Joel Dorcas | April 14th, 2022
On to the bests of the best. These assemblies of position players have put up some impressive offensive totals. How will they be remembered compared to decades that will follow? Will home runs continue to dominate the game? Until then let’s play homage to these five great lineups! Feel free to let us know which teams should have made the cut, enjoy!
*all team hitting stats are combined for all players with plate appearances, not just one through nine (fangraphs.com)*
5. 2016 Boston Red Sox 93-69/ 878 Runs/ .282 avg
- Dustin Pedroia 2B
- Xander Bogaerts SS
- Mookie Betts RF
- David Ortiz DH
- Hanley Ramirez 1B
- Jackie Bradley Jr. CF
- Travis Shaw 3B
- Brock Holt/ Chris Young LF
- Sandy Leon C
The top five in this order could hang with any other group you could think of. All players either had at least 100 runs or over 100 RBI. Mookie Betts was running on all cylinders with a WAR of 8.3, Hanley Ramirez had 30 bombs and 111 RBI. Jackie Bradley Jr. was as dynamic as any other centerfielder, 26 taters, a respectable batting average, and of course, elite defensive skills.
4. 2019 New York Yankees 103-59/ 943 Runs/ 306 HR/ 829 OPS
- Brett Gardner CF
- Aaron Judge RF
- DJ LeMahieu 2B
- Gleyber Torres SS
- Gary Sanchez C
- Luke Voit 1B
- Gio Urshela 3B
- Mike Tauchman LF
- Mike Ford/ Edwin Encarnacion DH
Despite numerous injuries to keg cogs in the order, the Bronx Bombers cranked out long-balls at an all-time pace. An MVP caliber season out of former Rockie D.J. LeMahieu and the emergence of Gleyber Torres were just some of the highlights from this version of the Yanks. Even Brett Gardner cleared the fence on the regular, he finished with a career-high 28. Can you imagine if Giancarlo Stanton was a regular with this group?
3. 2010 New York Yankees 95-66/ 859 Runs
- Derek Jeter SS
- Robinson Cano 2B
- Alex Rodriguez 3B
- Mark Teixeira 1B
- Nick Swisher RF
- Curtis Granderson LF
- Brett Gardner CF
- Marcus Thames DH
- Francisco Cervelli C
Although not as many homers as the 2019 Yankees, this group of players was very impressive. Brett Gardner and Curtis Granderson get lost in this lineup and they had WARs of 6.2 and 4.0 respectively. The trio of Cano, A-Rod, and Teixeira was an absolute nightmare for opposing pitchers.
2. 2019 Minnesota Twins 101-61/ 939 Runs/ 307 HR/ .832 OPS
- Jorge Polanco SS
- Max Kepler RF
- Eddie Rosario LF
- Nelson Cruz DH
- Mitch Garver C
- Miguel Sano 3B
- C.J. Cron 1B
- Jonathan Schoop 2B
- Byron Buxton CF
The “Bomba Squad” featured eight players to hit at least 20 home runs. All toll the 307 dingers at seasons end holds up as the most ever. Max Kepler finally tapped into some undiscovered power, he went deep 36 times. Nelson Cruz continued to mash with 41. Maybe most impressive was catcher Mitch Garver‘s 31 big flies in just 359 plate appearances.
1. 2019 Houston Astros 107-55/ 920 Runs/ .848 OPS
- George Springer CF
- Jose Altuve 2B
- Alex Bregman 3B
- Michael Brantley LF
- Yordan Alvarez DH
- Yuli Gurriel 1B
- Carlos Correa SS
- Robinson Chirinos C
- Josh Reddick RF
No matter how you slice it, this group of hitters can match up against anyone. Alex Bregman and Michael Brantley are arguably two of the best professional hitters in the game The addition of rookie Yordan Alvarez and the emergence of Yuli Gurriel put this team over the top. A 107 win season is extremely special.
Teams 10-5 can be viewed here:MLB’s Best Lineups of the Past Decade (Part One)
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