[Highlander]

Here's the final results-

1908 Giants- 539
1947 Yankees- 511
1993 Giants- 493
2018 Indians- 484
2007 Yankees- 458
1997 Marlins- 431

That means the newest addition to the Top 10 is the 1908 New York Giants!! Another surprise team to make it this far, as they were a 2nd place team (by one game to the Cubs) in real life. However, their pitching with Christy Mathewson, Red Ames, Hooks Wiltse and company has been spectacular. I think the success of this team, along with the 2011 Rangers, shows that some teams that were merely very good in their time are possibly more suited to be successful in other eras than a team that may be considered great. That seems to be the case with some of the Yankees teams that have stumbled in this round. They were great for their time....but aren't suited to be successful across time. Or it could be all dumb luck and just how OOTP interprets certain things!

In any case, here's my attempt at an All-Group 7 Team-

C- Jorge Posada (07 Yankees)- I had forgotten how good Jorge was in real life during this season. .338 with 42 doubles and 20 HR...wow! He put up some big seasons in this group as well....even though the 2007 Yankees didn't fare all that well.

1B- George McQuinn (47 Yankees)- I would have bet on Will Clark in this one, but George outplayed him.

2B- Buck Herzog (08 Giants)- An easy choice and major reason the Giants won this group. He was a consistent Gold Glove winner, won all the ROY Awards and was an on-base/run scoring machine.

3B- Alex Rodriguez (07 Yankees)- I'm not a fan of ARod, but he put up some pretty big numbers here....like in real life....so he has to be the choice.

SS- Francisco Lindor (18 Indians)- A couple of Gold Gloves and by far the best hitting stats of the SS. He was really good.

OF- The top 3 are- Barry Bonds (93 Giants), Mike Donlin (08 Giants), Joe DiMaggio (47 Yankees). Bonds and Donlin were the two major stars of this group....and I give the MVP edge, ever so slightly, to Bonds. His power just gives him that edge, but Donlin was fantastic and will be a force in the final round. DiMaggio was very good, but I could have picked any number of other guys.

DH- Charlie Keller (47 Yankees)- He had some huge power and was the best of the DH options.

SP- I have to go with the two big guns for the 1908 Giants in Christy Mathewson and Red Ames. The 47 Yankees had some good arms and a couple of other guys had some good seasons, but those two were the best of the bunch.

RP- This was a very strong group for relief pitchers, but Rod Beck (93 Giants) stood out as the best.

Here's a look at Group 8-

1910 New York Giants
1959 Los Angeles Dodgers
1927 New York Yankees
1989 Kansas City Royals
2021 Milwaukee Brewers
1996 Cleveland Indians

We just saw the counterparts of this 1910 Giants team win Group 7, but I think this team might be a step down. That pitching will still be tough, though. The 59 Dodgers are that transition team between the 50s Brooklyn teams of Jackie Robinson/Duke Snider and Roy Campanella and the 60s LA teams of Koufax/Drysdale. Not sure they are good enough to advance, though. Not much needs to be said about the 1927 Yankees. They have been thought of as one of the best teams ever for a very long time. However, the Yankees haven't done well so far. If this team doesn't advance, though, it will be tough for the Yankees to have any teams in the top 10 at this point. That would be a bit of a shocker. The 89 Royals are the only chance for Kansas City to get a team in the Top 10. I don't think it will happen. The 2021 Brewers are a surprise team to be here....they have very good pitching for their year, but not much of an offense. Finally, we saw the 1995 Indians finish a distant 3rd in their group, but this team has an even better group of hitters when you factor in partial season guys like Brian Giles. Their pitching is kind of rough, though, so 3rd may be as close as they get.