[rockford]

The Reds and Orioles were among the teams elbowing aside the Yankees in the 1961-1980 era … although not completely. The Yankees still managed to place 10 teams in the tourney, but only two (’62 and ’77) have made it to the quarters, and only one more (’76) is alive in the second-chance. And the ’61 Yanks turned in one of the most underwhelming performances of the tourney, entering as the 30th seed but finishing 274th with a .443 win percentage.


The Reds had eight teams in the tourney, with two in the quarters (’75 and ’76) and three more in the second-chance (’70 and “73-’74).


The Orioles from 1969-71 are one of only six groups of teams to qualify for the quarters in a block of three consecutive years. The only others are A’s (1909-11), the Yankees (1931-33 and 1936-1939, the only four-year stretch), the Cardinals (1942-44) and the Dodgers (2017-19).


The ’66 Orioles also made it to the quarters, helping cement the O’s as the dominant franchise from this era in the tournament.


The Pirates (1971-72) are the only other team in the era to advance more than one squad to the quarters.


The A’s dynasty in the early ‘70s completely flopped in the tournament. Teams from 1971-75 were in the qualifier, but none did well enough to even earn a berth in the second-chance. The best showing was by the ’73 club, seeded 342 but finishing 170th with a .508 win percentage. They’ll likely be the only representative from the dynasty in the third and final qualifier.


As mentioned earlier, one of the biggest surprises in the tournament is the ’69 Twins, seeded 294th but finishing 11th at .603. In real life, they were beaten in the postseason by the Orioles. Interestingly enough, the ’69 Twins and ’69 Orioles are the only two teams from the same year to crack the Top 20.


The era’s Top 10 by original seed, followed by current position and win percentage in the qualifier:


30 1961 Yankees 274th .443 (currently out)
31 1969 Orioles 16th .592
38 1975 Reds 47th .562
39 1970 Orioles 35th .569
71 1963 Yankees 145th .516 (currently out)
87 1971 Orioles 44th .563
89 1968 Tigers 144th .516 (currently out)
111 1976 Reds 39th .564
115 1970 Reds 95th .538 (in 2nd qualifier)
117 1965 Twins 257th .482 (currently out)


Other teams from this era in the quarterfinals:
138 1962 Giants 52nd .558
164 1972 Pirates 42nd .564
203 1963 Dodgers 60th .554
278 1971 Pirates 89th .541
294 1969 Twins 11th .603
314 1962 Yankees 96th .537


Finally, here’s something I need to note in case there are future all-time tournaments. As mentioned earlier, I added several Twins teams to the tournament to round out the field to 384. (None of these qualified by winning a pennant or playing at least .599 ball.) In this era, the ’63 and ’67 Twins were added as wild cards. If the ’67 Twins had been seeded, they would have been 366th … but they played .538 ball and made it to the second-chance qualifier. If the ’63 team had been seeded, it would have been 381st (third from last), but went .536 and is also in the second-chance.


And a spoiler alert, the ’88 Twins were also a wild card, and would have been seeded 366, but went .557 (54th overall) and are in the quarterfinals.


The point is, if these three teams with real-life win percentages between .555 and .565 can challenge to become one of the Top 100 teams of all time … well, then the bar for entry in the tournament should be lowered from .599 to at least .555 (a 90-win season in a 162-game schedule). In fact, I can’t see doing future tourneys without increasing the field.