Welcome to a feature that will become a Friday fixture in the weeks ahead.
My focus will be on extreme teams throughout the Modern Era, encompassing the seasons from 1961 through 2022. I’ll use my calculations of team scores (TS) to determine the 10 best and 10 worst squads that took the field for all 30 big-league franchises.
TS, as you probably recall, is calculated on a 100-point scale. The formula gives equal weight to four factors: regular-season winning percentage, the margin between runs scored and allowed per game, the differential between bases per out (BPO) attained by batters and allowed by pitchers, and postseason success.
Scores are equalized from year to year, making it possible to say that a 1963 club with a TS of 85 was better than a 2022 team with a score of 83. (Click here to learn more about TS.)
I’ll look at two franchises per week, going alphabetically by nicknames. That means the Angels and Astros are up first. Here’s a rundown of their best and worst squads.
Best year for the Angels: It’s an easy call. The franchise won its only World Series title in 2002, when the team was known as the Anaheim Angels. Third baseman Troy Glaus (30 home runs and 111 RBIs) and left fielder Garret Anderson (29 and 123) were the leading power sources for a club that finished four games off the pace in the American League West, then rolled past the New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins, and San Francisco Giants in the postseason.
Worst year for the Angels: The California Angels stumbled to a .409 winning percentage in the 1994 season, which was truncated by a labor dispute. Perhaps the biggest star on that year’s woebegone club was pitcher Chuck Finley, who somehow managed to fashion a .500 record, going 10-10. Designated hitter Chili Davis chipped in with 84 runs batted in.
Best year for the Astros: Houston’s most recent club was its best ever. The 2022 squad finished the regular season 50 games above .500, then breezed through the playoffs with an 11-2 record, culminating in a six-game victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series. Designated hitter Yordan Alvarez led the Astros in homers (37) and batting average (.306). Starting pitcher Justin Verlander went 18-4 with a sparkling ERA of 1.75.
Worst year for the Astros: No Houston squad, not even the expansion versions known as the Colt .45s, were as bad as the 2013 Astros. The latter club posted the worst winning percentage (.315) in franchise history, and it outscored only 0.8 percent of all Modern Era teams in terms of TS. One of the few bright lights in 2013 was third-year second baseman Jose Altuve, who batted .283 and stole 35 bases.
Scroll down to see the top and bottom 10 seasons for both franchises between 1961 and 2022. You can find more about these rankings in the print edition of Baseball’s Best (and Worst) 2023 Yearbook.
Each team is listed below with the year in brackets, followed by the regular-season win-loss record (with postseason results in parentheses), the margin between runs scored and allowed per game, and the Modern Era percentile.
Three abbreviations are used to describe postseason outcomes: P indicates that a club made the playoffs, L means that it won a league championship, and W signifies that it won the World Series.
The Modern Era percentile is the share of all 1,656 clubs in the 1961-2022 span that the given team outperformed, based on TS comparisons. (I haven’t posted the actual team scores, since I find the percentiles easier to interpret and understand.)
Subscribe — free — to Baseball’s Best (and Worst)
A new installment will arrive in your email each weekday morning
Top 10 for Angels (1961-2022)
1. Angels [2002], 99-63 (WLP), plus-1.28 margin, 96.1% in era
2. Angels [2014], 98-64 (P), plus-0.88 margin, 91.3% in era
3. Angels [1986], 92-70 (P), plus-0.63 margin, 90.1% in era
4. Angels [1982], 93-69 (P), plus-0.89 margin, 88.1% in era
5. Angels [2009], 97-65 (P), plus-0.75 margin, 81.9% in era
6. Angels [2008], 100-62 (P), plus-0.42 margin, 78.7% in era
7. Angels [2005], 95-67 (P), plus-0.73 margin, 77.3% in era
8. Angels [1989], 91-71, plus-0.56 margin, 77.2% in era
9. Angels [2007], 94-68 (P), plus-0.56 margin, 76.1% in era
10. Angels [2004], 92-70 (P), plus-0.63 margin, 76.0% in era
Bottom 10 for Angels (1961-2022)
1. Angels [1994], 47-68, minus-1.02 margin, 7.9% in era
2. Angels [1992], 72-90, minus-0.57 margin, 11.9% in era
3. Angels [1968], 67-95, minus-0.72 margin, 12.1% in era
4. Angels [1996], 70-91, minus-1.12 margin, 13.8% in era
5. Angels [1980], 65-95, minus-0.62 margin, 14.5% in era
6. Angels [1999], 70-92, minus-0.71 margin, 18.1% in era
7. Angels [1993], 71-91, minus-0.53 margin, 18.4% in era
8. Angels [1974], 68-94, minus-0.24 margin, 19.0% in era
9. Angels [1969], 71-91, minus-0.76 margin, 21.6% in era
10. Angels [1983], 70-92, minus-0.35 margin, 24.0% in era
Top 10 for Astros (1962-2022)
1. Astros [2022], 106-56 (WLP), plus-1.35 margin, 99.5% in era
2. Astros [2017], 101-61 (WLP), plus-1.21 margin, 98.5% in era
3. Astros [2019], 107-55 (LP), plus-1.73 margin, 97.1% in era
4. Astros [2021], 95-67 (LP), plus-1.27 margin, 94.6% in era
5. Astros [2005], 89-73 (LP), plus-0.52 margin, 92.7% in era
6. Astros [1998], 102-60 (P), plus-1.57 margin, 92.7% in era
7. Astros [2018], 103-59 (P), plus-1.62 margin, 90.6% in era
8. Astros [1999], 97-65 (P), plus-0.91 margin, 87.5% in era
9. Astros [1986], 96-66 (P), plus-0.52 margin, 85.4% in era
10. Astros [1994], 66-49, plus-0.86 margin, 85.2% in era
Bottom 10 for Astros (1962-2022)
1. Astros [2013], 51-111, minus-1.47 margin, 0.8% in era
2. Astros [2011], 56-106, minus-1.12 margin, 1.0% in era
3. Astros [2012], 55-107, minus-1.30 margin, 1.6% in era
4. Astros [1991], 65-97, minus-0.69 margin, 6.0% in era
5. Colt .45s [1964], 66-96, minus-0.82 margin, 8.4% in era
6. Colt .45s [1963], 66-96, minus-1.09 margin, 10.9% in era
7. Astros [1968], 72-90, minus-0.48 margin, 11.0% in era
8. Astros [1965], 65-97, minus-0.88 margin, 15.0% in era
9. Astros [2007], 73-89, minus-0.56 margin, 16.7% in era
10. Astros [2014], 70-92, minus-0.58 margin, 18.2% in era