Ranking the Best Oakland Athletics Teams of All Time

Since moving to Oakland in 1968, the Athletics have consistently churned out star-studded teams, winning four World Series and making the playoffs 16 times.

The A's have built dynasties on the backs of homegrown players, who inevitably leave for higher paychecks elsewhere. A young core carried the A's in the early 1970s, late 80s, early 90s and early 2000s.

Teams were ranked on the players' production that year, with little focus on postseason success. A good team will consistently play well over the course of a season, but can be booted from the playoffs after a couple bad games.

I also tried to avoid including teams that stayed intact from year to year, because mentioning the same players again and again would be repetitive and boring. So while the A's had great teams in 1972 and 1973, all the key players were still on board, so only one year makes the list.

Honorable Mentions:

2006, Lost in ALCS

Frank Thomas and Nick Swisher had great years, but the pitching left something to be desired. Four of the A's five starters had ERAs above 4.00 and WHIPs over 1.40.

1981, Lost in ALCS

The opposite problem: good pitching from Rick Langford and Steve McCatty, but no hitting to speak of. When Tony Armas and Cliff Johnson are the best hitters, that's not exactly a legendary team.

1971, Lost in ALCS

This was the hardest team to cut, as the 1971 A's won 101 games with a powerful lineup while Vida Blue won the league's MVP and Cy Young in his first full season. No hitter batted over .280, but the real problem was a lack of pitching depth beyond Blue and Catfish Hunter.

Plus, the A's had a handful of great teams in the 1970s. It's impossible to include all of them, and the main cogs will get their deserved attention later on.

5. 1975, Lost in ALCS

1975 was the year of the surprise, where a bunch of players overachieved at the same time.

Sure, the A's had just won three consecutive World Series, so a successful season was expected. The surprising part was that players like catcher Gene Tenace, who finished eighth in the league in OPS and went to the All-Star game, delivered a big ol' "Whammy!" to the rest of baseball.

The A's also got an unexpected boost from 20-year-old left fielder Claudell Washington, who hit .308, stole 40 bases and was named an All-Star in his first full season.

Oakland managed to squeeze one last productive year out of Chicago Cubs legend Billy Williams, who slugged 23 home runs at the age of 37.

4: 2000, Lost in ALDS

More than any other A's team, these boys could rake. Every hitter reached double digits in home runs, and five players hit over 20 jacks.

Jason Giambi led the charge with an insane .333/.476/.647 line and a career-high 43 homers, winning the AL MVP for his efforts. The A's also got career years from Terrance Long and Ben Grieve, both of whom quickly regressed after the season's end.

The 2000 squad isn't ranked higher because of their poor pitching. Tim Hudson broke out with a 20-win season thanks to the offense supplying him 6.09 runs per start, support he would never see again.

After Hudson, the rotation was Kevin Appier, Mark Mulder and Gil Heredia. Appier wasn't good anymore, Mulder wasn't good yet and Heredia was never good.

3: 1972, World Series Champions

The 1972 A's rolled through the baddest boys in baseball, besting the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 to win Oakland's first World Series.

Joe Rudi, Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando and Bert Campaneris had Top 10 WARs among AL position players, and first baseman Mike Epstein was third in the league with 26 home runs.

The team's rotation and bullpen were the real story, though. In a year dominated by pitching, the A's stood out as the best of the best.

How nasty was the pitching staff? Vida Blue, who won the Cy Young award the year before, was the team's No. 4 starter. Every starting pitcher (Catfish Hunter, Blue Moon Odom, Ken Holtzman, Blue and Dave Hamilton) had an ERA under 3.00.

The bullpen, anchored by Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers, was just as untouchable. Fingers and set-up men Joe Horlen, Bob Locker and Darold Knowles combined for a 2.44 ERA and 1.13 WHIP.

2: 2002, Lost in ALDS

"Moneyball" captured the 2002 A's ability to turn baseball's rejects like Scott Hatteberg and Chad Bradford into standout players, but the book largely ignored the rest of the team. Truth is, they were really, really good.

Teams don't win 20 consecutive games and go 103-59 just by drawing walks. The left side of the infield had Eric Chavez, an offensive and defensive star, and league MVP Miguel Tejada.

Tejada and Chavez each popped 34 home runs, and right fielder Jermaine Dye added 24 of his own. With Ray Durham and Mark Ellis at the top of the lineup, the A's were a bona fide powerhouse.

On the hill, the A's had baseball best young rotation during the Steroid Era. Homegrown stars Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito were in their primes—in fact, Zito won the Cy Young Award with a 23-5 record and 2.75 ERA.

1: 1990, American League Champions

The homer-mashing, forearm smashing Bash Brothers suited up in full force in 1990, as Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco crushed 39 and 37 dingers, respectively.

AL MVP Rickey Henderson led the league with 119 runs scored, 65 stolen bases, a .439 OBP and a 1.016 OPS. Rickey was pretty happy with Rickey's performance that year, even though he felt he was cheated out of the batting title.

The rotation was led by Cy Young Award winner Bob Welch, Dave Stewart and Scott Sanderson, who combined for 66 wins.

Closer Dennis Eckersley's microscopic 0.61 ERA was the lowest by a reliever until Fernando Rodney beat him by a few percentage points last year. With a standout setup group of Todd Burns, Gene Nelson, Rick Honeycutt and Joe Klink, any late-inning lead was sure to be protected.