They didn't Win but they were still good

[WiredTiger]

What are some of the best teams that didn't make the playoffs?

Some of my choices from the Tigers
1961 Detroit Tigers 101-61 Lost to the Yankees
1950 Detroit Tigers 95-59 Lost to the Yankees
1915 Detroit Tigers 100 - 54 Lost to the Red Sox

The 1961 season must have been very frustrating because they lost to the Yankees by 8 games!

[rcartman28]

The 1993 Giants and 1978 Red Sox come to mind.....unless you count the Bucky "bleeping" Dent game as making the playoffs.

[Skip]

1993 Giants are always the first team I think of in a question like this.

[Ytown Tribe fan]

'54 Yanks won 103 games. Too bad they finished 8 games behind the Tribe. :D

[BigKlu]

How about the 1927 New York Giants? Their 92-62 record saw a third-place finish, 2 games behind Pittsburgh and half a game behind the Cards.

They had seven Hall of Famers on the roster - all having good seasons - plus a few other notables from the era (Freddie Fitzsimmons, for example, won 17 games for them).

In mid-June McGraw traded the team's shortstop, one Doc Farrell, who was having an amazing season at the plate (.387 with walks and power) for Larry Benton and Zach Thomas. Thomas was a catcher, and did a worse job than the previous starter at that position, Al DeVormer. Benton won 13 games the rest of the way, but was a below-average pitcher, presumably getting those wins with high run support from a lineup that including Ott, Jackson, Roush, Terry, etc.

If McGraw hadn't made that trade in mid-season, the team just might have faced their cross-town rivals that October.

[poorme]

63-65 white sox won 94,98,95 but no playoffs.

[pathogan]

1951 Dodgers,the 1978 Red sox, the Giants of '93 come first to mind

[JamesI]

1980 Orioles 100-62, 2 games back.

[KCBOOMER]

1962 Dodgers 102-63.

[SmedIndy]

How about the runners up in 1908 NL?
The Giants and Pirates were both 98-56.

The 1942 Dodgers were 104-50, and I don't think that was necessarily a wartime issue, yet.

[BigKlu]

Can't beat this:

The 1981 Cincinnati Reds had the best record of any major league team, yet failed to make the playoffs because of a stupid ruling by the Commissioner.

[Skip]

Can't believe I didnt think of that one BigKlu.

[Sopalt]

How about the 1928 Philadelphia Athletics? They finished 98 - 55, 2-1/2 games behind the New York Yankees. The interesting thing is that they lost the pennant head-to-head with the Yankees. Taking away games they played against each other, Philadelphia was 92 - 39 while New York was 85 - 47. The A's were 7-1/2 games better than the Yankees. Too bad for them that they only won 6 out of 22 games against the Yankees. Granted a number of these guys were at the tail end of their careers, but how about this Hall of Fame roster: Ty Cobb, Mickey Cochrane, Eddie Collins, Jimmy Foxx, Lefty Grove, Al Simmons and Tris Speaker.

[SmedIndy]

Now hold on Big Klu - wasn't that a negotiated part of the agreement of the 1981 strike - so in essence the Reds were hoist by their own petard, indirectly??

Note for those scoring at home - this is the first (and only) time I am sticking up for Bowie Kuhn.

[Skip]

Originally posted by SmedIndy
Now hold on Big Klu - wasn't that a negotiated part of the agreement of the 1981 strike - so in essence the Reds were hoist by their own petard, indirectly?? Whether that's true or false, how does it disqualify them from "they didn't win but they were still good" consideration?

[SmedIndy]

It doesn't - it's quite valid - and it can further the BRM arguement on another thread.

It's just wrong to blame the commissioner. The '81 season was deservedly fouled up. A pox on all houses, good sir knight, for that season.

[Sopalt]

This goes with an asterisk. The 1994 Montreal Expos were on pace to win 104 - 105 games, but did not make the playoffs of course, since there were no playoffs that year.

[Ytown Tribe fan]

Another good one, Sopalt. The Expos had a .649 winning percentage until that season came crashing down.

The Big Three -- all teams that won more than 2/3rds of their games but finished second:

1909 Cubs 104-49 .680 6.5 GB of the Pirates.
1942 Dodgers 104-50 .675 2.0 GB of the Cards.
1954 Yanks 103-51 .669 8.0 GB of the Tribe.

[TimmyB]

The '48 (96-59, 1 out on a one game playoff loss) and '49 (96-58, 1 game out) Red Sox can get added to this list.

The '48 gang lost a one game playoff with the Indians. The '49 bunch had a went into a weekend season-ending series with the Yankees needing to win only one to clinch. They lost both. :rolleyes:

[Fuzzy Bear]

Originally posted by KCBOOMER
1962 Dodgers 102-63.

I think Bill James rates the 1962 Dodgers as the greatest 2nd place team of all time.

The 1993 San Francisco Giants are up there as well.

I'm not sure what to make of the 1967 Tigers. They SHOULD have won the pennant that year, and they probably WERE the best team. However, they arguably BLEW IT, so do you qualify here if you BLEW IT, or only if you were REALLY, REALLY GOOD, BUT SOMEBODY ELSE WAS BETTER?

The 1993 Giants were REALLY, REALLY GOOD, and played well down the stretch; the Braves were flukishly amazing.

The 1962 Dodgers were GREAT, but had injuries, and had a 2nd half fade.

The 1967 Tigers simply failed to assert themselves in a year where they had the most talent.