FG on Fox: Who is the Best Team in Baseball?

Who is the best team in baseball right now? There are a handful of ways one could attempt to answer this question.

The Angels currently have the best record at 94-57, so they’re a natural pick, and maybe the best selection, as they also lead the majors in both run differential and expected record by BaseRuns, both measures which attempt to strip some luck out of a team’s results. But on the other hand, the Angels were excellent for most of the year in part due to the excellent pitching of Garrett Richards, who is now injured and won’t pitch again this year.

Rob did a nice job of showing that one player does not make or break a team, but good players do matter to some degree, and the Angels are a worse team without Richards than they were with him. His loss doesn’t cut out their legs, but it does make them less likely to keep winning at this same pace going forward, and this question asks us to care more about the future than the past.

So maybe this isn’t such an open-and-shut case. Let’s evaluate a few of the top contenders, and look at their claim to the Best Team in Baseball title.

Read the rest on Just a Bit Outside.