Ranking the Pennant Winners

[usnspecialist]

RANK: 41
YEAR: 1988
TEAM: Oakland Athletics
TOP WAR: 534.3
PLAYOFF RESULTS: Lost World Series to Los Angeles Dodgers 4-0
TOTALS:

CATEGORY	TOTAL	RANK
TOP TOTAL WAR	534.3	41
TOP BATTER WAR	326.0	41
TOP PITCHING WAR	208.3	38
TOTAL WAR	658.3	38
TOTAL BATTER WAR	431.6	36
TOTAL PITCHER WAR	226.7	46
GARBAGE TOTAL WAR	124.0	36
GARBAGE BATTER WAR	105.6	20
GARBAGE PITCHER WAR	18.4	60
BATTER AGE	27.80	61
PITCHER AGE	27.53	60
TOP BATTER AGE	29.09	44
TOP PITCHER AGE	28.40	49

TOP HITTERS:

POSITION	AGE	NAME	WAR
C	35	Ron Hassey	14.7
1B	24	Mark McGwire	62.2
2B	30	Glenn Hubbard	19.2
SS	24	Walt Weiss	16.5
3B	31	Carney Lansford	40.4
LF	24	Luis Polonia	9.0
CF	29	Dave Henderson	27.6
RF	23	Jose Canseco	42.4
DH	39	Don Baylor	28.5
BENCH	24	Stan Javier	25.4
BENCH	37	Dave Parker	40.1

TOP PITCHERS:

POSITION	AGE	NAME	WAR
SP	31	Dave Stewart	26.5
SP	31	Bob Welch	43.7
SP	26	Storm Davis	17.2
SP	28	Curt Young	4.2
SP	24	Todd Burns	5.5
RP	33	Dennis Eckersley	62.1
RP	27	Gene Nelson	7.3
RP	34	Rick Honeycutt	21.6
RP	24	Eric Plunk	13.5
RP	26	Greg Cadaret	6.7

OTHERS OF NOTE:

POSITION	AGE	NAME	WAR
BENCH	29	Tony Phillips	50.9
BENCH	26	Terry Steinbach	28.0
BENCH	27	Mike Gallego	17.0
BULLPEN	27	Steve Ontiveros	8.6

Comments: A relatively balanced squad, albeit one that maybe is a bit over-inflated historically with how much that Dodgers upset is talked about. The big names here are obviously the Bash Brothers in McGwire/Canseco as well as Dennis Eckersley (a strong candidate for greatest closer of all time), but there was some impressive depth behind them including some guys who you might go “wait they were THAT good” in Carney Lansford and Bob Welch. Their depth bench is interesting in that it features some quality guys who were actually in the prime of their careers, not the token rookies or aging vets that often populate that section.

[RonCo]

That was always an interesting team to watch.

[trmmilwwi]

Those late 80's A's teams are a sweet spot in my heart. Lot's of time attending the entire series when the A's visited County Stadium, the 4 game series' were the best. Also ran a lot of these guys as custom players when playing Baseball Stars back in the day.