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> Pitching and defense wins championships.
Offense wins championships just as much as pitching and defense. The Reds in 1976 beat a trio of teams with better pitching and defense - the Dodgers for the division, the Phils for the NL, and the Yanks for the WS. The offense was staggeringly good. In 1975, the pitching and defense was in the same range as the Dodgers, Pirates and Red Sox they beat for the same honors. The offense was vastly superior.
The 75-76 Reds are hardly unique.
I think you'd also find that most methods the crunches offense would show the Red Sox offenses that you're pointing to really weren't as great as they appeared to be - the park made them look like that. In contrast, their pitching and defense wasn't as bad as one would think. It's a little ironic that James crunches both the 1949 and 1978 Yanks offenses to be better than the Sox teams they beat, and in contrast crunches the Sox to have better pitching+defense.
In real life, there isn't any magic formula to winning. Teams have won championships in more different ways that we could count with varying degress of balance or extremes, and also flat out flukey nonsense like the 1973 Mets or 1987 Twins.
John
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