We’re spending the 2025 season looking back at previous seasons, specifically the 50 greatest teams in history, a group that I call the Best 50. Today’s entry, the 1990 Oakland Athletics, is No. 9 on the list, as determined by my new book, Baseball’s Best (and Worst) Teams.
Here’s a quick boilerplate explanation that I’m appending to every story in this series:
I compiled the Best 50 by analyzing 2,544 major-league teams from 1903 to 2024. Those clubs have been ranked by their team scores (TS), which are plotted on a 100-point scale. (A given club’s all-time percentile is the percentage of the other 2,543 teams that it outperformed.)
See my book for an explanation of my TS calculations. The book also offers separate breakdowns of the best and worst clubs for every decade and franchise, comprehensive profiles of the Best 50 (including position-by-position lineups and much more information than you’ll find in this newsletter), and similar summaries of the 10 worst teams of all time.
Now on to today’s profile.
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Team: 1990 Oakland Athletics
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Team score: 91.092 points
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All-time rank: 9 of 2,544
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All-time percentile: 99.69%
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Season record: 103-59 (.636)
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Season position: First place in American League West
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Final status: League champion
The Athletics won the 1988 and 1989 American League pennants in imposing fashion. The collective base values for the club’s hitters and pitchers totaled plus-364 and plus-361 in those respective seasons. Only 11 percent of all big-league teams since 1903 have exceeded plus-360 on the BV scale.
The A’s somehow played at an even higher level in 1990. Oakland’s batters launched more homers (164) than in either of the previous two years, and the pitchers allowed fewer runs (3.52 per game) than in 1988 or 1989. The club’s collective base value soared to plus-460, a sum unsurpassed by any American League team between the 1984 Tigers and 1995 Indians.
“They were just so good,” said Boston center fielder Ellis Burks. “They were so intimidating, that lineup.” Heading the bill for Oakland were the AL’s Most Valuable Player (Rickey Henderson) and Cy Young Award winner (Bob Welch). The A’s seized the AL West lead in mid-April, fended off a July challenge by the White Sox, and won the division by nine games.
Get the complete lowdown on the 50 greatest (and 10 weakest) clubs of all time
The 1990 American League Championship Series unfolded as most pundits had anticipated. The Athletics blitzed the Red Sox in four straight games, none of them particularly close. The collective score: Oakland 20, Boston 4.
The World Series was expected to follow a similar script. The A’s were clearly superior to the Reds, as evidenced by their regular-season records (Oakland 103-59, Cincinnati 91-71) and all-time ranks (Oakland ninth, Cincinnati 152nd).
Yet the Reds pounded the A’s in Game One, 7-0, and pushed relentlessly toward the unlikeliest of sweeps. Cincinnati outscored Oakland, 22-8, in the four games. “We won our division, and we won a pennant,” said Athletics reliever Dennis Eckersley. “But we’ll be remembered now for getting our asses kicked.”
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Only five American Leaguers — including a pair of brothers on Oakland’s roster — launched more than 30 home runs in 1990. First baseman Mark McGwire and right fielder Jose Canseco obviously weren’t genetically related, though the Athletics’ marketing department did bill them as the “Bash Brothers.”
McGwire and Canseco ranked second and third in the AL with 39 and 37 homers, respectively. They combined for 209 runs batted in. Yet there were dark sides to their seemingly upbeat stories. Both sluggers would later be linked to steroid abuse, and Canseco was already considered to be a head case. He stormed into the clubhouse after Game One of 1990’s World Series, angrily shouting, “Why do we have to play all these extra games?” His teammates were speechless.
Left fielder Rickey Henderson again functioned as the club’s engine, leading the league in runs scored (119), stolen bases (65), and on-base percentage (.439). He even displayed unexpected power, hitting a career-high 28 homers. “I like to think that I’m a money player,” Henderson said. “When we need a steal or to drive home a run, I like to think I’ll deliver.”
Pitchers Bob Welch (27) and Dave Stewart (22) notched more victories than any other AL pitcher. Welch had always possessed a blazing fastball, but he added a sharp-breaking forkball in 1990. “He learned how to step off the gas a bit,” said pitching coach Dave Duncan. Welch’s prize was the Cy Young Award. Stewart ranked third in leaguewide balloting for the Cy, and reliever Dennis Eckersley (48 saves) finished fifth.