Since 1900 there has been 2113 “team” seasons completed by AL and NL teams, out of these 2113 seasons there have been 727 seasons where the team achieved at least 85 wins, that translates to a winning percentage of .552 prior to expansion in 1961 and .525 after MLB expanded the season to 162 games a year.
The Reds can claim to have achieved 36 of those seasons, roughly 5% of the total for comparisons sake the Yankees have achieved 68 of those seasons with at least 85 wins (9.3%)
Out of those 727 seasons only 102 teams can claim to have 85 wins and an ERA below the league average.
Still with me?
Let’s refresh, that’s 102 seasons (4.8% of the seasons since 1900) where a team had a below league earned run average and at least 85 wins.
To further illustrate by breaking it up in half you’d find that between 1900-1950 there where 808 “team” seasons played in MLB and only 20 seasons where a team had 85 wins and a sub average ERA, that’s only 2.4% of the seasons played. BTW none of those were Reds teams.
Since 1951 when Gabe Paul became GM of the Reds and station to station baseball more common the feat has become more of a common occurrence, happening exactly 82 times in 1306 “team” seasons completed since 1951 for a percentage of 6.2%.
The Reds have been responsible for 9 of those seasons for 11% of the total. That’s second to the Reds Sox total of 11 times (13%)
ERA YEAR DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE W DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE 1 Reds 1969 -.53 4.13 3.60 89 102 798 696 2 Reds 1965 -.34 3.88 3.54 89 138 825 687 3 Reds 1977 -.30 4.22 3.91 88 67 802 735 4 Reds 1978 -.24 3.82 3.58 92 34 710 676 5 Reds 1980 -.24 3.85 3.61 89 24 707 683 6 Reds 1986 -.20 3.92 3.73 86 17 732 715 7 Reds 1985 -.11 3.71 3.60 89 -12 677 689 8 Reds 1956 -.07 3.84 3.77 91 83 775 692 9 Reds 1963 -.01 3.30 3.29 86 6 648 642
All the above seasons except 1985 were carried by an above league average offense, 1985 the Reds finished 12 runs below the league average.
Note that of those seasons with 85 Wins and a below league average ERA the Reds came home with nothing more than a season marked with offensive exploits, like this year with a better “below average†staff.
Below are the seasons where the Reds had above average team ERA numbers and at least 85 wins.
ERA YEAR DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE W Reds 1976 0.00 3.51 3.50 102 Reds 1992 0.04 3.46 3.51 90 Reds 1988 0.11 3.35 3.45 87 Reds 1979 0.14 3.60 3.74 90 Reds 1995 0.15 4.03 4.18 85 Reds 1962 0.19 3.75 3.94 98 Reds 1974 0.21 3.42 3.63 98 Reds 1943 0.23 3.14 3.37 87 Reds 1973 0.24 3.43 3.67 99 Reds 1972 0.24 3.21 3.46 95 Reds 1961 0.25 3.78 4.03 93 Reds 1975 0.27 3.37 3.63 108 Reds 2000 0.31 4.33 4.64 85 Reds 1967 0.33 3.05 3.38 87 Reds 1970 0.35 3.70 4.05 102 Reds 1904 0.39 2.34 2.73 88 Reds 1990 0.40 3.39 3.80 91 Reds 1926 0.41 3.41 3.82 87 Reds 1964 0.46 3.07 3.54 92 Reds 1941 0.47 3.17 3.63 88 Reds 1922 0.56 3.53 4.10 86 Reds 1999 0.58 3.99 4.57 96 Reds 1944 0.64 2.97 3.61 89 Reds 1939 0.64 3.27 3.91 97 Reds 1919 0.68 2.23 2.91 96 Reds 1923 0.78 3.22 3.99 91 Reds 1940 0.80 3.05 3.85 100
13 of the 27 in the table above were title seasons.
BTW The Reds 1976 team has the lowest ERA vs. the league for a team with 100 plus wins in NL history, the Yankees 2004 team is the only team with a negative vs. the league.
An average ERA could take a team pretty far, a below average ERA is nothing more than a lottery ticket.
The Reds spent their paycheck on scratch and win tickets last year that’s for sure.
ERA DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE W RUNS PLAYER LEAGUE 1 Reds -.95 5.18 4.23 73 64 820 756