Top 20 players 2011 St Louis (Pujols) 2010 San Fran (lincicum at the time) 2009 New York Yankees (CC Sabathia? Teixeira?) 2008 Phillies (Howard) 2007 Red Sox (Lowell, Ortiz) - I don't know if they had a top20 player but ortiz and lowell had monster seasons 2006 Cards (Pujols,Carpenter) 2005 White Sox (Mark Buehrle?) This team really didn't have one 2004 Red Sox (Manny, Ortiz) 2003 Marlins - Really no one maybe beckett, but its very iffy 2002 Angels (Washburn?) Really no one 2001 Diamond Backs (RJ,Shilling) There were four maybe more WS teams with no top 20 players. While baseball is a very individual sport it is also the ultimate team sport. Even barry bonds alone can't take a team to the playoffs.
It's a small game. Only 5 players on a team on the court at a time. And the only time you really need a teammate is inbounding the ball. Football might have a special place for quarterbacks, but there's still a lot more guys on the field and the quarterback's effect is predicated more heavily on his receivers, his offensive line, and his running backs. Does the NBA seem top-heavy when you compare it to hockey? What about tennis or golf? So small incremental advantage in talent on the basketball court is going to lever an outsized impact on wins.
