Call to the pen
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The best of the best: Ranking the 12 winningest teams in MLB history

By Bill Felber

NEW YORK - 1927. (L-R) Babe Ruth, outfielder, Miller Huggins, manager, and Lou Gehrig, first baseman, all of the New York Yankees, take a break at the batting cage before a game in Yankee Stadium before a game in the 1927 season. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images)
NEW YORK - 1927. (L-R) Babe Ruth, outfielder, Miller Huggins, manager, and Lou Gehrig, first baseman, all of the New York Yankees, take a break at the batting cage before a game in Yankee Stadium before a game in the 1927 season. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images) /
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MLB Opening Day
The American League champion Cleveland indians of 1954. Larry Doby and Early Wynn are in the back row, far left and second from left, and Bob Lemon second from right. Bob Feller is in the middle row, second from left, and manager Al Lopez is in the second row from the bottom, center. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images) /

1954 Cleveland Indians, 111-43, .721

.700 Club rank: 4

In the dozen seasons between 1947 and 1958, only two teams were able to finish ahead of the New York Yankees. The Cleveland Indians did it both times.

The Indians won the 1948 World Series, then, in 1954, put together one of the greatest runs in American League history. Their 111 victories was the most until the 1998 Yankees (playing eight more games) won three more. Their .721 winning percentage remains to this day a league record.

Amazingly, they were able to put down the Yankees by a full eight games despite the fact that the Yanks won 103 games a team-high between 1942 and 1961.

The secret was a superb pitching staff that allowed only 3.23 runs per game, a Major League low. Cleveland’s 2.78 ERA was more than a full point below the 3.90 MLB average for the season.

That staff was led by a trio of Hall of Famers. Early Wynn went 23-11 with a 2.73 ERA in 271 innings, Bob Lemon was 23-7 with a 2.72 ERA in 258 innings, and veteran Bob Feller was still good for a 13-3 record and 3.09 ERA. A fourth Hall of Famer, Hal Newhouser, though past his prime, was 7-2.

Reigning MVP Al Rosen led the offense with a .300 average and 102 RBI. Another Hall of Famer, Larry Doby, hit 32 homers and drove in a team-high 126 runs. Leadoff man Bobby Avila had a .402 on base average.

In that October’s World Series, though, the Indians failed to win even a single game. The NL champion New York Giants beat them 5-2 in the first game on Dusty Rhodes’ pinch-hit 10th-inning three-run home run, and followed that with three more victories.

In the intervening nearly seven decades, the Indians have only been back to the World Series three times, two of those ending in excruciating heartache. They lost to Atlanta in six games in 1995, lost to Florida in an 11-inning seventh game in 1997, and fell to the Cubs in a 10-inning seventh game in 2016.

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