1981 Cincinnati Reds

View full size photo »

One of the charming things about baseball is that it typically really means something if you get to the playoffs.  If your team is good enough to survive 162 games with a great record, you most likely are one of the best teams in the league.  The downside of that is that you can still be a very good team and not make it to the playoffs.  Here are 5 such Reds teams.

1. 1974 Reds - 98-64, .605 Winning PCT, 776 RS, 631 RA

You had to guess that a team full of Big Red Machine players would top this list.  1974 was perhaps the strangest season of failure in the history of baseball.  Most teams wouldn't have considered 98 wins to be a failure, but if you listen to the players from that team talk about it, you'd have thought they finished in 4th place.  This team was essentially the same team as the one that won it all in 1975, but Pete Rose played LF and Dan Driessen played 3B with George Foster splitting time from the bench.  Their 98 wins were the 2nd most in all of baseball, and they would have won the NL East by 10 games that season.  Unfortunately for the Reds, the Dodgers finished with 102 wins that season and without a Wild Card, the Reds were sent home early that year.

2. 1999 Reds - 96-67, .589 Winning PCT, 865 RS, 711 RA

Since the Wild Card was added to the playoffs in 1995, only one team has won 95 or more games and failed to make it to the playoffs.  A season that started with very little expectation - they were playing just .500 ball after 44 games - saw breakout seasons from Sean Casey (132 OPS+) and Dmitri Young (111 OPS+).  Veterans Greg Vaugh (117 OPS+, 45 HR) and Jeffrey Hammonds (117 OPS+) led an unlikely crew to the most wins for the franchise in 23 years.  And yet, it still came down to a final playoff game with the New York Mets.  Stupid Al Leiter!

Continue reading this post »

Believe it or not, kids, this beanpole guy was an awesome power hitter. And boy could he fly on the bases!

View full size photo »

There is something special about a player that can beat you both with his legs and the power in his bat.  This is beyond the arbitrary fascination with the 30-30 season.  The excitement of a player who can "do it all" on the baseball field really seems to capture the imagination of fans.  Perhaps it is because it opens us up to the belief that anything is possible?  Or maybe we just like players who are athletic bad-asses?

Here are the top 5 seasons of combined power and speed in Reds history:

1. Eric Davis - 1987 - 37 HR, .593 SLG, 50 SB, 6 CS, 89.3% stolen base rate

As a 25-year old, Davis wowed the baseball world and almost became the first 40-40 player in baseball history.  His .593 SLG is the highest by a player with 50 SB since George Sisler slugged .594 with 51 SB in 1922.  Of course, Sisler was caught stealing 19 times that year (72.8%).  Davis was safe on nearly 90% of his steal attempts.  Yowza!

2. Joe Morgan - 1976 - 27 HR, .576 SLG, 60 SB, 9 CS, 87.0% stolen base rate

In perhaps the greatest all-around season in the history of baseball (Little Joe batted .320 with a .440 OBP and won a gold glove at 2B), Morgan won his second consecutive MVP award for the Reds.  His home runs were the 5th most in the NL and he was 2nd in stolen bases.  Probably the most impressive thing was that the 5'7" Morgan led the NL in Slugging percentage by 46 points.  He could have hit 5 fewer home runs and still led the league in slugging.  And he stole 60 bases!!

3. Eric Davis - 1986 - 27 HR, .523 SLG, 80 SB, 11 CS, 87.9% stolen base rate

This is probably my favorite individual season by a Red in my lifetime.  Two players in baseball history have stolen 80 bases and hit 25 or more home runs in the same season, and they both happened in the same year.  Rickey Henderson's counting stats were slightly better in 1986, mainly because he played 21 more games, topping Davis with 87 SB and 28 HR.  Davis outslugged Henderson though .523 to .469, and his stolen base rat of 87.9% was better than Henderson's measly 82.9%.  I love Eric Davis.  I really do.

4. Reggie Sanders - 1995 - 28 HR, .579 SLG, 36 SB, 12 CS, 75.0% stolen base rate

You know, because he struggled so much in the post-season, it's easy to forget what a good season Reggie Sanders had in 1995.  He was coming into his prime that year and put up a .306/.397/.579 season, perhaps deserving the NL MVP even more than Barry Larkin did.  He finished 6th in MVP voting that year, a year that ended up being the peak for his career, but a pretty nice peak it was in a very solid overall career.

5. Barry Larkin - 1996 - 33 HR, .567 SLG, 36 SB, 10 CS, 78.3% stolen base rate

In a strange sequence of events, Larkin improved on his MVP 1995 season the following year, but actually finished 12th in the MVP voting.  Ken Caminiti won the award in 1996, though Barry Bonds likely has the biggest complaint as he had his best non-steroids season of his career (10.8 WAR!), but finished in 6th in voting.  Larkin's season is historically significant because it was the first 30-30 season by an everyday middle infielder in baseball history.  Again, 30-30 is an arbitrary cutoff point, but when it supports a guy I'm a fan of, IT'S THE MOST IMPORTANT NUMBER IN THE WORLD!!!!

Now it's your turn?  Which season was your favorite?  Who did I leave off the list that should be there?

More photos » by Al Behrman - AP

Owings home run off of Ryan Franklin to tie the game on Mother's Day was one of the biggest highlights of this past season. Too bad the Reds still lost the game.

Browse more photos »

I'm going to try to do something new to pass the time this off-season.  Every Friday I will make a new top 5 list on a different topic.  We'll see where it leads or if I'll stick to it.  This week's list is the Top 5 offensive seasons by a Reds pitcher.

1. Joe Nuxhall - 1953 - 55 PA .327/.377/.551

For pitchers with at least 50 plate appearances, Joe Nuxhall has the highest single-season OPS+ in Reds history at 138.  To put that in perspective, Jonny Gomes was second on the Reds last year with an OPS+ of 124.  Votto led the team at 152.  Nuxie was a pretty good hitter in his career, and this was the first of 3 straight seasons with 3 home runs for the Old Lefthander.  This was also the only season where he batted over .300 for the year in his career.

2. Bill Phillips - 1902 - 124 PA  .342/.385/.404

Sure it was a different game in 1902, but pitchers still weren't necessarily very good hitters even back then.  Phillips only managed one other season in his career with an OPS+ over 75, but in this one he posted an OPS+ of 134, the highest for any Reds pitcher with at least 100 PA.

3. Bucky Walters - 1939 - 131 PA  .325/.357/.433

A former infielder, Bucky Walters was a doubles machine.  In 968 career PA as a pitcher with the Reds, he hit 42 doubles, 3 triples, and 8 HR.  In 1939, he set the single season record for extra base hits by a Reds pitcher with 10.  He's also tied with himself for second on that list with 9.  Oh yeah, he went 27-11 with a 2.29 ERA in 1939, leading the league in wins, ERA, complete games (31!), innings (319), strikeouts, ERA+, and WHIP.  Perhaps the best overall season ever by a Reds pitcher.  I guess that's why he won the NL MVP that year.

Continue reading this post »