In season 21, the Augusta Moose won a staggering 118 games.
While the NL also featured teams with 111 and 106 wins, the 118 victories
posted by the Moose had me wondering where they ranked among the all-time great
clubs in the history of the Sandlot. Looking back, I found some teams that
really dominated their leagues. The Stars have been the NY Yankees of the
Sandlot, posting as many as 123 wins. The Sioux Falls Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots
(now known as the Chicago Doublemints) won 124 games in season 11. But as we
know, not all seasons are equal – the collective talent of a league can mask
just how good a team was. But how do you measure it? I did a few things, but
first I picked out a few teams from some great owners from the AL and NL over
different eras of the Sandlot:
|
TEAM
|
SEASON
|
W
|
PCT
|
|
SIOUX FALLS ROBOTS
|
11
|
124
|
0.765
|
|
LA STARS
|
6
|
123
|
0.759
|
|
SA ENTOURAGE
|
15
|
120
|
0.741
|
|
LA STARS
|
7
|
118
|
0.728
|
|
AUGUSTA MOOSE
|
21
|
118
|
0.728
|
|
CINCINNATI REDS
|
7
|
117
|
0.722
|
|
CHARLESTON JITTERBUGS
|
17
|
116
|
0.716
|
There have been some other great teams, but it’s pretty
tough to crack this list when the bottom club has 116 wins. But is wins the
ultimate measurement in determining a team’s greatness? Well, the good old 1927
Yankees had 110 wins, and they’re generally considered the greatest single
season team of all time (apologies to the ’39 and ’98 Yanks, and the ’76 Reds
for that matter). It’s all about dominance, and while wins indeed show that, so
do the runs scored and runs allowed. That’s where we get the expected winning
percentage, which is Bill James’ Pythagorean Method. Let’s look at the above
clubs once again, but now sorted by expected win percentage, based on their
runs scored and allowed:
|
TEAM
|
SEASON
|
W
|
PCT
|
RS
|
RA
|
EXP
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LA STARS
|
6
|
123
|
0.759
|
1059
|
573
|
0.766
|
|
SIOUX FALLS ROBOTS
|
11
|
124
|
0.765
|
1138
|
640
|
0.758
|
|
LA STARS
|
7
|
118
|
0.728
|
1081
|
635
|
0.739
|
|
CINCINNATI REDS
|
7
|
117
|
0.722
|
957
|
531
|
0.731
|
|
CHARLESTON JITTERBUGS
|
17
|
116
|
0.716
|
931
|
556
|
0.725
|
|
AUGUSTA MOOSE
|
21
|
118
|
0.728
|
876
|
549
|
0.704
|
|
SA ENTOURAGE
|
15
|
120
|
0.741
|
911
|
586
|
0.697
|
That’s a little different order, with the biggest drop being
the Season 15 Entourage, who seemed to win a little more than their fair share
of victories that year. But expected percentage is still measuring the
individual team, and not considering the strength of the league they played in.
What if we looked at the bottom 4 teams in their league and posted their
average winning percentage? Let’s see:
|
TEAM
|
SEASON
|
W
|
PCT
|
EXP
|
BOT 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHARLESTON JITTERBUGS
|
17
|
116
|
0.716
|
0.725
|
0.401
|
|
AUGUSTA MOOSE
|
21
|
118
|
0.728
|
0.704
|
0.394
|
|
SA ENTOURAGE
|
15
|
120
|
0.741
|
0.697
|
0.383
|
|
LA STARS
|
7
|
118
|
0.728
|
0.739
|
0.364
|
|
CINCINNATI REDS
|
7
|
117
|
0.722
|
0.731
|
0.364
|
|
LA STARS
|
6
|
123
|
0.759
|
0.766
|
0.327
|
|
SIOUX FALLS ROBOTS
|
11
|
124
|
0.765
|
0.758
|
0.326
|
That makes sense. The Sandlot has come a long way in
achieving some parity as the seasons have rolled on. But just looking at the
bottom 4 doesn’t tell the whole picture. That’s where Standard Deviation comes
in. Rob Neyer used it in his book Baseball
Dynasties, where he and Eddie Epstein examined the greatest teams of all
time. To put it shortly, standard deviation measures how tight a league was
talent wise. The lower the overall deviation from the league average, the
tougher it is to dominate as there aren’t as many crap clubs to beat up on. So
let’s look at the list based on their league’s SD:
|
TEAM
|
SEASON
|
W
|
PCT
|
EXP
|
BOT 4
|
LG SD
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHARLESTON JITTERBUGS
|
17
|
116
|
0.716
|
0.725
|
0.401
|
108.1
|
|
AUGUSTA MOOSE
|
21
|
118
|
0.728
|
0.704
|
0.394
|
108.7
|
|
SA ENTOURAGE
|
15
|
120
|
0.741
|
0.697
|
0.383
|
122.6
|
|
LA STARS
|
7
|
118
|
0.728
|
0.739
|
0.364
|
139.1
|
|
CINCINNATI REDS
|
7
|
117
|
0.722
|
0.731
|
0.364
|
139.1
|
|
SIOUX FALLS ROBOTS
|
11
|
124
|
0.765
|
0.758
|
0.326
|
166.7
|
|
LA STARS
|
6
|
123
|
0.759
|
0.766
|
0.327
|
186.2
|
Really not much difference, but it’s precise. Now that we’ve
ordered the leagues based on competitiveness, let’s factor back in the
individual club’s dominance. Neyer did this with a Standard Deviation score.
Simply put, it takes the club’s run differential and divides it by the league
standard deviation. So here we are:
|
TEAM
|
SEASON
|
W
|
PCT
|
EXP
|
BOT 4
|
LG SD
|
SD SCORE
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LA STARS
|
7
|
118
|
0.728
|
0.739
|
0.364
|
139.1
|
3.55
|
|
CHARLESTON JITTERBUGS
|
17
|
116
|
0.716
|
0.725
|
0.401
|
108.1
|
3.49
|
|
LA STARS
|
6
|
123
|
0.759
|
0.766
|
0.327
|
186.2
|
3.17
|
|
AUGUSTA MOOSE
|
21
|
118
|
0.728
|
0.704
|
0.394
|
108.7
|
3.08
|
|
SIOUX FALLS ROBOTS
|
11
|
124
|
0.765
|
0.758
|
0.326
|
166.7
|
3.07
|
|
CINCINNATI REDS
|
7
|
117
|
0.722
|
0.731
|
0.364
|
139.1
|
2.65
|
|
SA ENTOURAGE
|
15
|
120
|
0.741
|
0.697
|
0.383
|
122.6
|
2.42
|
It’s not too surprising to see a Stars team on top. Season 7
was pretty decent talent wise, and he just crushed the field. To give some
perspective, the 1927 Yankees had a SD score of 3.69, so that Stars team is in
some pretty good company. Those Jits of Season 17 were pretty special as well,
as it was a very tough league to dominate. Sort of strange to see the Reds with
a weak SD score especially since the Stars don’t seem that much better that
season, but they just didn’t perform well offensively to stand out here among
the all time greats. And getting back to the Moose, in spite of getting knocked
out in the NLDS, they should look back on their season 21 with pride as it’s
one of the greatest regular season clubs ever put together in the Sandlot.
