Let us take a moment to appreciate the dominance of the '92-'93 Toronto Blue Jays, a team that won back-to-back World Series titles and featured Cooperstown caliber talent across their rosters.
As we dive deeper into this analysis, we will focus on two key components, including who was on the Blue Jays and their accolades and providing analytical context in comparing these teams with other teams in the years of 1992 and 1993.
Roster Composition
The 1992-1993 Blue Jays were comprised of talent that either were elected to the Hall of Fame or were perennial All-Stars. The Hall of Famers that were on these teams included Roberto Alomar, Dave Winfield, Rickey Henderson, Paul Molitor and Jack Morris. What gets overlooked about these Blue Jays teams is that they arguably had the greatest collection of non-home-grown talent for consecutive years in the history of baseball. If a team had some combination of five Hall of Famers on its roster, they undoubtedly win at least one World Series.
What is most underrated about these Blue Jays teams is that they featured players that were consistent producers from both hitting and pitching. Hitters such as John Olerud, Kelly Gruber, Devon White, Joe Carter, Jeff Kent and pitchers such as Jimmy Key, Tom Henke, David Wells, David Cone and Al Leiter all contributed in some capacity to this two-year span of dominance. The most successful teams are the ones that construct a roster that has great players on it, and the depth of those teams are also highly talented. The Blue Jays of 1992 and 1993 were able to accomplish this.
The Analytics
Relative to other teams in 1992 and 1993 combined, the Blue Jays were exceptional in both hitting and pitching from a numbers perspective. Let's start with offensive output, as these iterations of the club were arguably one of the best rosters in this regard. From 1992 to 1993, the team ranked 2nd in ISO (0.154), tied for 6th in BABIP (0.296), 2nd in wOBA (0.342), and 3rd in wRC+ (109). What is most fascinating about these teams is that they ranked 2nd in wSB (24.3), or Weighted Stolen Base Runs. In general terms, in these two years the Blue Jays were exceptional in stealing bases that resulted in the contribution of run scoring. Aside from their general hitting skills, baserunning was a major element to their success.
Let's transition to pitching, as Toronto from 1992 to 1993 had one of the best rotations in MLB, particularly in the context of striking out opposing hitters as these pitching staffs from 1992 to 1993 ranked 5th in SO% (16.0%), and 5th in SO/9 (6.17). Aside from strikeout level stuff, these championship staffs were effective in limiting negative outcomes, reflected in a batting average against of 0.250, which ranked 6th in this time frame.
Between the Braves of the 1990's that made five World Series, and the dominant Yankees that won three championships in the decade, we must stop and appreciate just how great the Blue Jays of '92-'93 were, both from the viewpoints of roster composition and data.
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