Who has produced the greatest fantasy baseball season? We often tend to think it’s something that happened last year. Maybe we go rouge and look back a couple of seasons. But who has produced the best fantasy seasons of all-time? I’m talking all the way back to the start of the game we love. In what follows I’ll go through all the positions and list a series of efforts that can be considered to have been the best ever, 5x5 seasons, in baseball history.
*Note: I originally wrote this article back in 2008 so nothing that has happened the last few years was included in what follows.
Click on this link to see the Greatest Pitching Seasons of All-Time.
GREATEST FANTSY SEASON – HITTERS
CATCHER
Best ever: 1999, Ivan Rodriguez (.332-35-113-116-25)
Runner up: 1997, Mike Piazza (.362-40-124-104-5)
I-Rod won the MVP in 1999 in the greatest all-around fantasy season by a catcher in baseball history. He produced the only 25/25 season by a catcher, ever, and because he didn’t get hurt he was able to amass 600 at-bats on the year which led to a massive total of 199 hits. Piazza certainly had a spectacular season in which he posted the second-best batting average ever for a catcher with the fourth most homers and the eighth most RBI, while his 1.070 OPS is number one in the annals of history for a backstop. Five steals just won’t get it done in the fantasy world, though, and heck, Pudge had more runs scored and only five fewer home runs anyway.
FIRST BASE
Best ever: 1931, Lou Gehrig (.341-46-184-163-17)
Runner up: 1932, Jimmy Foxx (.364-58-169-151-3)
Talk about a battle, huh? Really, you can’t pick a loser from these two, but I’ll give the nod to Gehrig, thanks to his 17 steals (so much for your idea of the lumbering first baseman). Gehrig produced one of eight 40/15 seasons by a first baseman in league history in 1931, and his 1.108 OPS was the fifth of 11-straight seasons in which he posted a 1.000 OPS. Heck, his 1927 wasn’t that bad, either (.373-47-175-149-10).
SECOND BASE
Best ever: 1922, Rogers Hornsby (.401-42-152-141-17)
Runner up: 1976, Joe Morgan (.320-27-111-113-60)
Are you kidding me? Probably not a single person who is reading this was alive in 1922, but we can still dream whimsically of what this special season would have done for a fantasy squad. Anyone would take any one of those five numbers for any position player on their squad this season, so when you roll them all up in one guy, in one season, at second base, the debate on the greatest fantasy baseball season by a second basemen is over. Hornsby’s .401 average is fourth all-time at second base, his 42 homers are second, his 152 RBI are first and his 141 runs scored are sixth. Sorry Joe, but you come in a distant second.
THIRD BASE
Best ever: 2007, Alex Rodriguez (.314-54-156-143-24)
Runner up: 1953, Al Rosen (.336-43-145-115-8)
Perhaps you didn’t realize just how great A-Rod was in his magical season. If that is the case, let me help to jog your memory. The 54 home runs he hit are the highest single season total in league history for a third sacker, as are his 156 RBI. With his speed on the bases he produced just the fourth season in baseball history of at least 50 homers and 20 steals, and just the third 40/20 season by a third basemen ever. Toss in a .314 batting average and you have the only .300-20-125-125-20 season by a third basemen since they started keeping track of stats.
SHORTSTOP
Best ever: 1998, Alex Rodriguez (.310-42-124-123-46)
Runner up: 2007, Hanley Ramirez (.332-29-81-125-51)
OK, this is slightly cheating since we couldn’t actually have the same guy playing two positions, but when a guy goes 40/40, it’s pretty tough to ignore him. Regardless, there is no disputing the season A-Rod posted as being the best fantasy baseball season ever by a shortstop, I mean, look at those yearly production levels: 8th all-time in HRs, 16th in RBI, 27th in runs and 42nd in stolen bases. In the runner up slot is Hanley Ramirez.
OUTFIELD
Best ever: 1921, Babe Ruth (.378-59-171-177-17)
Runner up: 1997, Larry Walker (.363-49-130-143-33)
Walker finished 1st in the NL in homers, OBP, SLG, OPS, total bases, 2nd in batting average, hits, runs and 7th in steals in 1997. Yet that performance was only good for second place in this two-horse race, and it’s easy to see why. Ruth’s 177 runs scored is the highest total in the modern era, while his 171 RBI are the seventh highest single season mark. Toss in the bombs, the seventh highest mark ever for an outfielder, and the 17 steals, and it’s easy to see what a massive performance was had in 1921 by Ruth. In fact, those numbers kind of reminded me of the type of numbers I used to put up while giving the smack down to my friends when we played RBI Baseball back in the 1980s on Nintendo. Hell, Ruth even won two games on the hill in nine innings pitched during his remarkable campaign.
Best ever: 1911, Ty Cobb (.420-8-127-147-83)
Runner up: 1996, Kenny Lofton (.317-14-67-132-75)
Ever heard of that Ty Cobb guy? He was a pretty good hitter in his day, though I’m sure the .400+ average adequately points out that fact. It might surprise you to learn that despite hitting just eight home runs on the year, Cobb posted a 1.088 OPS thanks to 47 doubles, 24 triples and 248 total hits. Kenny Lofton did a pretty fair Cobb imitation for the Indians in 1996, and though others may be more worthy than Lofton here, his combination of 5x5 production, including the power/speed things, sneaks him onto the list ahead of more powerful hitters.
Best ever: 1985, Rickey Henderson (.314-24-72-146-80)
Runner up: 1988, Jose Canseco (.307-42-124-120-40)
Henderson’s season was one of only three years in history that a player has hit 20 homers with 80 steals in a season (the other two seasons were Henderson and Eric Davis in 1986). I could have gone with a 30/30 season like that of Ellis Burks in 1996 (.344-40-128-142-32), or a .400 season (Ted Williams in 1941, when he went .406-37-120-135-2), or a 100+ SB season (Lou Brock in 1974, when he went .306-3-48-105-118), or the greatest power-hitting season of all-time (Barry Bonds in 2001, when he hit .328-73-137-129-13), but in the end, the blend of power and speed shown by Henderson and Canseco trumps the others.
Player News
Rays manager Kevin Cash said earlier this week that Shane McClanahan (triceps) is still dealing with discomfort.
Cash added that McClanahan has been given clearance to continue his throwing program, despite the lingering discomfort, but won’t be able to start ramping up from an intensity standpoint until the issue is resolved. There is no timetable for the 28-year-old fantasy ace to make his season debut. It’s starting to look like he won’t make it back until the second half, even in a best-case scenario.
Alejandro Kirk (head) is not in the lineup for Tuesday’s series opener against the Rays.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters that Kirk has passed all concussion tests was lifted from Sunday’s game after being hit in the helmet on a backswing, which is an extremely encouraging development. He’ll get some extra time off to rest and recover out of an abundance of caution. It’ll be Tyler Heineman handling the catching duties on Tuesday night in his absence.
Yankees signed RHP Anthony DeSclafani to a minor league contract.
DeSclafani missed all of last year after undergoing surgery to repair the flexor tendon in his right arm. The 35-year-old righty provides the Yankees with some experienced starting pitching depth at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He’s unlikely to make an impact for fantasy purposes, but could wind up gobbling up some innings for New York at some point later this season.
Mike Trout (knee) went through on-field agility drills on Tuesday at Petco Park.
Trout remains without a definitive return timetable at the moment, but the fact he’s progressed to on-field drills suggests that he’s not too far away from heading out on a minor league rehab assignment. The 33-year-old superstar has been swinging a bat without any issues, but hasn’t been able to run at full speed yet. He’s been out since April 30 after suffering a bone bruise in his surgically-repaired left knee.
DJ LeMahieu is not in the lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Mariners.
The Yankees are sticking with their original plan to let LeMahieu sit out Tuesday’s contest despite Oswaldo Cabrera’s serious ankle injury during Monday’s game. It’ll be Jorbit Vivas at second base with Oswald Peraza filling in at the hot corner on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park.
Nick Kurtz is at first base and batting ninth on Tuesday against the Dodgers.
The gap between the majors and Triple-A is seemingly wider than its ever been with Kurtz’s ongoing struggles another jarring example of the phenomenon. The 22-year-old top prospect has struck out 23 times in 59 plate appearances and has just two extra-base hits over 16 games to open his career. He’s simply too talented to continue flailing, but it’s understandable if fantasy managers in shallow mixed leagues are unable to continue waiting for him to get going at the dish.