In the sports media business, mistakes happen. Just like the athletes and coaches we cover. No one is perfect. Myself included, for sure.
Try as we might.
One of those accidents occurred last week. Via social media, The Sporting News posted a list of its best single-season NHL teams. Somewhere near the top 10 (the post has since been deleted), the outlet named the 1982-83 Pittsburgh Penguins.
Of course, that was a typo. Those Penguins won only 18 games in 80 tries.
I thought they meant the famous (and infamous) 1992-93 squad that put up 119 points and 17 straight wins before being shockingly upset by the New York Islanders in the second round to end a Stanley Cup three-peat hunt.
I later learned that The Sporting News’ intention was to reference the 1991-92 group that defended the previous Stanley Cup title with a sweep of Chicago in the final.
Once I seized on the ’93 team, though, my brain started to churn.
As we all know, you aren’t allowed to get your Yinzer membership card validated without fascinating an entire bar full of unsuspecting people with the stats, minutia and details why the ’93 Penguins and ’76 Steelers were actually the best teams of that franchise’s era … even though they never won a title while other editions of the team did.
“Don’t yinz know ’at ’76 team shut out five opponents and they woulda won they whole thing if Franco n’ Rocky didn’t get hurt in the playoffs n’at?!”
#1976SteelersThread#Steelers finished 10-4 and won the division after a 1-4 start.
Bradshaw gets injured, the D allows an average of 9.9 points per game pic.twitter.com/1bFkuZJZT0— Old Time Football ???? (@Ol_TimeFootball) September 11, 2021
Yes. Of course I did. They taught us that in world history class right before they got to something far less important. Like, you know, the fall of the Berlin Wall or something.
We all know about those two star-crossed editions of the Penguins and Steelers. But is there a Pirates example that fits under that tent?
I don’t think so.
The 1909 team was clearly the best team of the World Series era, winning a team-record 110 games and the franchise’s first title. Although post-War (either war), there really isn’t much of a contender to that throne.
The 1927 club had a case — winning 94 games with Paul Waner as the MVP, until they got swept by the Yankees’ buzzsaw in the World Series. Meanwhile, the ‘25 team won the whole thing with 95 wins.
The 1960 World Series team is unchallenged in that timeframe. The ‘62 squad finished with 93 wins but ended up in fourth place.
Nine of the 10 teams in the 1970s finished above .500. Six of them went to the playoffs. But I’d argue the two teams that won the World Series at that time were the two best.
The 98-win 1979 club and the 97-win 1971 iterations were No. 1 and 1A. You could make a strong case for the 1972 team that grabbed 56 wins after July 1 and lost on the Bob Moose wild pitch to the Big Red Machine from Cincinnati after being up 2-1 in the NLCS.
But those other two teams finished what that team didn’t in Roberto Clemente’s final year.
The National League East Division winners of the 1990s and the wild card teams of the 2010s didn’t win titles at all. Yet, they are their own interesting subplot.
A majority of folks in Pittsburgh remember the 1992 NLCS team that took the Atlanta Braves to the brink of Game 7 most fondly. That said, with Bobby Bonilla and John Smiley still in Pittsburgh, I think it’s pretty clear the ‘91 team was more talented.
Well, for 167 games, anyway. Then they just forgot to score for the last two games of the series, getting shut out twice to blow a 3-2 series lead.
The younger generation of Pirates fans holds the 2013 club in the highest regard for breaking the 20-year losing streak, winning the “blackout” wild-card game and pushing the St. Louis Cardinals to a decisive Game 5 in the NLCS.
Rightfully so.
But wasn’t 2015 better after the late-season addition of J.A. Happ? He then dovetailed with Gerrit Cole’s best season as a Pirate, a resurgent A.J. Burnett, a stellar bullpen and a Gold Glove season out of Starling Marte. Clint Hurdle’s last playoff team totaled 98 wins in that bear of a division, with only Chicago’s Jake Arrieta at the height of his reign of terror standing between them and the second round.
Monday’s “Breakfast With Benz” podcast features our favorite Pittsburgh sports history connoisseur, Dave Dameshek (Dan LeBatard Show, Football AmericaShow). We debate all these angles. We also consider some other Steelers nominees from the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.
Plus, we advance the argument why the 1980 Pitt football team may have actually been the city’s best team that didn’t win a title — and may have even been better than the 1976 club that did.