(05-05-2016 08:01 AM)Seahawk Nation 08 Wrote: (05-05-2016 07:31 AM)bricksnivy Wrote: Ahead of the '39 Yankees! Getting great pitching and defense, and now the bats are starting to warm up...until they return to Chicago for 30 degree weather.
I was only surprised the 1927 Yankees weren't on the list.
I heard Kurkjan say the '39 Yankees finished at +411 and the '27 Yankees at +376. '98 Yankees were +309.
Interesting article from May 2010 calling TB Rays best team of all time. They were at +84 through 33 games:
http://www.billjamesonline.com/article1385/
The Rays are stuck between the 1939 and 1927 Yankees…the 1927 Yankees are a super-famous team: that was Gehrig’s first big season, and Ruth’s 60-homer year...the Yankee outfielders hit .356, .356, and .337, and the team’s catcher, Pat Collins, had an on-base percentage over .400…the team could hit. They blew out the Pirates in four games.
The 1939 Yankees are a little less famous: that was the year Gehrig retired, and the big stars were DiMaggio, Dickey, and Joe Gordon. But a lot of guys had career years for the 1939 club: Red Rolfe posted a .329/.404/.495 season, and George Selkirk walked 102 times with an OPS+ of 148. Charlie Keller got a chance to play: in 111 games he hit .334/.447/.500. Oh yeah: the Yanks swept the Reds in the World Series. Ho-hum.
Actually, a lot of the top-ten teams in run differential are Ruth/Gehrig or Gehrig/DiMaggio or DiMaggio Yankee teams: you have 1927, 1931, 1936, 1937, 1939, and 1942 on the list. There’s also the 1929 Athletics.