Best Teams of the 1990s

The 1990s was another decade of transition for baseball. The decade was primed to be the best of times; talent was plentiful, attendance was rising, a wave of wonderful new retro ballparks was being built or planned and, most importantly, revenue was abundant.

On the field, two teams dominated the decade—one a bona fide dynasty, the other one of the greatest dynasties never to be. In New York, the Yankees’ George Steinbrenner finally understood the merits of not giving away his blue-chip prospects and, as a result, his big-budget mix of homegrown stars and marquee free agents turned it up toward decade’s end to win three World Series. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Braves, easily baseball’s best regular season performers of the 1990s with 925 wins, had only one World Series triumph to show for it—losing four others while getting knocked out three other times just trying to get there.

Meanwhile, fans of the 1990s asked: Where was the pitching? Beyond Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez, excellence on the mound was almost non-existent. There was much to blame: Smaller ballparks with almost no foul territories, two rounds of expansion, miniscule strike zones, allegedly juiced balls—and allegedly juiced hitters.

Cecil Fielder ignited baseball’s most prodigious onslaught of offense since the Roaring Twenties when, in 1990, he became the first player in 13 years—and the first of six in the ensuing decade—to top 50 home runs in a season. The round-tripping madness reached a crushing crescendo in 1998 when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa obliterated Roger Maris’ long-standing season record, with McGwire topping out at 70.

Baseball owed its life to McGwire and Sosa, even as they would soon not be without scandal of their own. The chase for Maris’ record marveled the world, and helped the game complete four years of stormy rehabilitation with those who had turned their backs on in 1994, those who ultimately help pay its bills: The fans.

Most of the teams in this special edition won the World Series for the year they represent. There is one big exception, the 1994 Expos. There was no World Series that year due to a “Players Strike”.

The teams we selected to include are the following:

1. 1990 Cincinnati Reds

2. 1991 Minnesota Twins

3. 1992 Toronto Blue Jays

4. 1993 Philadelphia Phillies

5. 1994 Montreal Expos

6. 1995 Atlanta Braves

7. 1996 Cleveland Indians

8. 1997 Florida Marlins

9. 1998 New York Yankees

10. 1999 Arizona Diamondbacks

 

We hope you enjoy the fun of bringing these teams and players back to life.

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