Judge and Soto: Best Duo Ever?

Are Aaron Judge and Juan Soto the best pair of teammates…ever?

That certainly is possible, with some caveats:

Let’s not include pre-integration teammates. I’ve learned many things over the years and one of them is that comparing pre-integration players to post-integration players is a waste of time – there are just too many variables. (Although to be clear, the best players to ever play are the ones playing right now.)

Let’s stick to position players. The 1965 Giants got a comical 21.7 combined WAR from Willie Mays (11.2) and Juan Marichal (10.5) which muddies today’s discussion, albeit in an interesting manner.

Let’s stick to single seasons. Henry Aaron and Eddie Mathews had a stretch from 1955 to 1963 for the Braves that’s hard to believe, as one example.

So for funsies, let’s look at individual seasons in which a team received incredible production from two players.

Using Baseball Reference’s version of WAR, since integration, two teammate position players combined for between 17 and 17.9 WAR nine times:

Joe Morgan was part of two of the pairs, (with Johnny Bench in 1972 and Pete Rose in 1973) as was Mickey Mantle (with Yogi Berra in 1956 and Roger Maris in 1961). The aforementioned Aaron/Mathews juggernaut accomplished the feat in 1963, as did Cal Ripken and Eddie Murray in 1984, Mays and Willie McCovey in 1963, and Mookie Betts and JD Martinez in 2018. Perhaps the most surprising (to folks who didn’t see Willie Wilson play) was George Brett and Wilson combining for 17.9 WAR in 1980.

Once we get into teammates reaching 18 combined WAR, the air gets a little thinner – and it helped if you had Barry Bonds as a teammate. Rich Aurelia (2001) and Jeff Kent (2002) combined with Bonds to be the only pairs of teammates fitting our criteria to finish with a combined WAR that starts with 18 before decimals.

That brings us to the leaders in the clubhouse. In 1996, Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez combined for 19.1 WAR, the most by teammates fitting today’s criteria. That duo combined for 19.1 WAR for the 85-win Mariners that season, and both would hysterically lose out on the MVP award, which went to Juan Gonzalez and his 3.8 WAR.

That brings us back to 2024 – All Rise.

After 84 team games, Judge and Soto are on pace for 19.9 WAR combined, which would top the combined total from The Kid and A-Rod in 1996.

Of course, this discussion is just a matter of trivia and there’s still almost half of a season to go – but it sure is interesting to think about.

Since we still have a minute, a few things tangentially related to the above: (With some interesting reads highlighted.)

Judge and Soto would also top the total of Stan Musial and (pitcher) Harry Breechen for the 1948 Cardinals who combined for 19.8 WAR. That was the fourth time Musial led the NL in WAR and he also won his third MVP award that season. Despite playing at an elite level for another decade, he would never lead the league in WAR again or win another MVP either. Just something to tell the folks who still aren’t sure if the Negro Leagues were as good as the NL and AL.

That 1996 Mariners team had Edgar Martinez (167 OPS+), Arod (161 OPS+), Griffey Jr. (154 OPS+), Jay Buhner (131 OPS+) and Paul Sorrento (121 OPS+) – and they were no hit by Dwight Gooden, who was making his 7^th start in just short of two calendar years.

Oh, and that 8.5 WAR, 161 OPS+, A-Rod in 1996 was 20-year-old skinny A-Rod. Just leaving that there for the “but PEDs!” crowd. (Matters got interesting after that…)

Willie Wilson was an absolute monster from 1979 through 1982 but never continued at that level, despite finishing with a damn good career (46.2 career bWAR). Reading Cool Papa Bell’s biography, I couldn’t help thinking that the manner in which Bell was described sounded a lot like Willie Wilson – if Wilson had a peak over a decade long as Bell did.

Again, all trivial stuff, but let me know if I missed something. Leave a comment below, or yell at me @mybaseballpage1 on Twitter and/or the “My Baseball Page” on Facebook.