Baseball history: 2017 sixth seasonwith three 100-win teams
2003—Yankees, Braves, Giants
101-61 New York Yankees
101-61 Atlanta Braves
100-61 San Francisco Giants
The 2003 Yankees were part of a long stretch of playoff teams in the Bronx. They made the postseason 17 times in 18 years from 1995 to 2012, including 13 years in a row at the beginning of that stretch. The 2003 team won the AL East by six games, beat the Minnesota Twins in the ALDS, and edged the Boston Red Sox in seven games in the ALCS.
That ALCS is best remembered for Red Sox manager Grady Little leaving Pedro Martinez in well past his expiration date. The Red Sox led 5-2 going into the bottom of the eighth but Pedro was nearing the 100-pitch mark. He ended up blowing the lead, with the help of Mike Timlin. The Yankees won the game in the bottom of the 11th inning on Aaron Boone’s home run off of Tim Wakefield.
After that exhausting series with the Red Sox, the Yankees lost the World Series in six games to the Florida Marlins. It was their second World Series loss in three seasons and they wouldn’t make the Fall Classic again until 2009.
The 101-win 2003 Atlanta Braves were nearing the end of their long streak of postseason appearances that lasted for most of the 1990s and the first half of the 2000s (minus the 1994 strike season). This team had Braves mainstays Chipper and Andruw Jones, power hitting Gary Sheffield, and an incredible 43-homer season from catcher Javy Lopez.
On the mound, only Greg Maddux remained in the starting rotation of The Big Three of Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz. Smoltz was in his third season in the team’s bullpen. He was excellent in that role in 2003, finishing the year with 45 saves and a 1.12 ERA in 64.3 innings. Tom Glavine was pitching his first season with the New York Mets.
The Braves won the NL East by 109 games over the Marlins, but lost to the Chicago Cubs in the NLDS. Those Cubs would go on to lose the NLCS to the Marlins after taking a three-games-to-two lead into Game Six, then blowing a 3-0 lead in that game and losing Game Seven the next day. That blown Game Six would become known as “The Bartman Game” but could easily be called the “Alex Gonzalez” game because of the error made by the shortstop at a key moment in the eighth inning.
The Giants were the third 100-win team in 2003. They easily won the NL West over the Dodgers but lost the NLDS to the Marlins, three games to one. You may have heard of the left fielder for the Giants this year. His name is Barry Bonds. At 38 years old, Bonds hit .341/.529/.749. Per Baseball-Reference, he was worth 9.2 WAR, which makes this only the seventh-best season of his career.
It’s surprising that this team won 100 games. They finished fifth in the NL in runs scored. Surprisingly, their pitching staff allowed the second-fewest runs in the NL despite a pitching rotation that had only one starter pitch enough innings to qualify for the ERA title. That was Jason Schmidt, who was 17-5 with a 2.34 ERA in 207.7 innings. The rest of the rotation included Kirk Rueter (10-5, 4.53 ERA), Damian Moss (9-7, 4.70 ERA), Jesse Foppert (8-9, 5.03 ERA), and Jerome Williams (7-5, 3.30 ERA).