Chicago Cubs: The All-Time Tournament
1906 Cubs vs. 1907 Cubs
Game 1: The 1906 Cubs, at .763, are unbeatable, even against the 1907 Cubs (.704). The 1906 team went 116-36-2, the 1907 club’s regular-season record was 107-45.
Game 2: This one goes to the 1907 Cubs (1.000) over the 1906 Cubs (.333). The 1907 Cubs beat Detroit four straight with one game ending in a tie. The 1906 club lost one of the great upsets in sports history, falling in six games to the heavy underdog Chicago White Sox.
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Game 3: The 1906 Cubs (103-92 OPS+) had the superior offense. Chance (158) and Steinfeldt (151) both delivered OPS+ in excess of 150.
Game 4: Nobody touches the 1906 champions in staff ERA+. With Brown at a sky-high 253, and Pfeister and Reulbach both topping 150, the staff ERA+ plus checks in at 151. The 1907 team loses despite a 143 staff ERA+.
Game 5: In team WAR, the edge goes to the 1906 team by a margin of 56-5-48.1. Brown (7.4) and Chance (7.3) are the leaders, although the real key is depth. The 1906 Cubs rostered 10 players whose combined batting and pitching WARS exceeded +3.0, but only two with negative WARs. Those two, a couple of reserve pitchers, worked a combined 142 innings all season.
That gives the all-time Chicago Cubs tournament bracket championship to the 1906 team in five games.
For the record, the 1906 club also slightly out-fielded the 1907 team .967-.964. (Defensive runs saved have not been retroactively calculated for either team.)
On the matter of Hall of Famers, both clubs have the identical four: Chance, Evers, Tinker and Brown.