I’ve devoted the Mondays in April, May, and June to my breakdowns of the best teams of baseball’s Modern Era, focusing on successive five-year intervals.
But this approach has a drawback. The era encompasses 62 seasons (1961-2022), not counting the one currently underway. And 62 is not precisely divisible by five.
Last Monday’s report covered the final complete half-decade of the era, 2016-2020. That leaves us with a remainder of two years, which will be our topic today.
The Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers were the dominant franchises in the brief 2021-2022 period, according to my analysis, which designates the Astros of the latter year as the best club in either season.
Today’s rankings are based on my calculations of team scores, which are plotted on a 100-point scale. (Click here to learn about the TS formula.)
The 2022 Astros were credited with a TS of 87.893 points, the 10th-best score among all 1,656 clubs throughout the Modern Era. Here’s what that means: Last year’s Houston squad was better than 99.5 percent of all big-league teams that took the field between 1961 and 2022.
The Astros won the World Series in 2022. The runner-up in the 2021-2022 standings, last year’s Los Angeles Dodgers, didn’t fare nearly as well. They were defeated in the first round of the playoffs, yet their TS of 78.998 points still ranks second-best for the two-year period.
Rounding out the top five are the 2021 Dodgers, the 2021 Astros, and the 2021 San Francisco Giants.
This is the last stop in our journey through the Modern Era’s best ballclubs. Click here to see the previous rankings: 1961-1965, 1966-1970, 1971-1975, 1976-1980, 1981-1985, 1986-1990, 1991-1995, 1996-2000, 2001-2005, 2006-2010, 2011-2015, and 2016-2020.
Scroll below to see the 10 best teams in 2021 and 2022. Each is shown with its win-loss record, team score, and Modern Era percentile.
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1. Houston Astros (2022)
Record: 106-56
Team score: 87.893 points
Modern Era percentile: 99.5%
Manager: Dusty Baker
Stars: Pitcher Justin Verlander won the American League’s Cy Young Award for his 18-4 record and his league-leading 1.75 ERA. Designated hitter Yordan Alvarez finished third in the voting for Most Valuable Player. He blasted 37 home runs and batted .306.
Bottom line: The Astros breezed past the second-place Seattle Mariners by 16 games to win the AL West. Their route through the playoffs was similarly free of stress. Houston went 11-2 as it successively ousted the Mariners, New York Yankees, and Philadelphia Phillies.
2. Los Angeles Dodgers (2022)
Record: 111-51
Team score: 78.998 points
Modern Era percentile: 96.9%
Manager: Dave Roberts
Stars: First baseman Freddie Freeman led the National League in runs scored (117), hits (199), and doubles (47). Shortstop Trea Turner finished with 100 RBIs and a .298 batting average. Starting pitchers Julio Urias and Tony Gonsolin had respective records of 17-7 and 16-1.
Bottom line: The Dodgers ran away from the rest of the National League West, bolting to a 12-game lead by the end of July and cruising to a 22-game margin by the end. They won their opening playoff game against San Diego, then suddenly went cold. The Padres emerged with a four-game triumph over Los Angeles in the Division Series.
3. Los Angeles Dodgers (2021)
Record: 106-56
Team score: 75.648 points
Modern Era percentile: 95.2%
Manager: Dave Roberts
Stars: Pitcher Julio Urias won 20 games and spun a 2.96 ERA. Staffmate Walker Buehler went 16-4. First baseman Max Muncy drilled 36 homers and drove in 94 runs. Third baseman Justin Turner chipped in with 27 homers.
Bottom line: The Dodgers boasted the second-best record in the majors in 2021. It was their misfortune that the only club with more wins, San Francisco, was also in the NL West. Los Angeles got its revenge by eliminating the Giants from the playoffs. Atlanta then knocked off the Dodgers in a six-game NL Championship Series.
4. Houston Astros (2021)
Record: 95-67
Team score: 74.809 points
Modern Era percentile: 94.6%
Manager: Dusty Baker
Stars: Carlos Correa batted .279, drove home 92 runs, and won a Gold Glove at shortstop. First baseman Yuli Gurriel paced the Astros with a .319 batting average. Pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. went 13-5 with a 3.16 ERA.
Bottom line: Houston won the AL West for the fourth time in five years, then dispatched the White Sox and Red Sox in the first two playoff rounds. The 95-win Astros entered the World Series as solid favorites over the Braves, whose regular-season record was 88-73. But Atlanta earned the title in six games.
5. San Francisco Giants (2021)
Record: 107-55
Team score: 73.634 points
Modern Era percentile: 93.8%
Manager: Gabe Kapler
Stars: Catcher Buster Posey batted a solid .304. Shortstop Brandon Crawford won a Gold Glove, drove home 90 runs, and finished fourth in the race for the National League’s MVP trophy. Pitcher Kevin Gausman put up a 14-6 record and a 2.81 earned run average.
Bottom line: Little was expected of the Giants. They hadn’t posted a winning percentage above .500 since 2016, but they defied the oddsmakers in 2021 by outdueling the Dodgers in the National League West. San Francisco won the division by a single game, but it fell to Los Angeles in the playoffs.
Next five
6. Atlanta Braves (2021), 88-73, 93.3%
7. New York Yankees (2022), 99-63, 93.1%
8. Tampa Bay Rays (2021), 100-62, 89.7%
9. Atlanta Braves (2022), 101-61, 87.8%
10. New York Mets (2022), 101-61, 85.0%