O-ver-RA-ted! *clap, clap, clapclapclap*

A couple weeks ago, Studes over at The Hardball Times, had an article up detailing how the Yankees had one of the largest pythagorean variances in history. At that time, they were close but not quite at the top of the list. Well, as of the end of the season, the 2004 Yankees are now the most overrated team in history (from the THT blog):

The Yankees have set the record for the greatest Pythagorean Variance by a playoff-qualifying team. The Pythagorean Variance is just a fancy name for a comparison between a teams win/losses and runs scored/runs allowed. The Yankees scored 897 runs and allowed 808 runs. Normally, this would result in about 89 wins, but the Yankees won 101 games.

I think anyone, even your die hard Yankee friends, will tell you that this is the weakest of all the teams they've fielded throughout their run. Tonight they'll be turning to Jon Leiber to salvage a split with the Twins before heading to Minnesota. No more Andy Pettite as a Game 2 stopper. If you're a Twins fan, you have to be feeling really good right now.

Now I know you can never count the Yankees out and, insufferably, the "Yankee mystique" seems to be worth a game or two every postseason, a killer in a short series. But the Twins drew first blood yesterday and these Yankees gave away their tourniquet in the offseason.

(BTW, as an added bonus, Studes (who happens to be a Mets fan) also has a bit on the Mets come from behind win against the Cubs in the same article). Sweet!