Like all sweet dreams, it will be brief, but brevity makes sweetness, doesn’t it?
— Stephen King, 11/22/63

Two weeks ago, I posted a study of the top “one-and-done” positional players in Red Sox history and the player who rose to the top of every statistical category we studied – WAR and OPS+ – was Adrian Beltre. It was almost no contest, as the former third baseman prove himself valuable at the plate and in the field.

Today, I came across an article posted today at Sports On Earth written by Howard Megdal entitled “We should appreciate how good Adrian Beltre really is.” In between references to the multitude of injuries he has played through over his career and the theory that race is a reason that his grittiness has been overlooked by the mainstream baseball media when compared to white ballplayers, I found a few notable excerpts:

Using Baseball-Reference.com’s Wins Above Replacement, Adrian Beltre rates seventh among all third basemen. Ever. Here’s the list of third basemen better than Beltre, per WAR: Mike Schmidt, Eddie Mathews, Wade Boggs, George Brett, Chipper Jones and Brooks Robinson. All but Jones are in the Hall of Fame, and he will surely follow. All of them, including Jones, are household names among baseball fans…

For most of his career, his glove has been as impressive as anyone — third highest defensive WAR in baseball history by a third baseman, only trailing Buddy Bell and Brooks Robinson. A normal Beltre season will allow him to pass Bell this year, and leave only Robinson ahead of him.

At this stage, Beltre is not a lock for the Hall of Fame. Per Baseball-Reference.com, his Hall of Fame Monitor score is 89 and his Hall of Fame Standards score is 40; the average is 100 and 50, respectively. However, his JAWS score of 58.5 places him eighth among third baseman, and the average of 13 current Hall of Fame players at this position is 55.0. At age 35 and with least two more years guaranteed with the Rangers, so long as he continues to maintain his average OPS+ of 136 and raises his WAR another ten points, his chances should improve greatly.

Adrian Beltre’s time with the Red Sox proved brief, but that year was just a microcosm of what has been a truly remarkable baseball career, one that someday should culminate into election to the Hall of Fame.

Then there are those who use that one season to showcase their talents, performing at a level perhaps unexpected. Every plate appearance seems to produce, every play in the field seems fluid and flawless, and the sportswriters and fans watch in awe and amazement.

To compile this list, we considered positional players — pitchers will be examined in a later post — with a minimum of 500 PA and only one season played between 2001 and 2012; we discounted 2013 players since a percentage of them may return this season. All statistics are compiled from Baseball-Reference.com.

Top Single Season OPS+

Top Single Season WAR

Top Single Season Offensive WAR

Top Single Season Defensive WAR

Clearly, Adrian Beltre walks away with the title of having the best single season performance by a position player in team history. His 141 OPS+ and his WAR of 7.8 place him at the top of each list shown here, and what is further impressive is that his dWAR of 2.4 made him valuable on both sides of the ball, whether he was holding a bat or wearing his third baseman’s glove. Beltre has continue to showcase those talents since leaving Boston for the Texas Rangers as a free agent after the 2010 season, with an average OPS+ of 136 and a total WAR of 18.2, though his dWAR has steadily declined as he has reached his mid-30s.

Nick Esasky is another player of note who, while lacking defensively (his dWAR in 1989 was -0.6, primarily as a first baseman), finished with an above-average OPS+ of 133 and a WAR of 3.9 in what proved to be his best statistical season. Unfortunately, after signing a substantial free agent contract with the Atlanta Braves, Esasky played just nine more games in his career due to vertigo stemming from an ear infection, which forced him to retire from baseball at the age of 30.

New York (101-61) vs Minnesota (92-70)
Season series: New York won, 4-2

One of the biggest weaknesses of the Yankees this season was its starting pitching staff; despite winning 100-plus games for the third straight season, its starting rotation was not intimidating to opposing teams. In contrast, the Twins have Johan Santana, the likely AL Cy Young award winner (sorry, Curt Schilling and Mariano Rivera), who won 20 games, struck out a league-leading 265 batters, and posted a 2.61 ERA, Brad Radke (11-8, 3.48), and Carlos Silva (14-8, 4.21). However, what got the Yankees to 101 wins was the strength of its offense, led by MVP candidate Gary Sheffield; the team scored an eye-popping 897 runs this season and stroked 242 home runs, a team record. Last week, the Twins paid a visit to Yankee Stadium and got swept by the Bronx Bombers in three games; the results will be no different for Minnesota against New York this week. In other words, the division series is just a formality for the Yankees as they make their way to yet another ALCS.

Anaheim (92-70) vs Boston (98-64)
Season series: Boston won, 5-4

Five weeks ago, the red-hot Angels strolled into Fenway Park and were swept in three games by the even more red-hot Red Sox as Boston continued its climb on top of the wild card standings and Anaheim fell four games behind the Oakland Athletics in the American League West division. While Boston spent the rest of the season trying to catch the Yankees, eventually finishing three games behind New York in the AL East, Anaheim won 17 of its remaining 29 games to win the division by just a game over Oakland. Anaheim hopes to demonstrate that World Series title they collected in 2002 against the San Francisco Giants in seven games was no fluke. Boston, which won 19 of its last 30 contests, is looking to win its first World Series in 86 years. The teams are evenly matched in most facets and this has all the makings of a fall classic, even if it is just the first round. However, Boston should win because they have 21-game winner and Cy Young candidate Curt Schilling, the Monsters of the Fenway, Manny Ramirez (43 HR, 130 RBI, .613 SLG) and David Ortiz (41 HR, 139 RBI, .603 SLG), and a supporting cast ready to finish what was started in 2003.

St. Louis (105-57) vs Los Angeles (93-69)
Season series: St. Louis won, 4-2

Unlike most of the playoff contenders this season, the chances for St. Louis were never in doubt, having surged well ahead of its fellow NL Central division opponents by mid-summer on its way to its fourth division crown in five years. Starter Chris Carpenter (15-5, 3.46) led the rotation this season but will miss the first round with an injured bicep; however, the remaining four starters all won 10 or more games, equaled only by Boston this season. At the end of the game, the Cardinals have Jason Isringhausen, who converted 47 saves while posting a respectable 2.87 ERA. On offense, Albert Pujols, were it not for a San Francisco Giant named Barry Bonds, would be the most prolific offensive force in not only the NL but all of baseball as well (my god, is he really just 24 years old?). The Dodger Blue were led by Adrian Beltre on offense, who clocked 48 home runs and posted a .334 batting average, a resurgent Jose Lima, who posted 13 wins and a 4.07 ERA, and a relentless Eric Gagne, who collected 45 saves this season. On paper, it appears that St. Louis has the better team, and on the field, the same is true; expect to be seeing the high-flying Red Birds cruise to the NLCS.

Atlanta (96-66) vs Houston (92-70)
Season series: Tied, 3-3

Give credit to Bobby Cox, the one constant in the Braves clubhouse, who led his team to a playoff appearance for the 13th straight year (not including the strike-shortened 1994 season). Very few people picked Atlanta to repeat and most had them finishing fourth; perhaps the lesson learned is, like the Yankees, they find a way. Likewise, Houston fired Jimy Williams at the All-Star break after a poor start and no one expected that they would see action in October. However, Houston had other plans and, with Phil Garner at the helm, went 49-25 the rest of the way to clinch the wild card spot in the National League. In other words, we have two teams that no one thought would be in the post-season, but here they are, warts and all. Neither team has impressive numbers on offense or defense, so who has the advantage? It’s a toss-up; Houston won left and right over the last six weeks of the season, going an amazing 31-8, while Atlanta was almost as hot, going 25-13. However, the edge goes to Houston for the reason that Atlanta went 51-25 this season against what proved to be relatively weak competition in the NL East, making it easier than expected to take the division. Houston, however, played almost evenly against St. Louis this season and had to battle Chicago in the standings in the final weeks; winning nine of the last ten also has them on a roll that will be tough to stop.