basketball game at a family party after there's a huge fight/argument between other members of the family earlier in the party. No one cares that you won; they're just going to remember the fight. Such is the trouble with teams that win after lockouts. The "Canes benefitted from the major changeover that occurred over the course of the lockout year, especially in regards to teams. They benefitted from some of the weakest competition any cup winner has ever faced. It took them the full seven games to put away the upstart, less talented Sabres who had five injured regulars including 4 of the top six defensemen. In the finals it again took them seven to do away with the untalented 8th seeded Oilers who only got that far on the back of goaltender Dwayne Roloson. The same Dwayne Roloson who was knocked out of the series in game 1. Yeah .......overall they had a 16-9 playoff record (the worst of the list) while facing some of the worst competition.

9. 2011 Boston Bruins: While the Bruin had the (weirdly) dominant seven game win over President's Trophy winning Vancouver; the rest of the run is not as convincing. For example they took all seven games to beat the 8th seeded Canadians and the upstart Lightning. They also didn't score a powerplay goal for the entirety of the first two rounds of the playoffs and finished only third in the conference with 46 wins in the regular season. However they did sweep the Flyers (albeit the Flyers who escaped the less than intimidating Sabres by the slightest of margins) and the finals was possibly the most dominant seven game series in world history. The final score of the series was 23-8 Boston! 23 to 8!!! The best regular season team was held to 8 goals! After the Canucks took a 2-0 series lead; Boston outscored them 21-4! Vancouver was up 3-2 after five games and were outscored 9-2 in games six and seven. Despite this utter dominance, the entire spectrum must be viewed. Compared to the other teams on this list Boston did not have a very impressive regular season or postseason (16-9) and they had a tendency to rely too much on Tim Thomas and his brilliance and Nathan Horton and his propensity to score game winning goals in game 7's. We were given a clear picture of what the 2011 Bruins were so close to being in 2012.

8.2009 Pittsburgh Penguins: The importance of Sidney Crosby and the Penguins finally slaying Detroit and taking their throne as the supposed new kings of the league overshadowed the fact that Pittsburgh didn't have a very good year. They're one of two teams in the past ten years to win the Cup with less than 100 points. In fact they were in 10th place in the East halfway through the year before firing Michael Therrian and hiring Dan Bylsma. This sparked an 18-3-3 run to 4th in the East where the Pens ended up in time for the playoffs to start. The Pens did accomplish the mighty feat of defeating the league's two best teams in Washington and Detroit but took all seven games to do so. They handled the Flyers easily in the first round and swept Carolina in the conference finals. Overall it was impressive season but they just didn't dominate like others ahead of them did.

7. 2012 Los Angeles Kings: This was by far the hardest team to place on the list. You see, they had by far the worst regular season of anyone on the list. But they also had the most dominating postseason run. I felt that their playoff dominance was enough to put them over the previous three but after that they're hampered too much by their less than brilliant regular season. A regular season that saw them score less than 200 goals (192), finish 8th in the West, and barely sneak into the playoffs in the last week of the regular season. But they did their best to make everyone forget that by taking out the two time defending President's Trophy winners; the Vancouver Canucks in only five games. They then swept the second seeded St. Louis Blues to start the playoffs 8-1. In the conference finals they again took a 3-0 series lead to run their record to 11-1. After the core of Drew Doughty, Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, and Dustin Penner began to take shape it became clear that this was a great team that underachieved a bit in the regular season. They defeated Phoenix and were slated to play New Jersey in the Stanley Cup. Incredibly, they started a fourth straight series with a 3-0 lead and improved their playoff record to 15-2. After struggling a bit, they closed out the Devils in 6 games with a 6-1 blowout in the clincher. They finished with a 16-4 playoff record by taking out the one, two, and three seed in the West. This playoff domination was good enough to make a totally average regualar season the 7th best championship team of the decade.

6. 2004 Tampa Bay Lightning: The forgotten champions. Their impressive playoff run was forgotten after possibly the most destructive lockout in North American sports history directly followed it. The Lightning scored the third most goals in the league in route to a 106 point finish. They tore through the Islanders and Montreal in the first two rounds of the playoffs in only nine games. Tampa then took all seven to put away the powerful Flyers and again went the distance to douse the oober hot Flames(Horrible pun intended). Why this team isn't remembered or talked about at all is beyond me. They had quite the playoff run(16-7), dominated at times(9-1 stretch to start the playoffs), a great regular season(106 points), the league's leading scorer(Martin St. Louis, albeit at a paltry 94 points), and a pleathora of talent (Lecavalier, Richards, Boyle). For God sakes people let's give this team some more respect. Ya know? like their home city did. (LOL)

5. 2003 New Jersey Devils: This edition of the Devils allowed the least goals in the NHL(obviously) but also were in the top half of the league in scoring(14th). Not too shabby for the "trap and never forecheck" Devils. They had more than a solid regular season with 108 points. They had a rather unimpressive 16-8 post-season record until you consider who they faced. Starting with the second round they defeated the future champion Lightning in five, President's Trophy winner Ottawa in seven, and the previously 12-2 Anaheim Mighty Ducks and Mr. Brickwall himself J.S Giguere. Although they may not look special at first glance, these Devils defeated one of the toughest string of foes in recent playoff memory.

4. 2010 Chicago Blackhawks: Suprisingly the Hawks were one of the most dominant, complete championship teams of the decade. They had a great regular season record and a very good post-season one as well. Chicago had everything you could ask from a team. They had young stars like Duncan Keith, Kris Versteeg Pat Kane, and Conn Smythe winner John Toews. They had reliable veterans such as Marian Hossa, Pat Sharp, and John Madden. They had fantastic role players Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, and Brent Seabrook. They started rookie Annti Niemi in the playoffs and most importantly they had overpaid, underpeforming veterans in Brian Campbell and Cristobal Huet (An absolute must). Yes this was quite the complete team and they showed it in tearing through both the regular season (112 points) and the post-season (16-6 record) including a sweep of San Jose in the conference finals. They were top five in both goals for (271) and goals against (209). The only thing holding Chicago out of a top three spot is the competition they faced. 2010 was a rather weak post-season as Chicago had to go through only perennial disappoinments Vancouver and San Jose before taking on the seventh seeded Flyers in the Stanley Cup. Overall this was almost as good as a championship run gets. Unfortunatly the salary cap took its toll the past two seasons and Chicago learned the hard way to that not everyone can be signed to a major deal.

3. 2007 Anaheim Ducks: Somehow GM Brian Burke was able to put together an all time great team in ANAHEIM.....and no one remembers. People seem to forget just how good this team was. Perhaps people need to be reminded that Hall of Famers Scott Niedermayer AND Chris Pronger were paired together. Perhaps mentioning the all star caliber Francois Beauchemin and Sean O'Donnell were the second pairing will jog people's memory. Maybe it should be considered that the top prize of last offseason, Ilya Bryzgalov, was the BACK-UP goalie as former Conn Smythe winner Jean Sebastien Giguere led the way. But that doesn't even include the offense and West leading scorer Teemu Selanne, the formerly great Andy McDonald, and the incredibly young core of Dustin Penner, Ryan Getzlaf, and Corey Perry. The Ducks were sixth in goals for and 7th in goals against as they finished with 110 points. They made easy work of a tough Minnesota team in the first round of the playoffs and did the same in five games to an oober talented Vancouver team in the second. They then physically dominated the Mighty Red Wings and defeated them in six games in the conference finals. The Ducks finished off their historic run by embarassing the previously unstoppable Ottawa Senators in five games to finish 16-5 in the post-season.

2. 2008 Detroit Red Wings: The Wings were one of the most convincing champions in quite a while. They are the only team to win both the Stanley Cup and the President's trophy in the same season since......they did it in 2002 (we'll get to that very soon). They dominated the regular season with 54 wins and 115 points as they finished 3rd in goals scored (257) and 1st in goals allowed (184). Goalies Dominic Hasek and Chris Osgood split time dominating in net while future Hall of Famer Nick Lidstrom anchored the defense, and Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg were unstoppable on offense. After falling down 2-1 against Nashville in the first round, Detroit embarked on one of the most dominating runs in playoff history. They won the next three to finish off the Predators, swept Colorado (winning 9-0 in the closeout game), and started 3-0 on Dallas in the conference finals. After finished off the Stars, they faced very little adversity in closing out the young and talented Penguins. On most lists, this would be the best team in the last ten years. But alas, this is not most lists; this list includes a truly transcendent hockey team. You'll understand soon enough.
1. 2002 Detroit Red Wings: 17 losses in an entire regular season, hmm.......not bad. Not bad at all. The Wings also won 51 games and recorded 116 points; the most of any championship team in the last ten years. This team had no weaknesses as it was top three in both goals scored (2nd) and goals allowed (3rd). The team even had future Hall of Famers at forward (Shanahan, Hull, Yzerman, Robitaille, Fedorov), defense (Chelios, Lydstrom), and in net (Hasek). That's not even including young guns like Sean Avery and Pavel Datsyuk or key contributors such as Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby, and Igor Larionov. Yes these Red Wings were quite loaded and it showed in the playoffs. They took their time in gettin by Vancouver (6 games) before defeating the Blues in five. They conference finals was a match-up of not only the best rivals of the time, but the two best teams in the league. Detroit claimed victory after a hard fought seven game series. After that, beating the overmatched Hurricanes in five seemed like a formality. This wasn't just the best champion of the past ten years, it's one one of the best of all time.

Next year the 2002 Red Wings can no longer be included in the "last ten champions" category. This leaves the top spot quite attainable. As long as teams Stay Hungry. Stay Hungry My Friends.

How Perspectives Have Changed

            Five years ago, three of sports most beloved figures were Tiger Woods, Brett Favre, and Joe Paterno; now they all quite possibly sports most hated figures. They faced scandals or inner conflicts that tarnished their legacies. Each of them excelled in their respective sports and broke many records in their careers. Tiger Woods dramatically escalated golf’s popularity and was well on his way to breaking most of golf’s records. . Brett Favre was on his way to obtain every major statistical record for quarterbacks and was football’s most admired athlete.  Joe Paterno had the most wins in college football history and was beloved as a fatherly figure by Penn State faithful. Over the course of the next five years, these beloved individuals’ lives would dramatically change and their legacy would be tarnished.  The saddest part is that we as fans praised these individuals as god-like figures and their own falling from grace instills the fact in us that they are also human. 

Tiger Woods: Five years Tiger Woods was fresh off winning the British Open and the PGA Championship, with his PGA Championship being his 12^th major victory. He was the highest paid individual in sports making 90 million dollars and was quite possibly sport’s biggest star.  Everything would change on November 27^th 2009 when Woods got in to a car accident. When asked why it occurred he said it was a “private matter”. In the days and months that followed, Tiger Woods’ infidelity, whether for right or wrong, would be revealed to the general public. The media and the general public would change their perspective on Tiger Woods from that point on. Tiger Woods’ poor etiquette and foul language while golfing would be shown more and more. Woods’ game was seemingly affected by the scandal as well. Woods has not won a major since scandal. A major victory this Sunday at Open Championship would officially end a sad chapter in Woods’ life and would likely improve his shattered legacy.

Brett Favre: In 2007, Brett Favre was undoubtedly, football’s most beloved figure. His love and passion for the game of football captured the heart of many fans. While in 2007, Favre, was close to beating many of Dan Marino’s records, he also was close to retiring. Many speculated that 2007 would be Favre’s last season. Favre played the 2007 like he was in his prime, though, throwing for 28 touchdowns and over 4000 yards. Favre lead his Green Bay Packers to the NFC Championship where he lost to the New York Giants in overtime, during a physically and emotionally demanding game. Favre retired from football on March 4, 2008. Favre in the coming months would regret his decision and opt to return to the in July of that same year. He got traded to the New York Jets that year and would retire again at the end of that season. Again during the offseason of that following year, Favre would come to regret his decision and this time in 2009 he would join his former rival, the Minnesota Vikings and have one of the greatest seasons of his career. Favre also fumbled the idea of playing before he returned to play his final season, in 2010. Overall, unlike the other two individuals on this list, Favre’s legacy was not shattered by scandal but by inner conflict. His inability to decide when to retire gave him a reputation as an attention hog and a diva.

Joe Paterno: This figure unlike the others listed above is not on this list for personal scandals or being a constant diva, but for harming the lives of innocent children. Joe Pa’s fall from grace is more dramatic and tragic than any other sports figure of his stature before him. Entering the 2007 year, Paterno was fresh off a victory in the Outback bowl. He was 80 years old and was entering his 41^st season as Penn State’s head football coach. To say he was beloved by fans would be colossal understatement; he was the face of not only Penn State but of college football.  His class and his commitment to his players would make him adored by Penn State Alumni. He was a father-like figure to the students of Penn State. Paterno’s dramatic fall would begin in 1999 when he failed to report Jerry Sandusky to the police. Not only did he fail to report the sexual predator but he continually allowed Sandusky to use Penn State facilities unsupervised and he allowed him to attract more victims to Sandusky over the years to come. Whether he was in self-denial about the situation or covered the scandal up for his selfish reasons, so his “beloved” football program wouldn’t exacerbate Paterno’s inability to do the right thing cost him his job and his legacy, righfully so. Overall Paterno failed to take action to the victims who had their innocence and pride taken by a sexual predator. This will go down as the worst scandal in sports history and Paterno will never be looked at the same.  

Top 10: Ranking the Last 10 World Series Champions

As a follow up to my ranking of the last 10 NBA Champions Taylor and I decided that we should do a similar list for all 4 of the major sports with Taylor handling football and hockey while I handle basketball and baseball.  Now my rankings of teams uses a great deal of analytics along the way as to me baseball is a very analytical game that for the most part can be understood almost exclusively through numbers.  So before I get on with my list I will give you a list of different statistics that I used in my piece with links that include detailed explanations.

Expected/Pythagorean Record:  This statistic suggests that run differential is actually a better indicator of success than actual record is.  It suggests whether or not teams were lucky or unlucky over the course of the season.

WAR:  A catch all statistic that suggests exactly how valuable a player is above a normal bench player or an average triple A call up.  While their are a few different calculations of WAR out there I used Fangraphs number the entire time for simplicity.   

wOBA:  This statistic is a better indicator than BA, OBP, or SLG as an indicator of value a player provides to an offense. 

FIP:  This statistic is an alternative form of ERA which only uses things directly in the pitchers control strikeouts, walks, and homeruns allowed as a means of calculation.  This should indicate whether or not the pitcher was lucky or unlucky over the course of the season.  It often is skewed higher than it should be for traditional groundball pitchers.  

·         2002 Angels

o   Record 99-63 (.61 winning %), Expected Record 101-61 (.62%)

o   4^th offense (scored 851 runs), 4^rd defense (allowed 644 runs) (4+4)/2=4

o   Playoff Record 11-5

o   Most Valuable Pitcher Jarrod Washburn 18-6, 206 IP, 139 Ks, 3.15 ERA, 3.71 FIP, 4.5 WAR

o  Most Valuable Hitter David Eckstein BA/OBP/SLG .293/.363/.388, wOBA .344, 8 HR, 21 Steals, 107 runs, 63RBIs, 4.4 WAR

o   Average of 4 Rankings (2(.3)+1(.3)+2(.3)+7(.1))=2.2

·         2003 Marlins

o   Record 91-71 (.56 winning %), Expected Record 87-75 (.54%)

o   17^th offense (scored 751 runs) , 8^th defense( allowed 691 runs) (17+8)/2=12.5

o   Playoff Record 11-6

o   Most Valuable Pitcher Josh Beckett 9-8, 142 IP, 152 Ks, 3.04 ERA, 2.94 FIP, 3.9 WAR

o   Most Valuable Hitter Luis Castillo BA/OBP/SLG .314/.381/.397, wOBA .341, 6 HR, 21 Steals,  99 Runs, 39 RBIs, 5.3 WAR

o   Average of 4 Rankings (8(.3)+9(.3)+10(.3)+9(.1))=9

·         2004 Red Sox

o   Record 98-64 (.60 winning %), Expected Record 96-66 (.59%)

o   1^st offense(scored 949 runs), 14^th defense(allowed 768 runs) (1+14)/2=7.5

o   Playoff Record 11-3

o  Most Valuable Pitcher Curt Schilling 21-6, 226.2 IP, 203 Ks, 3.26 ERA, 3.11 FIP, 7.3 WAR

o   Most Valuable Hitter Johnny Damon BA/OBP/SLG .304/.380/.477, wOBA .373, 20 HR, 19 Steals, 123 Runs, 94 RBI’s, 4.6 WAR

o   Average of 4 Rankings (4(.3)+3(.3)+4(.3)+2(.1))=3.5

·         2005 White Sox

o   Record 99-63 (.61 winning %), Expected Record 91-71 (.56%)

o   13^th offense(scored 741 runs) , 5^th defense(allowed 645) (13+5)/2=9

o   Playoff Record 11-1

o   Most Valuable Pitcher Mark Buehrle 16-8, 236.2 IP, 149 Ks, 3.12 ERA, 3.42 FIP, 6.3 WAR

o   Most Valuable Hitter Paul Konerko BA/OBP/SLG .283/.375/.534, wOBA .385, 40 HR, 98 Runs, 100 RBIs, 4.0 WAR

o   Average of 4 Rankings (2(.3)+7(.3)+6(.3)+1(.1))=4.6

·         2006 Cardinals

o   Record 83-78 (.52 winning %), Expected Record 82-79 (.51%)

o   14^th offense(scored 781 runs), 10^th defense(allowed 762 runs) (14+10)/2=12

o   Playoff Record 11-5

o   Most Valuable Pitcher Chris Carpenter 15-8,221.2 IP, 184 Ks, 3.09 ERA, 3.44 FIP, 5.2 WAR

o   Most Valuable Hitter Albert Pujols BA/OBP/SLG .331/.431/.671, wOBA .448, 49 HR,119 Runs, 137 RBIs, 8.5 WAR

o   Average of 4 Rankings (10(.3)+10(.3)+9(.3)+7(.1))=9.4

·         2007 Red Sox

o   Record 96-66 (.59 winning %), Expected Record 101-61 (.62%)

o   4^th offense (scored 867 runs), 1^st defense(allowed 657 runs) (4+1)/2=2.5

o   Playoff Record 11-3

o   Most Valuable Pitcher Josh Beckett 20-7, 200.2 IP, 194 Ks, 3.27 ERA, 3.08 FIP, 6.5 WAR

o   Most Valuable Hitter David Ortiz BA/OBP/SLG .332/.445/.621, wOBA .448, 35 HR, 116 Runs, 117 RBIs, 6.3 WAR

o   Average of 4 Rankings (5(.3)+1(.3)+1(.3)+2(.1))=2.3

·         2008 Phillies

o   Record 92-70 (.57 winning %), Expected Record 93-69 (.57%)

o   7^th offense (scored 799 runs), 5^th defense (allowed 680 runs) (7+5)/2=6

o   Playoff Record 11-3

o   Most Valuable Pitcher Cole Hamels 14-10, 227.1 IP, 196 Ks, 3.09 ERA, 3.72 FIP, 4.4 WAR

o   Most Valuable Hitter Chase Utley BA/OBP/SLG .292/.380/.535, wOBA .391, 33 HR, 14 SB, 113 Runs, 104 RBIs, 8.3 WAR

o   Average of 4 Rankings (6(.3)+6(.3)+3(.3)+2(.1))=4.7

·         2009 Yankees

o   Record 103-59 (.64 winning %), Expected Record 95-67 (.59%)

o   1^st offense (scored 915 runs), 14^th defense (allowed 753 runs) (1+14)/2=7.5

o   Playoff Record 11-4

o   Most Valuable Pitcher CC Sabathia 19-8, 230 IP, 197 Ks, 3.37 ERA, 3.39 FIP, 6.4 WAR

o   Most Valuable Hitter Derek Jeter BA/OBP/SLG .334/.406/.465, wOBA .390, 18 HR, 30 SB, 107 Runs, 66 RBIs, 7.1 WAR

o   Average of 4 Rankings (1(.3)+4(.3)+4(.3)+5(.1))=3.2

·         2010 Giants

o   Record 92-70 (.57 winning %), Expected Record 94-68 (.58%)

o   17^th offense(scored 697 runs), 2^rd defense (allowed 583 runs) (17+2)/2=9.5

o   Playoff Record 11-4

o   Most Valuable Pitcher Tim Lincecum 16-10, 212.1 IP, 231 Ks, 3.43 ERA, 3.15 FIP, 4.9 WAR

o   Most Valuable Hitter Andres Torres BA/OBP/SLG .268/.343/.479, wOBA .363, 16 HR, 26 SB, 84 Runs, 63 RBIs, 6.8 WAR

o   Average of 4 Rankings (6(.3)+5(.3)+7(.3)+5(.1))=5.9

·         2011 Cardinals

o   Record 90-72 (.56 winning %), Expected Record 88-74 (.54%)

o   5^th offense (scored 762 runs), 15^th defense (allowed 692) (5+15)/2=10

o   Playoff Record 11-7

o   Most Valuable Pitcher Chris Carpenter 11-9, 237.1 IP, 191 Ks, 3.45 ERA. 3.06 FIP, 5.0 WAR

o   Most Valuable Hitter Albert Pujols BA/OBP/SLG .299/.366/.541, wOBA .385, 37 HR, 105 Runs, 99 RBIs, 5.1 WAR

o   Average of 4 Rankings (9(.3)+8(.3)+7(.3)+9(.1))=8.1

Record

1.       09 Yankees

2.       05 White Sox/02 Angels

4.       04 Red Sox

5.       07 Red Sox

6.       08 Phillies/10 Giants

8.       03 Marlins

9.       11 Cardinals

10.   06 Cardinals

Expected Record

1.       02 Angels/07 Red Sox

3.       04 Red Sox

4.       09 Yankees

5.       10 Giants

6.       08 Phillies

7.       05 White Sox

8.       11 Cardinals

9.       03 Marlins

10.   06 Cardinals

Average Rank of Offense and Defense

1.       07 Red Sox

2.       02 Angels

3.       08 Phillies

4.       04 Red Sox/09 Yankees

6.       05 White Sox

7.       10 Giants

8.       11 Cardinals

9.       06 Cardinals

10.   03 Marlins

Playoff Record

1.       05 White Sox

2.       04 Red Sox/07 Red Sox/08 Phillies

5.       09 Yankees/10 Giants

7.       02 Angels/06 Cardinals

9.       03 Marlins/11 Cardinals

Most Valuable Position Player

1.       06 Cardinals

2.       08 Phillies

3.       09 Yankees

4.       10 Giants

5.       07 Red Sox

6.       03 Marlins

7.       11 Cardinals

8.       04 Red Sox

9.       02 Angels

10.   05 White Sox

Most Valuable Pitcher

1.       04 Red Sox

2.       07 Red Sox

3.       09 Sabathia

4.       05 Buehrle

5.       06 Cardinals

6.       11 Cardinals

7.       10 Giants

8.       02 Angels

9.       08 Phillies

10.   03 Marlins

Calculated Rankings

This calculated ranking is not going to be composited just with an average of the rankings above.  While I think most valuable position player and pitcher are interesting statistics I don’t believe they are statistically relevant to the case.  I also don’t think that playoff record just matter as much as a 162 game sample size so I gave the other rankings weights of 30% while I gave playoff record a rank of 10%. 

1.       02 Angels

2.       07 Red Sox

3.       09 Yankees

4.       04 Red Sox

5.       05 White Sox

6.       08 Phillies

7.       10 Giants

8.       11 Cardinals

9.       03 Marlins

10.   06 Cardinals

My personal Rankings

My rankings of the last 10 World Series Champions I think can be broken down into 4 separate tiers of teams.  Ranging from bottom of the barrel World Series champs that succeeded mostly through luck, to top of the line teams that were unquestionably the best team in baseball. 

Tier 4 Teams (Lucky, below average World Series teams)

10.   06 Cardinals

To I’m sure no one in the world’s surprise the 06 Cardinals were the worst team to win the World Series over the past 10 seasons.  The team had by far the worst record of any team to win the World Series as it finished 83-78 as it limped to its title.  The sad part about the whole thing is that’s it’s not like the team was extremely unlucky in close games and had a great expected record, they actually overachieved in regard to what their record should have been.  This team on the positives had Chris Carpenter a great pitcher, an MVP type season of out Albert Pujols, and actually a fairly good lineup.  The problems were outside of Carpenter the pitching staff was bad, and the lineup faced a lot of injuries over the course of the season.  The team shouldn’t have been in the playoffs let alone won the World Series that season, but playing in a horrible division is really all you need to do to have a chance at the World Series.

9.       03 Marlins

The 03 Marlins were a slightly above average team that happened to get hot with a managerial change and went on to win the World Series.  The team had 5 good but not great starters, a decent lineup that had a few solid bats and a good bullpen.  Then the playoffs come around, they are able to defeat the Giants with the vaunted don’t let Barry Bonds swing the bat strategy, got a few infamous breaks to beat the Cubs, and then Josh Beckett carried them past the Yankees.  The team wasn’t that talented and really needed a lot of help to get to the World Series, but they are better than the 06 Cardinals just but a slimmer margin then you might believe. 

8.       11 Cardinals

The 2011 Cardinals provided one of the most exciting finishes to a baseball season in recent memory with memorable moment after memorable moment as the team went on a historic run to beat the Rangers in the World Series.  The problem is the reason that team needed so many historic moments was that quite simply it wasn’t that good.  Really I think actually this team went on a historic run because of a controversial midseason trade that revamped the bullpen that cost the team so much at the beginning of the season.  Then the bullpen became good, the called up David Freese and Allen Craig were able to help the offense which was being carried by the likes of Pujols, Lance Berkman, and Matt Holliday.  Really though the one player that carried the team was Chris Carpenter.  For game 162 he was able to throw a 2-hitter to bring the team into the postseason, in game 5 of the NLDS he pitched a 3-hitter to bring the team to the NLCS and outdueled Roy Halladay, and on 3 days rest in Game 7 of the World Series pitched 6 innings giving up 2 runs to win the World Series.  While the 2011 Cardinals weren’t the best team in the past 10 years to win the World Series, they were probably the most entertaining, providing the best World Series, and definitely the best World Series Game I have ever seen, Game 6. 

Tier 3 (Deserving Champs, but not great)

7.       10 Giants

When you think about the 2010 Giants run to become World Series champs you think of one word, beard, well if you were going to pick a word to describe the team though it would be pitching.  This team could do one thing exceptionally well and that is get batters out.  It had 3 top flight starters, Lincecum, Cain and Sanchez to go along with a great bullpen led by Brian Wilson, Sergio Romo and Santiago Casilla.  This team though did have a below average offense in a time when scoring had shown a significant decline.  While the offense was definitely lackluster it was not as bad as it is often remembered it was able to squeeze solid production out of the likes of veterans Aubrey Huff, Torres, Pat Burrell, Freddy Sanchez among others and young star Buster Posey contributed significantly.  This lineup combined with the stellar pitching is able to elevate this team above the 3^rd teir. 

6.       05 White Sox

To me the 2005 White Sox are undoubtedly the hardest team that there is to rate on this list.  They had a great regular season record and postseason record, but their expected record was quite low along with some of their peripheral stats.  To me what it comes down to is that the 05 White Sox despite from a far looking like a dominant team were really just an enhanced version of the 03 Marlins.  They had a lot of very good but not great pitchers, and their offense was slightly above average in comparison to the Marlins who had a lot of good pitchers and a slightly below average offense.  This team overachieved but just doesn’t have the ability of some of the other teams ahead of it on the list. 

5.       08 Phillies

When you think of the Phillies winning the World Series in 2008 you always think of the vaunted offense that they had.  You think of a lineup that was loaded top to bottom led by the efforts of Chase Utley and Ryan Howard in the middle and Jimmy Rollins at the top.  What might surprise you about the team though is that they were actually a better team at preventing runs than scoring them.  This might seem strange when only 2 starting pitchers had ERAs under 4 and one was the 45 year old Jamie Moyer, but the bullpen on the team was phenomenal.  Led by Brad Lidge who didn’t blow a save all season among other great arms, basically in any situation Charlie Manuel could call on the pen to pull them out of a situation.  The Phillies were a very good team in 2008, but an overrated offense and a regular season that didn’t see them blow anyone out of the water prevent them from being rated higher on the list. 

Tier 2 (Great Teams)

4.       04 Red Sox

Probably the most talked about World champion of any on the list the 04 Red Sox that broke the curse was a great baseball team.  These Idiots were literally able to score runs on anybody as they had elite players up and down the lineup all of whom could get on base at any time, and had two elite pitchers, Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez to combine with this.  Really the only flaw this team has is that for most of the season the rest of the pitching staff just wasn’t that good.  The three other regular starters Bronson Arroyo, Tim Wakefield and Derek Lowe had ERAs of 4.03, 4.87 and 5.42 respectfully while all starting at least 29 games.  Part of that can be contributed to playing in the always competitive AL East, but part of that is just for most of that season those guys weren’t that good.  The team came around in the postseason to complete the greatest comeback in sports history arguably, and secured itself as a great team. 

3.       09 Yankees

To me there is no more interesting comparison to make on this list than the 09 Yankees and the 04 Red Sox.  Those teams, bitter rivals were strikingly similar in their makeup both built around front loaded pitching staffs and high powered dominating offenses.  Actually the Yankees rotation was more front-loaded than the Yankees as its only consistently reliable starter was Sabathia.   No other regular starter had an ERA under 4 and the pitching staff was carried by an extremely strong bullpen led by Mariano “I might be a zombie” Rivera and the incredible offense.  So what elevates them ahead of the Red Sox?  They did have a more dominating regular season than the Red Sox did and without question that does man something.  Really though what it comes down to is that I think the AL East was a stronger division in 2009 than it was in 2004 and because the Rays had emerged as a legitimate threat and the Blue Jays had become a strong offensive force.  The team did have a lineup that could score on anyone led by Derek Jeter, Teixeira, the now clutch A-Rod, and Robinson Cano among a plethora of others. 

Tier 1 (Distinguished Champions, Elite World Series Teams)

2.       02 Angels

When you think of dominant baseball teams the 2002 Anaheim Angels rarely come to mind.  They don’t have any superstars that you identify with, and really the most memorable parts of their run was a poor pitching change decision by Dusty Baker and Barry Bonds making his case as the greatest player of all time.  This is a team that had 7 position players who had a WAR in-between 4.4 and 3.  It included a pitching staff that was led by the dominant for one season only Jarrod Washburn, along with solid starters like Ramon Ortiz and Kevin Appier along with a very good rookie season out of John Lackey.  The team had a great bullpen led by Troy Percival and in the postseason added the young and dominant K-Rod to the mix.  This Angels team was a sneaky great team that while not composed of people who could dominate you was a dominant team when put together.  This team was able to win 99 games and was expected to win 101 in an extremely strong division that included the 103 win Oakland A’s and the 92 win Seattle Mariners. 

1.       07 Red Sox

The 07 Red Sox to me did the most impressive thing that any team has done on this list, despite playing in the AL East.  This seems an impossible fact considering only 2 starters had ERAs under 4 and only one of those pitchers had a FIP under 4.  This pitching staff was led by Josh Beckett and an all-time great bullpen.  This bullpen while great most of the way through was led by closer Jonathon Papelbon and setup man Hideki Okajima who were both practically unhittable this season.  The offense was as strong as ever with David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez in the middle who combined with the efforts of Mike Lowell and Kevin Youkillis among others to give the team the 4^th rated offense in baseball.  The 07 Red Sox were the best team because if you look at how each team was develop no team was able to combine regular season success, expected regular season success, offense and pitching dominance along with post season success to the level the Red Sox did.  They had a top-flight ace in Josh Beckett who combined with the rest of the team could go out and beat anyone at any time.