And the Winner Is...

Why, the 1998 Yankees, of course!

Think back, back, twenty years, to before Brian Cashman was running the New York Yankees.

Well, actually he WAS running the Yankees.  But the team had been built by the Holy Trinity of Buck Showalter, Bob Watson, and—yes, the Holy Father Himself—Gene Michael.  Cashman...was still more like one of those little weaselly mammals, scurrying around between the feet of the Thunder Lizards.

What they built was indeed the greatest team in the history of professional baseball.  Here's why:

—They won the pennant and the World Series.

—They won 125 games, the most games ever won by any team, in a single series—not only in baseball, but in any sport, anywhere, in world history (Well, all right, somebody in the Pacific Coast League may have won more.  But those lunatics used to play, like, a 400-game regular seasons.  And they weren't a major league.)

—The 1998 Yankees took the regular season race by 22 games.

True, it was the three-division American League—but the second place team in the AL East (the Boston Red Sox), were also the second-best team in the league.  Had the winners of the Central or West divisions been in the AL East with the same records, the Yanks would have won by 25 or 26 games.

As it is, that 22-game margin is, I believe, the second-greatest margin ever, surpassed only by the 1902 Pittsburgh Pirates, in a year when Ban Johnson, creator of the new, upstart American League had deliberately stripped down every other team in the National League, so that there would NOT be a competitive race.

—The 1998 Yankees romped in the playoffs, going 11-2—with one of those losses being the infamous, "Blauch-head" meltdown.  In 1999, they went 11-1, meaning they went 22-3—an .888 clip—over the two postseasons.

This team could beat you long, and it could beat you short.

—The 1998 Yankees had a winning record in every single month of the season.  Their worst record was in September, when they went 16-11.  In three different months, they won 20 or more games.

In one-run games, they went 21-10, and in extra-inning games, 9-2.  In "blowouts" where they won by five or more runs, they went 42-13.

—Unlike any other of the teams usually ranked among the greatest ever, the Yankees also dominated against the National League.  Not only did they sweep the San Diego Padres in the World Series, they also went 13-3 in inter-league play, for a total of 17-3, or .850 ball against the Senior Circuit.

They won every series against six National League teams, who averaged 81 wins a year.  But those included winning three-of-four against the Atlanta Braves, who finished with 106 wins, the best record in the NL.  The Padres won 98 games, the third highest number in the NL.

—The 1998 Yankees scored 965 runs, and allowed only 656.  That comes out to a run differential of 5.96 to 4.05, for a margin of 1.91.

From what I can determine, only five teams have a higher run differential:  those 1902 Pirates, the 1906 Cubs, the 1927 Yankees (2.4), the 1936 and 1937 Yankees, and the 1939 Yankees, who had the highest differential ever (2.7 runs a game).

But of course, all those teams played before African Americans or Hispanics of any color at all were allowed to play in the show.

—The 1998 Yankees not only led the American League in runs scored.  They were also second in hits, fourth in home runs (with 207), second in stolen bases (with 153—and only 12th in caught stealing, with 63), first in walks, second in batting average (.288), first in on-base percentage, fourth in slugging, and first in on-base-plus-slugging (.825, or .827 without pitchers batting).

—The 1998 Yankees not only allowed the fewest runs scored in the American League.  They also allowed the fewest earned runs, hits, and home runs, and the second fewest walks.  They were first in ERA (3.82), complete games (22), and shutouts (8), third in saves, and fourth in strikeouts.

—The 1998 Yankees had almost unreal depth.  Nine different players hit 10 or more home runs.  The outfield consisted of Bernie Williams (who won a batting title and Gold Glove in centerfield), Paul O'Neill (.324, 116 ribbies, 15 stolen bases in 16 attempts), and Chad Curtis, but also Darryl Strawberry, Tim Raines, Ricky Ledee, and Shane Spencer.

When Davis was hurt early, Ledee and Strawberry filled in, in the OF and at DH.  When Darryl went down with cancer near the end of August, Davis came back and Spencer came up, hitting 10 homers (at least three for grand slams, I think), and batting .373 with a 1.321 OPS.  When he scuffled a little in the postseason, Ledee came back and hit .600 in the World Series.

Behind Jorge Posada, emerging at catcher with a fine season, was Joe Girardi.  The main backup infielder was Homer Bush, who hit .380, but behind him was the incredibly clutch, Luis "Mr. Five O'Clock Shadow" Sojo.  Getting a cup of coffee, before being insanely traded away, was Mike Lowell.

The starting rotation was Cone, Pettitte, Wells, and Hideki Irabu, the May AL pitcher of the month, but when Irabu's chronic injury problems kicked in, the Yanks pulled up, well, El Duque, who went 12-4  with a 3.13 ERA, and two critical postseason wins.

Behind them was the deepest Yankees bullpen, ever:  Graeme "The Boxing Kangaroo" Lloyd, Jeff Nelson, Ramiro Mendoza, Mike Stanton, and Mariano Rivera.  In other words, two righties, two lefties, then God.

—I could go on all night about this team.  But here is what I believe to be the one, unanswerable argument as to why they are the greatest of all time:

No one was juicing.

Or at least, so it appears.  It is impossible to know for sure, of course.  But the twin carriers of the PED plague, Jose Canseco and Roger Clemens had not yet made it to the Bronx.

What's more, there is no statistical or observational evidence that anyone was juicing.  No one looked suddenly ripped.  No one's head expanded by a size or two, as Barry Bonds' did.  No one on the team hit more than 28 home runs.  No one suddenly became able to hit for power AND average, especially at some advanced age.  No one exploded in a contract year.

In fact, with the notable exception of David Wells, who went 18-4 with a perfect game, NO ONE on the 1998 Yankees had a career year, which I believe is unique amongst teams vying for the title of the greatest ever.  And even Wells' season was not wildly beyond the form he had shown repeatedly, for shorter periods, in the past.

No, the evidence is overwhelming that the 1998 Yankees played without juicing, against team after team that WAS already clearly using PEDs.

I don't think any team, in any sport, ever, has faced a greater handicap.  Bernie Williams, slyly making his own case for a Hall-of-Fame spot, once said that, well, if he had not juiced but played against juicers for most of his career and done that well, shouldn't he be in the hall?

So should the Yankees of 1998 be the greatest team ever.  And not only so far, but for good.

As I already argued, you can't call teams before the "live ball"—really, "clean ball" era—prior to 1920, modern ballteams.  And you can't give the title to any team in an era when they wouldn't let black or brown people play.

And you can't give it to a team with any significant player juicing (looking at you, Juice D. Martinez).

Yes, plenty of PED usage still goes on in baseball (looking at you, Houston Astros staff).

And you know what?  A few years from now, it will probably seem like child's play.  If mankind survives the next 10-20 years—something I'd put at even money just now—PEDs will seem like child's play.  They'll be cloning spare tendons in the clubhouse microwave, and snapping them right on players.  In another half-century, it'll be like the Borg playing the Borg out there.

Which means, we saw the greatest team ever, in the sport as it can and should be played.  And they were our team.

That's pretty damned good.

Honor their name this weekend.  Honor what they did, and let it take us through the rest of this season, as we try to endure that bunch of slackers and goobers we currently have out there.