Cincinnati Reds Big Red Machine Not the Greatest Baseball Team of All-Time

Over the 1975 and 1976 major league baseball seasons the Cincinnati Reds known as The Big Red Machine dominated baseball like few teams ever have before or since. Combined over those two years the Reds went 210-114 (.648) during the regular season and 14-3 (.824) in the playoffs and World Series and won the World Series both years.

Certainly the Big Red Machine Cincinnati Reds of 1975-1976 were one of the greatest teams in baseball history but as I will show here why they were not the best team ever.

Big Red Machine was Great Offensively

Offensively the 1975-1976 Cincinnati Reds were as great as any team in baseball history. Every single starting position player on the Reds over the two years scored runs above what the National League average was for the two years.

In 1975 in the National League the league average for runs scored per official at bat was .121 and every Reds starting position player was above that average though SS Dave Concepcion was barely over the average scoring 62 runs in 507 at bats (.122). But he was over and very few teams in baseball history ever have all their starting position players scoring runs above the league average. It's a rare feat and a noteworthy one.

In 1976 the league average for runs scored dropped to .118 and every single Cincinnati Red was above the average with lowest total being Cesar Geronimo who scored 59 runs in 486 at bats (.121).

Big Red Machine Had Weakness in Starting Pitching

The weakness of the Big Red Machine Cincinnati Reds over both 1975 and 1976 was in their starting pitching. Over both years the Reds had multiple pitchers who started many games who had ERA's well above the National League average ERA's.

In 1975 in the National League the average ERA was 3.62. The Cincinnati Reds had three starting pitchers with a combined total of 77 starts who had ERA's above that.

Jack Billingham - 32 starts with ERA of 4.11

Fred Norman - 26 starts with ERA of 3.73

Clay Kirby - 19 starts with ERA of 4.72.

Combined these three pitchers started 77 games and had an average ERA of 4.19 which was 16% above the league average in 1975. Pat Darcy also had 22 starts and pitched to an ERA of 3.58 which was barely below the league average.

In 1976 in the National League the average ERA was 3.50. The Cincinnati Reds had two starting pitchers with a combined total of 50 starts who had ERA's well above that.

Jack Billingham - 29 starts with ERA of 4.32

Santo Alcala - 21 starts with ERA of 4.70.

Combined these two pitchers started 50 games and had an average ERA of 4.51 which was 29% above the league average in 1976. Gary Nolan also led the team in starts with 34 and pitched to an ERA of 3.46 which was barely below the league average.

Big Red Machine Cincinnati Reds Cannot Be Considered Best Team All-Time

Offensively the 1975-1976 Big Red Machine Cincinnati Reds dominated baseball as few teams ever have but their weakness was in their starting pitching.

Over the two years the Reds had pitchers who started 39% of their games who pitched to ERA's well above the league average. Because there are other teams in baseball history who dominated the game as well as the Reds did offensively and had all their starting pitchers pitching to ERA's below the league average the Cincinnati Reds cannot be considered the best team in baseball history.

The Big Red Machine Cincinnati Reds team was one of the greatest baseball teams off all-time but because the team had flaws in its starting pitching it cannot be considered the best team of all-time.

For more see Babe Ruth and the World Series

Major League Teams That Have Never Won the World Series

Sources:

Baseball-Reference