Are We The Big Red Machine of the 21st Century?

 

Riffing off some stats the invaluable ZacharyA provided today, it occurs to me that your 2022 New York Yankees just might be The Big Red Machine of the 21st century—particularly the original, 1970 version of that Cincinnati juggernaut.

That's not as good as it sounds.

To be sure, the Reds from 1970-1979 won 6 division championships, 4 pennants, and 2 World Series titles. (Another potential pennant was lost to the 1981 strike, a year in which Cincinnati ended up with the best overall record in the NL but did not even get the chance to play in October. Don't ask.)

To be sure, the Redlegs in this period had a manager, front office, and day-to-day starters who were usually light years ahead of the Bonnie Lads of the Bronx. And that's no knock on our boys.  

Combining hitting, power-hitting, speed, and glove work, the Reds' starters—particularly around their peak in 1975-76—maybe well have boasted the greatest all-around, day-to-day lineup, EVER. 

Of today's starting Yankees, it's possible to conceive only of Aaron Judge starting for that club, which was just the third (and last) National League team to win back-to-back, belly-to-belly championships.

But those Reds missed out on repeated opportunities for more. They narrowly lost out on division races in 1974 and 1978 and were "upset" by what were considered lesser Orioles, A's, and even Mets teams in 1970, 1972, and 1973 World Series.  

For that matter, they only got by the Pirates on a wild pitch in the ninth inning of Game Five, in the 1972 NLCS, and avoided losing to—and even getting swept by—Boston in the 1975 World Series, only thanks to Jim Rice's broken wrist, a critical rain delay, and one of the all-time worst umpiring gaffes in the history of the Fall Classic.

So why DIDN'T the 1970s Reds win more rings?

Well, the answer as it so often is, in baseball and in life, is...not enough pitching. And specifically, STARTING pitching.

The Big Red Machine first won that sobriquet when it burst out of the gate in 1970. By this date that year, at the start of the All-Star break, Cincy was 61-26.

Hmm.  Sound familiar?

The Reds went on to reach 63-26...then plunged back to earth, finishing the season 39-34. Hey, it didn't much matter. The NL West Division they played in—for some mysterious reason—was so weak that Cincinnati actually GAINED 4 1/2 games the rest of the way, to finish 14 1/2 up.  

What followed was an easy enough walkover against a young Pirates team for the NL pennant—then a five-game sandbagging at the hands of Baltimore.

What went wrong?  What's about to go wrong now for the Yankees, as most of their starters move beyond any work levels they have known before—as Zach so sagely noted.

Consider.  Here were the first and second half records of the Reds' 1970 starters:

Gary Nolan: 

11-4, 3.72

  7-3, 2.78

Jim Merritt:

14-7, 3.46

  6-5, 5.24

Jim McGlothlin:

11-4, 2.79

  3-6, 4.85

Wayne Simpson:

13-1, 2.69

  1-2, 4.71

Tony Cloninger:

2-2, 5.54

7-5, 3.25

There you have it. 51-18 became 24-21.

Save for the staff ace, Gary Nolan, and veteran Tony Cloninger at the back of the rotation, the Reds' starters all ran out of gas at the midway point. Rookie sensation Wayne Simpson wrecked his arm and was never the same pitcher again.

Only by calling up rookie and future Yankee, Don Gullett—seen here doing his best Rick Moranis imitation—did the Reds avoid even bigger problems on the mound.

So it would go for most of the rest of the decade. 

Starting staffs would show flashes of brilliance, only to succumb to injuries or mediocrity. Again and again—until, too late, when they pulled Tom Seaver away from the crumbling Mets—the Reds were unable to produce the stud hoss starter that would make them a sure thing in the playoffs against what were actually better balanced clubs. Teams such as Baltimore and Oakland...or even the worst division champ ever, the 1973 Metsies.

Fortunately for the Reds, they could often compensate with the incredible hitters and fielders in their lineups. Or their manager, Sparky Anderson, "Captain Hook," who managed to get the most out of his staffs with his brilliant manipulation of his team's deep bullpen.

But then, why worry?

We have all those things, too. 

Don't we?