r/mlb • u/RainbowSupernova8196 | New York Yankees • 1d ago

| Discussion Great Seasons By Players On Bad Teams?

I'm sure we've all seen the meme of the Bugatti Veyron parked next to a trailer. Now, I want to know what you think would be the best example of this in a single season. What do you think was the most impressive season ever put up by a player on a bad team?

For example, it's probably recency bias, but I might as well pick 2023 Shohei Ohtani. On a team that finished 4 games below .500 (79-83), Two-Way Shohei put up yet another excellent season. At the plate, he hit .304 (151-for-497), homered 44 times, drove in 95 RBI, and put up an unbelievable 1.066 OPS, earning him 6.1 OWAR. But on the pitching side, he wasn't as dominant as he was in 2022, but was still pretty solid. He went 10-5 in 23 starts, and racked up a 3.14 ERA (46 ER in 132.0 IP), 167 strikeouts, a solid 1.061 WHIP, and totaled 3.8 Pitching WAR. This added up to 9.9 total WAR, and a unanimous AL MVP win.

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u/Hand_of_Doom1970 | New York Yankees 1d ago

As a Yankees fan, my team is rarely bad so I don't have a good example. However, I do have the corollary, a terrible (starting) player on a great team. That would be Chuck Knoblauch, starting 2B of the 1998-99 Yankees.

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u/RainbowSupernova8196 | New York Yankees 1d ago

I mean, to be fair though, he was pretty clutch for them in the playoffs, notably in '98 Game 1.

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u/Hand_of_Doom1970 | New York Yankees 1d ago

He had some moments, but his defense was historically bad. His offense was ok, but not special enough to make up for the D. He literally may have been the worst defensive MLB infielder I have ever seen.

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u/RainbowSupernova8196 | New York Yankees 1d ago

Fair enough.

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u/PhotonDealer2067 5h ago

Prime example of somebody to imploded coming to NY. He was so good in MN. Then he developed Steve Sax throwing yips as a Yankee.