Many people have come up with lists of the best teams of all time, but few have gone to the lengths of applying analytics to the question as much as the data-driven blog, 538.

In a report rich with statistics, the site used a system designed to rank every team after the result of every game ever played. It was an exhaustive way to gauge the best teams of all time.

Rating The Best Teams

They did so using the Elo Ratings. These ratings rely on the following principles.

  • The final score of every game and whether it was home or away
  • Teams gain or lose points depending on whether they win or lose, with more points gained for upset victories or those won by a large margin
  • It’s a zero-sum ratings system. If one team gains 10 points with a victory, the other team loses 10 points

Long-term, the average Elo rating is about 1500.

Who Are The Best Teams?

So, what were the best teams based on this ranking system? Here are the Top 10, with the Elo score for each team. While it certainly won’t settle any debates over the best-ever team, it at least puts solid numbers to the issue.

  1. 1939 New York Yankees (1623)
  2. 1906 Chicago Cubs (1620)
  3. 1927 New York Yankees (1610)
  4. 1909 Pittsburgh Pirates (1609)
  5. 1998 New York Yankees (1609)
  6. 1932 New York Yankees (1607)
  7. 1911 Philadelphia Athletics (1607)
  8. 1942 St. Louis Cardinals (1605)
  9. 1944 St. Louis Cardinals (1605)
  10. 1907 Chicago Cubs (1605)

So, yes, the teams really were better back then. Fewer competitors, of course, and no free agency. But with the exception of the 1998 Yankees, every team comes before 1950.

The 1899 Cleveland Spiders

The 1899 Cleveland Spiders have the distinction of holding the worse composite Elo score for a season – 1333. That team went 20-134, a record so bad you have to look at it twice to make sure you read it right.

The 1899 Spiders featured a perfect storm of awfulness – players, management and ownership. Especially ownership. According to the Baseball Almanac, team owner Frank Robison bought the St. Louis Browns before the 1899 season and shifted all the best players to that club because he thought he would get more fans in St. Louis.

He also, for one season, named the club the St. Louis Perfectos. They became the Cardinals in 1900.

The Spiders? They never saw the 1900 season. All the Spider stars – including Cy Young – went to St. Louis. The 1899 Spiders featured semi-pros and never-was players. They finished 84 games out of first place. The National League contracted to eight teams before the 1900 season and the Spiders were kicked out and disbanded.

Some “highlights” from the 1899 Spiders season:

  • Pitchers Jim Hughey (4-30) and Charlie Knepper (4-22) led the team in wins
  • The team hit a total of 12 home runs for the season
  • They used cigar stand clerk Eddie Kolb to pitch the final game of the season, his only Major League appearance. He lost to the Cincinnati Reds 19-3
  • They managed to draw an average of 145 fans per home game

So those are the best and the worst teams, based on the Elo Ratings. Or, in the Spiders’ case, common sense.