Yankees, Reds and Red Sox have featured the best lineups ever
If your lineup was given a nickname for its offensive prowess, you know you’re doing something right. The New York Yankees’ Murderers’ Row and Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine are two of the most iconic batting orders in baseball, each striking fear in the hearts of opposing pitchers. But which lineup is the best of all time? That’s a tough, but not impossible, question to answer.
Hitters have one goal: Generate runs. Score more than your opponent and you win the game. So to decide which lineup was the best, we will look at which batting order was used most frequently by that team ( pitchers have been omitted) and how many runs it created, adjusted for era, league and park effects (WRC+). However, a lineup can score a lot of runs by having one or two superstars. We’re looking for the best lineup from top to bottom, so we will also take into account each individual’s ability to drive in runs. That way we reward teams with solid contribution from every part of the batting order, not just a few.
Before we get to the five best of all time, some of the teams that deserve an honourable mention include, in chronological order, the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers, 1982 Milwaukee Brewers, 1997 Seattle Mariners and the 2019 Houston Astros. These were some of the most prolific lineups we’ve ever seen, but they still fall short of the top five
5. 2003 Boston Red Sox
Most used lineup: Johnny Damon, Todd Walker, Nomar Garciaparra, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Kevin
Millar, Trot Nixon, Bill Mueller, Jason Varitek
Created runs at a rate that was 27-per-cent higher than average after taking into account era, league and park effects
Consistency made this lineup formidable throughout the season. All nine regular position players stepped to the plate at least 509 times and seven of the nine played at least 142 games. As a result, Boston led the American League in batting average (.289), on-base percentage (. 360) and slugging percentage (.491) with the second-most home runs (238, one fewer than the Texas Rangers) that year.
Six players — Ramirez, Ortiz, Garciaparra, Nixon, Varitek and Millar — hit at least 25 home runs, a record the Red Sox held alone until the 2019 Minnesota Twins equalled the feat, and Mueller edged out Ramirez for the AL batting title, .326 to .325. Three players in this lineup, Ortiz, Ramirez and Garciappara, finished in the top 10 of the MVP voting, too.
4. 1976 Cincinnati Reds
Most used lineup: Pete Rose, Ken Griffey, Joe Morgan, George Foster, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Cesar Geronimo and Dave Concepcion
Created runs at a rate that was 35-per-cent higher than average after taking into account era, league and park effects
The Big Red Machine averaged 5.3 runs per game during a time when the league mustered less than four per game. The Reds led the majors in every major batter stat, too, including batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and total bases. In fact, they are one of three clubs in baseball history to post an adjusted OPS that was at least 20-per-cent higher than average in a run environment more favourable to pitchers. (And one of those teams was the 2017 Astros ... )
Joe Morgan, one of the best acquisitions in baseball history, was named the league’s MVP after batting .320 with 27 home runs, 111 RBI and 60 steals. His 1.020 OPS was more than 100 basis points better than that of Bill Madlock, the next best hitter in the majors (. 912 OPS). Foster (.894 OPS, 4th), Rose (.854 OPS, 7th) and Griffey (.851 OPS, 10th) all finished within the top 10 for OPS.
3. 1931 New York Yankees
Most used lineup: Earle Combs, Joe Sewell, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ben Chapman, Lyn Lary, Bill Dickey and Tony Lazzeri
Created runs at a rate that was 40-per-cent higher than average after taking into account era, league and park effects
The Yankees set a modern-day record for most runs scored (1,067) that still stands today. Gehrig set an American League record by driving in 185 runs, breaking his own record of 173 set a year earlier. He and Ruth also hit 46 home runs each, giving them a two-man total that was higher than any other AL club that year, save for the Philadelphia Athletics (118 home runs).
2. 1930 New York Yankees
Most used lineup: Earle Combs, Lyn Lary, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, Harry Rice, Bill Dickey and Ben Chapman
Created runs at a rate that was 43-per-cent higher than average after taking into account era, league and park effects
This was a rough year for the Bronx Bombers. The Yankees finished 16 games back of the Philadelphia Athletics, which led to manager Bob Shawkey firing. Nevertheless, Ruth hit .359 with a league-leading 49 home runs and 153 RBIS. He even pitched his first game in nine years, a complete game victory over the Boston Red Sox. Gehrig, batting cleanup, hit .379 with 41 home runs, 173 RBI and 101 walks. Both sluggers produced an OPS that was at least twice the league average that year.
In fact, every batter in this lineup had at least an OPS that was above-average with the exception of shortstop Lyn Lary, who was nine-percent below average.
1. 1927 New York Yankees
Most used lineup: Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Bob Meusel, Tony Lazzeri, Joe Dugan and Pat Collins created runs at a rate that was 45-per-cent higher than average after taking into account era, league and park effects
Any pitcher facing Murderers’ Row was in trouble. The name specifically referred to the first six hitters in the lineup, four (Ruth, Gehrig, Combs and Lazzeri) of whom would eventually be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Combs produced a .414 on-base percentage and struck out just four per cent of the time. Koenig had his struggles, but an ability to lay off bad pitches (fourper-cent strikeout rate) wasn’t one of them. Ruth hit 60 home runs and created runs at a rate that was more than double the league average after adjusting for era, league and park effects. Gehrig batted .373 with 47 home runs and also created runs at more than twice the league average rate. Meusel, Lazzeri and Collins were all above-average run producers, too, leaving Dugan as the only weak link. But even that is relative considering all seven third basemen in the majors qualifying for the batting title were below-average run producers that season.