The time has come in our Best Seasons blog series to examine a team that has never won a World Series. All the teams we've written about so far have at least one title to their name, but there are six teams who have never won a championship, and the Milwaukee Brewers are one of them.
The Brewers haven't been around for a long time by MLB standards. Their first season was in 1969, and in their 51 seasons, they've had some successes. They won the NL pennant in 1982, but lost the World Series 4-3 against the Cardinals. They've made it to the NLCS twice in the past decade, but haven't been able to squeak out a win either time. When it came time to determine which year was the best season in Brewers' history, it was actually a tough call. It came down to two separate seasons - 2011 and 2018. Both of these years are actually very similar, but only one can stand out as the best Brewers team of all-time. Milwaukee won 96 games in both 2011 and 2018, but their winning percentage was slightly higher in 2011. During the 2018 season, the Brewers finished tied in the standings with the Cubs, forcing a one-game playoff to decide the NL Central champion. Because they played that one extra game, the 2011 winning percentage is a few points higher than the 2018 team. Not only did the Brewers win the same amount of games each year, their stats were also very similar. In 2011 the team batted .261/.325/.425 with 185 total home runs. The 2018 team finished the season hitting .252/.323/.424 with 218 home runs. The ratio stats were slightly higher in 2011 while the total home runs saw an increase in 2018. The pitching stats aren't too far off either. The 2011 Brewers pitching staff finished the season with a 3.63 ERA and 1,257 strikeouts. The 2018 team had an ERA of 3.73 with 1,428 strikeouts. Now, over the past few years, strikeouts and home runs have increased across the league, so that should be taken into account when looking at these statistics. So let's look at some of the other notable events from these seasons. In 2011, the Brewers had three players make the All-Star roster. Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks and and Ryan Braun all started for the National League in the game. The 2018 team had five players make the All-Star team, but they were all reserves. As for the awards voting, here is where I think the decision is made. The 2011 Brewers had two pitchers - Yovani Gallardo and John Axford - finish in the top 10 in Cy Young voting. The 2018 Brewers had one pitcher finish in the top 10. Now get this - both teams had that season's NL MVP on the roster. Ryan Braun won the award in 2011 while Christian Yelich won it in 2018. But, the 2011 also had Prince Fielder, who finished third in MVP voting. If we look at Braun and Yelich's stats, these seasons get even more similar. Braun hit .332/.397/.597 with 33 home runs and 111 RBIs in 2011. Yelich finished the 2018 season batting .326/.402/.598 with 36 home runs and 110 RBIs. However, Braun finished with 7.7 WAR while Yelich had 7.3. This is a really tough one to decide, but due to the 2011 Brewers winning their division by six games, having two players finish in the top three in MVP voting and having three starters on the All-Star roster, 2011 is the best Brewers season in history. The 2011 season was also Milwaukee's first division championship since 1982, breaking a 30-year drought for the Brewers. It's eerie how similar these teams were in terms of stats and wins. Both teams had great success on the field and both will go down in Brewers history, but only one can be considered the best season that Milwaukee has ever had, and that title has to go to the 2011 team.
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You're at a baseball game on a hot summer day. You want a beer to go with your hot dog and peanuts, but you're not sure what to go for. There's the classic baseball beers like Budweiser or Coors Light, or you can find craft brews at some stadiums, like Goose Island at Wrigley or Terrapin in Atlanta.
If you happen to be at Coors Field in Denver, you'll be able to find Blue Moon throughout the stadium. Blue Moon has blurred the lines of craft beer since its introduction. It started out in 1995 as the craft beer division of Coors Brewing Company. But as part of one of the largest brewing companies in the world, can you really call it craft beer? Well that's not the point of this post, so we'll let someone else decide that. Blue Moon's summer variety pack includes the usual Belgian White, a Mango Wheat and and Iced Coffee Blonde, all of which are fantastic beers. I had the Iced Coffee Blonde recently, and while I was drinking it, I thought it would be the perfect beer for a hot day at a ballgame. (Disclosure: I have no idea if this beer is available at any baseball stadiums, but it 100% should be.) The Iced Coffee Blonde isn't too far off from the regular Blue Moon. It's a sweet, light blonde ale that is very refreshing. There are some hints of coffee towards the end, but it's not an overwhelming coffee flavor. I could see myself enjoying this beer on a beach, after a hike, or, like I've said already, at a ballgame. When you're watching baseball, you don't need a beer that's too flavorful. It just needs to be crisp and refreshing, and this one gets the job done. Untappd Rating: 3.75 out of 5 Most of the teams that I've written about so far in this series have been pretty easy. The Nationals and Marlins don't have very long histories and the Cubs have been around for a while but haven't had a whole lot of success.
So when it came time to write about the Cincinnati Reds, I thought this post would be a difficult one. The team has been around since 1881 and has won five World Series titles. With that amount of history, it looked like it would be a tough task to determine the best season in Cincinnati's history, but that wasn't the case after all. The most consistent success the Reds have ever seen came during the 1970s when the team brought together a plethora of great players and became known as the Big Red Machine. During that time, they won 100 or more games in three separate seasons, made it to four World Series and won two championships. The season that stands out as their best of all-time, though, is 1975. The Reds won 108 games, the most in franchise history. They won 10 more games than the next best team, the Oakland A's. The Reds finished the season 20 games ahead of the Dodgers, by far the biggest lead by any division winner. The swept the Pirates in the NLCS before winning a tightly-contested seven-game World Series over the Boston Red Sox. The Reds led MLB in run differential, were third in batting average (.275), first in on-base percentage (.353) and fourth in slugging percentage (.401). The pitching staff wasn't great, but was still in the top 10 in both ERA and WHIP. Joe Morgan won the NL MVP in 1975, batting .327/.466/.508 with 17 home runs and 94 RBIs. Four other players - Johnny Bench, Dave Concepcion, Pete Rose and Tony Perez - all made the All-Star Game along with Morgan. The team had four future Hall of Famers - Bench, Morgan, Perez and manager Sparky Anderson. If you throw in Pete Rose, who has been banned from baseball for betting on games, there were really five Hall of Famers on the team. Between the All-Stars, the awards, the 108 wins and the World Series victory, there's no doubt that the 1975 Reds were the best team in franchise history, but they were also one of the best teams in MLB history. In 2014, Bleacher Report named the team as the third-greatest team of all-time, and rightfully so. The Chicago Cubs have a long and storied history in Major League Baseball, although most of that history is known for going 108 years without winning a World Series.
The Lovable Losers of Chicago dealt with the Curse of the Billy Goat for a long time, but they finally shook it off in 2016 when they won their most recent championship. Despite that long championship drought, they've had plenty of good seasons throughout their time. They've had 15 seasons with a winning percentage of .640 or above and six seasons with 100 or more wins. Only one of those seasons has happened after 1935, though, and it's their magical 2016 championship year. That team is by far the best group of players the Cubs have ever put on the field. They had seven All-Stars, the NL MVP, two Gold Glove winners and two Silver Slugger winners. The Cubs were second in the league in on-base percentage (.343) and third in OPS (.772). Their pitching staff led the league in ERA (3.15) and was third in strikeouts (1,441). They led the entire league in wins during the 2016 season and were the only team to win 100 games. They also led the league with a 1.6 run differential per game. Any long-time Cubs fan can tell you how great it was to see them finally win that long-awaited championship in 2016, and the magic of that feeling could be enough to crown 2016 as the best Cubs team of all-time. But the reality is that this was a really dominant team that was built to compete for years to come, and they will go down as a historically great team in MLB. Check out the rest of our best seasons posts here, and stay tuned over the next few days as we go through the rest of the NL Central teams to determine each of their best seasons. We're wrapping up our look at the best season of each NL East team today with the Washington Nationals. I should point out, I'm only looking at seasons since 2005, when the team moved to D.C. and became the Nationals. I won't take the Montreal Expos history into account for this post.
The Nationals have had some pretty good seasons in their relatively short history, winning four division championships and earning a Wild Card berth last season. Of course, in 2019 they also won their first postseason series, and then another one, and then the World Series. I think it's pretty evident that the best season the Nats have ever had was their 2019 championship season. While I've said that winning a World Series is not criteria for a team's best season, in this case it's hard to deny that 2019 is the best year the franchise has ever had. The Nats didn't start out so hot last season, but as they like to point out on social media, they went from 19-31 and in fourth place in the division to World Series champions. The run that the Nats made from mid-May to the end of the season was a very impressive one, and although they didn't win the division and there have been other years when they had more wins, 2019 is by far their best season to date. The 2019 Nats set franchise records in home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage, OPS and runs scored. The pitching staff also struck out the most batters in team history at 1,511. Despite the success the team had, only two players - Anthony Rendon and Max Scherzer - made it to the All-Star Game. By the end of the year, more players got the recognition they deserved. Rendon and Juan Soto finished third and ninth in NL MVP voting, respectively. Stephen Strasburg finished 15th in MVP voting. Scherzer, Strasburg and Patrick Corbin each finished in the top 11 in NL Cy Young voting. The 2019 Nationals had a historic run that will be hard to repeat, and as everyone knows, it culminated in a historic World Series victory over the Houston Astros. They lost Rendon over the offseason, but they've still got a core that should be able to compete for championships for years to come. As we make our way through the National League East teams and try to find the best season for each franchise, it's time to take a look at the Philadelphia Phillies.
This team was actually pretty hard to decide on. The Phillies have had three seasons in which they won 100 games, but they didn't win a World Series in any of those seasons. Their two World Series-winning seasons were actually pretty far down the list of their best winning percentages. So after taking into account regular season record, number of All-Stars and award winners, I'm going with 2011 as the best season in Philadelphia Phillies' history. The Phillies won 102 games in 2011, finishing with a winning percentage of .630, the best in team history. The team had five players make it to the All-Star Game that year - Placido Polanco, Shane Victorino, Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee. The team's rotation is rated as one of the best of all-time. Halladay, Lee and Hamels each won at least 14 games and each finished with an ERA of 2.79 or below. They also finished second, third and fifth respectively in Cy Young voting. The team led the league in ERA (3.02) and was third in strikeouts (1,299). The offense wasn't great, but players like Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino still finished in the top 15 in NL MVP voting. The Phillies weren't able to keep their momentum going throughout the playoffs, though as they lost to the Cardinals in the NLDS. They took St. Louis to game five, but couldn't finish, losing the final game 1-0. Although finishing the season with a championship would've been nice, when you set your franchise record for wins and lead the league in wins for a season, while having one of the best pitching staffs of all time, that's a pretty great season. Of the beers that I've drank and reviewed, the ones I speak highly of have something in common: a very malty flavor.
That's what I look for in beers. My favorite style of beer is Oktoberfest, but I also like red ales and lagers and brown ales. This beer from Middle James Brewing in Charlotte fits my ideal description. The brewery says about Jamestown: "A collaboration with our friends at Town Brewing, this Scotch Ale is brewed with Simpsons Golden Promise malt from the UK. Expect huge caramel and toffee aroma and flavor, with a reddish/brownish color." That sounds good to me. I got a lot of the malt flavor and could pick up some caramel notes, but I'll be honest, it was a hot day and I just wanted a beer. I wasn't too focused on trying to determine different flavors. What I can really tell you is that I really liked this beer. And at 7.2 percent alcohol, you don't need a whole lot of it. Untappd rating: 3.75 out of 5 So far I've outlined what I believe to be the best seasons in Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins history, so it's time to keep going down the list of NL East teams.
As I've said in each of the previous blog posts, a team's best season doesn't necessarily have to be a year in which they won the World Series. But when you win the World Series and have your best winning percentage of all-time, it's hard not to pick that as the best year in franchise history. The 1986 New York Mets won 108 games for a final record of 108-54. That's a winning percentage of .667. The Mets have only won 100 games two other times in their history - their other World Series season in 1969 and in 1988. The '86 Mets won 12 more games than the next best team, the Houston Astros. They had the best run differential in the league and were in the top 10 in several offensive categories. Their pitching is what really led the team, though, as they led the league in ERA and were second or third in other notable pitching stats. The team had five All-Stars, including pitchers Sid Fernandez and Dwight Gooden, the latter of which started the 1986 All-Star Game. Keith Hernandez, Daryl Strawberry and Gary Carter all started at their respective positions for the National League as well. The Mets won their division by a wide margin before going on to defeat the Astros in the NLCS, setting up a matchup with the Red Sox in the World Series. Boston of course was still trying to break the Curse of the Bambino, but the Mets wouldn't let it happen this year. Most people remember the series for Mookie Wilson's 10th inning at bat in Game 6. The Red sox led the series 3-2 and were winning the game 5-3 going into the bottom of the 10th inning. The Red Sox came within one out of winning the championship, but couldn't close. The Mets got two runs across to tie the game, bringing Wilson to the plate with the winning run on base. Wilson battled in his at bat, and on the 10th pitch he hit it down the first base line. Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner tried to make a play, but the ball rolled through his legs, allowing the winning run to score. The Mets would go on to win the series in Game 7, claiming the franchise's second championship. It's hard to beat a season in which you win 108 games and a World Series. The Mets have had some other good years, most recently in 2015 when they made it back to the World Series, but nothing has topped the 1986 campaign yet. Make sure to check back in tomorrow as we take a look at the best season in Philadelphia Phillies' history. The Miami Marlins have a relatively short history, joining Major League Baseball as an expansion team in 1993. They made good use of their first decade, though, winning World Series championships in both 1997 and 2003.
Outside of those two seasons, however, they have a pretty lackluster history, which made this post pretty easy. In fact, those two years are the only times the Marlins have ever made the playoffs. Both seasons are actually fairly even when you compare them. In 2003 the Marlins finished the year 91-71 and with a run differential of 59. In 1997, they finished 92-70 and with a run differential of 71. Both years saw the Marlins finish in second place in their division, but go on to a postseason run and win the World Series. Due to that one extra win and a marginally better run differential, I'm going with the 1997 Marlins as the best season in franchise history. The team that won the first World Series for the franchise also produced three All-Stars: Moises Alou, Kevin Brown and Charles Johnson. Darren Daulton, who batted .262/.371/.429 that season, was named National League Comeback Player of the Year. The '97 Marlins are one of those teams that show you how important momentum is and how random the postseason can be. Despite posting a great record and the third most wins in the league, the only major offensive category in which they finished in the top 10 was on base percentage (.346). Their pitching is what carried the team, as they finished fourth in ERA and fifth in strikeouts among teams in the league in 1997. Brown led the team with a 16-8 record, 2.69 ERA and 205 strikeouts on the year. The Marlins started off well with two championship seasons within their first 11 years, but they have yet to make the postseason since. At least they'll always have the 1997 and 2003 seasons to hang on to. Until baseball returns in the United States, we've got to keep coming up with ways to keep ourselves entertained. There are only so many baseball movies and types of hot dogs that we can rank.
So for the next few weeks, we'll be taking a look at the best season in each team's history, going division by division starting with the NL East. The first team up is none other than the Atlanta Braves. I've been a Braves fan my entire life, and while most of their success came before I was born or when I was too young to remember it, I have seen some pretty great seasons. But the one that I chose as their best season of all took place when I was just one year old. I'm going with the 1998 Braves as the best team they have ever put on the field. This might get some criticism, especially considering the Braves won a World Series and five National League championships during the 90s, none of which happened in 1998. But over recent years I've realized that while postseason success is the ultimate goal, it's not an accurate measure of how good a team was. The playoffs are really about who gets hot at the right time. The best team in the league might not have the momentum that they need at the end of the season to make it through the different rounds of postseason play, and for that reason, I'm choosing the 1998 Braves as their best season, even though they didn't get a World Series or National League championship out of it. The 1998 Braves season was one of eight in their franchise history in which the team won 100 or more games. Atlanta finished with a record of 106-56, which was the most wins in team history and the eighth-best winning percentage in franchise history at .654. The team produced six All-Stars, four more than in its 1995 championship season. Chipper Jones, Greg Maddux, Walt Weiss, Andres Galarraga, Tom Glavine and Javy Lopez were all selected to the Midsummer Classic. Jones, Maddux and Weiss were all starters in the game. Glavine won the NL Cy Young Award and Silver Slugger at the pitcher position, while Andruw Jones and Maddux each won Gold Gloves. The team posted a run differential of 245 in 1998, while coming in second in WAR. The Braves were fourth in the league in home runs in '98 and finished in the top 10 in most offensive categories. While they weren't able to finish the postseason strong, ultimately losing to the Padres in the NLCS, the 1998 Braves were a force to be reckoned with on the field and were arguably the best team that the franchise has ever put together. |
AuthorMatthew Atkins, Journalist and Baseball fan. Archives
March 2023
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