1. 1954 Cleveland Indians
They didn't lose to any slouches — the Giants won 97 regular-season games and that Mays guy (.345 BA, 41 HR, 110 RBIs) was pretty good — but the Indians entered the post-season having set an American League record with 111 wins. They won a team Triple Crown, of sorts, with Bobby Avila leading the league in batting (.326), while Larry Doby led the AL with 32 home runs and 126 runs batted in. On the mound, Bob Lemon and Early Wynn tied for the league lead with 23 wins, Mike Garcia was tops in the AL with a 2.64 ERA and 35-year-old Bob Feller posted a 13-3 record. Then came The Catch and, eventually, heartbreak.
Team roster and stats
2. 1990 Oakland A's
Led by AL Most Valuable Player Rickey Henderson (.325 BA, 28 HR, 65 SB) and Cy Young Award winner Bob Welch (27-6, 2.95 ERA) — plus fellow All-Stars Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire and Dennis Eckersley, and 22-game winner Dave Stewart — the A's locked up with the Reds in a 1990 World Series that was expected to be over quickly. It was. The 103-59 A's were swept 4-0. (Honorable mention to the 1988 A's, who won 104 regular-season games and were beaten by the relatively unremarkable Dodgers, 4-1.)
Team roster and stats
3. 1995 Cleveland Indians
In the lockout-shortened regular season, the Tribe went 100-44 (which translates to 113 victories in a 162-game season), winning the AL Central by an incredible 30 games. Cleveland led the league in batting average, home runs, runs, stolen bases, and its staff ERA was nearly a half run lower than any other AL club. The team with five players with at least 21 home runs (Albert Belle, 50; Manny Ramirez, 31; Jim Thome, 25; Paul Sorrento, 25; Eddie Murray, 21) would fall to the Braves in six games. It remains Atlanta's only World Series title.
Team roster and stats
4. 1969 Baltimore Orioles
Superior pitching (Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar, Jim Palmer) and defense (Paul Blair, Brooks Robinson) are what defined the Orioles from 1969-71, when the team won 109, 108 and 101 games. It was one of the great three-year runs in baseball history — each resulted in a World Series appearance — but Baltimore came away with only the 1970 crown. The year before, they were done in by the Miracle Mets — in only five games.
Team roster and stats
5. 1960 New York Yankees
The Yankees won three games in the 1960 World Series by scores of 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0, but eventually lost to the Pirates on Bill Mazeroski's Game 7-winning home run. The MVP of the team, as well as the entire American League, was a guy named Roger Maris, who won a Gold Glove and led the league in runs batted in, slugging and extra base hits. The next season he would hit a record 61 home runs.
Team roster and stats
6. 1906 Chicago Cubs
The Cubs went 116-36 — the equivalent of 124 wins in the current 162-game season — but got dropped by the crosstown White Sox, 4-2, in the World Series. How different is today's game? The Cubs' pitching staff posted a league-best 1.75 ERA and tossed 125 complete games. The team clouted 20 home runs that year, second-best in the NL and the same number Sammy Sosa hit for the Cubs in June 1998.
Team roster and stats
7. 1970 Cincinnati Reds
The outcome of the 1970 World Series may not have been an upset — the Orioles won 108 regular-season games behind their dazzling pitching and surprised no one by winning — but that doesn't mean there's no room on this list for a powerful Reds team that won 102 and was a prelude to the Big Red Machine of the mid-'70s. Joe Morgan had yet to arrive from Houston, but the Cincinnati lineup featured NL MVP Johnny Bench (.293 BA, 45 HR, 148 RBIs) and two others who finished among the top 10 for the award: Tony Perez (3rd, .317 BA, 40 HR, 129 RBIs) and Pete Rose (7th, .316 BA). First baseman Lee May clouted 34 home runs and two starting pitchers, Jim Merritt and Wayne Simpson, were All-Stars.
Team roster and stats
8. 1980 Kansas City Royals
Having finally gotten past the Yankees in the ALCS, this was gonna be the year the Royals won a World Series behind its long-time nucleus of George Brett (.390 BA, 24 HR, 118 RBIs), Willie Wilson (.326 BA, 79 steals), Hal McRae, Frank White and pitchers Dennis Leonard, Larry Gura and Paul Splittorff. But the team ran into a Phillies club that featured three all-time greats (Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Pete Rose), and the Royals would have to wait five more years to claim the title.
Team roster and stats
9. 1934 Detroit Tigers
The Yankees still had Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, but the Bambino was in his final full season and Joe DiMaggio's arrival was two years away. This was the year for AL teams to pounce, and the Tigers did, going 101-53 and outdistancing the Yanks by seven games in the regular season. Since the MVP award could not, at the time, be given to a previous recipient, Detroit's Mickey Cochrane (.320 BA, 2 HR, 76 RBI) was named MVP over Gehrig, who won the Triple Crown (.363 BA, 49 HR, 165 RBI). Cochrane may not have even been the best player on the team. Hall of Famers Hank Greenberg and Charlie Gehringer paced an offense that led the AL with a .300 average, and the pitching staff featured four hurlers who won at least 15 games. In the World Series, the Tigers fell to the Cardinals.
Team roster and stats
10. 1982 Milwaukee Brewers
The Brew Crew led the AL with 216 home runs, led by Gorman Thomas (39) and followed by Ben Ogilve (34), Cecil Cooper (32) and Robin Yount (29). Yount's .331 batting average and 12 triples helped him win MVP. Yount, Cooper and teammate Paul Molitor were the only American Leaguers to notch at least 200 hits, and the pitching staff was bolstered by Cy Young Award winner Pete Vuckovich (18-6, 3.34 ERA) and relief ace Rollie Fingers. In the World Series, Harvey's Wallbangers fell to a Cardinals team with only two players who hit more than eight home runs: George Hendrick (19) and Darrell Porter (12).
Team roster and stats