Which Red Sox team was better? 1988 or 1990?

[Solair Wright]

Which Red Sox season did you think was better in retrospective? Was it 1988 or 1990? (Despite being swept twice by Oakland, but they lost anyway)

Pitching: 1988 or 1990?
Batting: 1988 or 1990?
Coaching: 1988 or 1990?
Overall: 1988 or 1990?

Even though the two are past teams (and the Red Sox won in 2004), this is a debate to see which two teams are better in everyone's opinion.

[Mike D.]

Thinking back, top of the head, I would say 1988. I was 12 in 1988 and 14 in 1990, so I remember both seasons fairly well.

A quick glance at the stats show that the 1988 team was 89-73, and the 1990 team was 88-74.

When you look at their runs allowed and run scored and their Pythagorean W/L record, my guess of the 1988 team starts to look pretty good. The 1988 team scored 813 runs, and allowed 689 runs. Pythagorean W-L: 93-69. The 1990 team scored 699 runs, and allowed 664 runs. Pythagorean W-L: 85-77.
So, the 1988 team, despite having one more win, actually underachived, while the 1990 team overachived a bit.

Looking at OPS+ for a quick view of the offense vs. the rest of the league, the 1988 team scored a 113 and the 1990 team a 103. When we look at ERA+, the 1990 team scores a 111 with the 1988 team scoring a 104. So, the 1988 team hit a lot and pitched fairly average, and the 1990 team was pretty average with the bat and pitched well above average.

It's interesting to look at the offense. The 1990 team had one 20 home-run hitter in Ellis Burks (21), the 1990 team had 2 (Burks with 22, Evans with 21). Those sure feel like low #'s to lead a team in HR compared to this day and age.