ESPN laughably omits historic Reds team from analytics-driven all-time ranking

In one of the most asinine pieces to ever appear on ESPN.com—and that's saying something—writer and analyst Brandon Doolittle decided to investigate the notion that the 2025 Los Angeles Dodgers are (on paper) the greatest team in Major League Baseball history.

Using an analytics-dominated evaluation that relied on advanced metrics, Doolittle came to the conclusion that the 2019 Houston Astros—yes, the same team that lost in the World Series to the Washington Nationals—were the best team in MLB history.

But it gets better. Not only did ESPN rank the 2019 Astros as the best team ever, but the Big Red Machine was nowhere to be found in the top-25 rankings. Nope, neither the 1975 nor 1976 Reds' team sniffed a spot on this pathetic attempt of an all-time list (subscription required).

ESPN laughably omits historic Reds from analytics-driven all-time ranking

While the 2019 Astros roster was filled the likes of Justin Verlander, Jose Altuve, Gerrit Cole, George Springer, and Alex Bregman, they didn't finish the job. They choked on the biggest stage. Houston won two World Series championships over the past decade, and have been arguably as dominant during that 10-year run as the Big Red Machine was during the 1970s, but a team's success should be measured by winning, not by bWAR and all this other nonsense that these eggheads try to convince you is important nowadays.

Leaving a team off the list that was filled with Hall of Famers (Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and Tony Perez), ex-MVPs (Pete Rose and George Foster), former All-Stars (Ken Griffey and Gary Nolan), multi-time Gold Glove Award-winners (César Gerónimo and Dave Concepcion), and the 1976 Rookie of the Year (Pat Zachary) clearly shows why nobody watches the so-called World Wide Leader in Sports.

To be completely fair to ESPN, the author did state at the outset that Wins Above Replacement (WAR) favors recent teams because of roster depth in today's game. The article states that teams use more players now than ever before.

While Doolittle argues that this trend is due to the depth of the talent pool available today, others would argue that analytics have changed the game so much and placed more focus on matchups rather than team success. Also of note, if this was an average of WAR and not cumulative, it would've favored numerous teams from the 1920s.

It goes without saying that this list is a load of hogwash, and if you need further proof, the 2019 Los Angeles Dodgers—who also lost to the Nationals in the postseason that years—came in at No. 2. Maybe the real question isn't why aren't the 1975 and 1976 Reds on the list, but how could ESPN omit world-beaters like the 2019 Nats? Gimme a break.

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