Three days until The American League Elite 8. Here are the 4 matchups.
1939 New York Yankees-Joe McCarthy
v.
1998 New York Yankees-Joe Torre
2017 Houston Astros-AJ Hinch
v.
1934 Detroit Tigers-Mickey Cochrane
1927 New York Yankees-Miller Huggins
v.
1971 Baltimore Orioles-Earl Weaver
1929 Philadelphia A's-Connie Mack
v.
1969 Baltimore Orioles-Earl Weaver
The 1939 New York Yankees went 106-45, won the AL by 17 games and then swept the Reds in the World Series. It was the 4th straight World Championship for New York. They led the league in both runs scored and runs allowed, outscoring opponents by 411 runs. This was Gehrig's last season; his #4 became the first number ever retired in MLB.
The 1998 New York Yankees went 114-48, won the AL East by 22 games, they swept the Rangers in the ALDS, beat the Indians 4-2 in the ALCS, and then swept the Padres in the World Series. That's a total of 125 wins, most in MLB history. This was the first of 3 straight World Championships for the Yankees.
The 2017 Houston Astros went 101-61, won the AL West by 21 games, they beat the Red Sox 3-1 in the ALDS, beat the Yankees 4-3 in the ALCS, and then beat the Dodgers 4-3 to win the World Series, the first World Championship in Astros history. They had the best slugging percentage and the fewest strikeouts in MLB.
The 1934 Detroit Tigers went 101-53, won the American League by 7 games...and then lost the World Series to St Louis 4-3 (Ducky Medwick slid hard into Marv Owen at third in game 7, Tigers fans threw garbage at Medwick when he came out to play LF in the bottom of the inning and he was removed from the game for his own protection). This was Mickey Cochrane's first season as a Tiger (he was player/manager) and became the first catcher named AL MVP. Detroit averaged over 7 runs/game in August.
The 1927 New York Yankees went 110-44, won the American League by 19 games, and then swept the Pirates in the World Series. The Yankees went wire-to-wire, never falling out of first place. Babe Ruth broke the single season home run record, hitting 60. Ruth hit more homers than 3/4 of the teams in MLB in '27. They came back the next year and swept the Series again (the '98-'99 Yankees would also do that).
The 1971 Baltimore Orioles (defending World Champions) went 101-57, won the AL East by a dozen games, swept Oakland in the ALCS...and then lost the World Series to the Pirates 4-3. They're one of only two clubs in MLB history with four 20 game winning pitchers.
The 1929 Philadelphia A's went 104-46, won the American League by 18 games, the beat the Cubs 4-1 in the World Series. The A's finished second to that monster Yankee club in both '27 and '28 before breaking through here. The Cubs struck out 50 times in that 5 game World Series.
The 1969 Baltimore Orioles went 109-53, won the AL East (this was the first season for divisions) by 19 games, swept the Twins in the first ever ALCS..and then lost the World Series to the underdog Mets 4-1.
So - there you have it. The 8 greatest teams in American League history. The next time we see them, we'll slice them in half.
