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EVIL~! alkeiper

Best MLB pitching seasons

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Pedro in 2000 had this:

 

18-6, 217 IP, 128 hits, 32/284 bb/k, 1.74 ERA/291 ERA+, .737 WHIP, .6 HR/9, .4 BB/9.

 

 

That is quite a season. I just recall him being injured that year and having 313 k's in 213 innings in 99. That is a beyond scary whip.

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Statistically it's Charley Radbourn in 1884. He pitched 678.7 innings, struck out 441 while walking 98. 59-12 win/loss record. He pitched every game for his team down the stretch when the other starter jumped the team. The problem is that pitching was far, far different. Radbourn was pitching underhand/sidearm, from a box and not a mound, and from 50 feet away. So much of pitching then was fielding dependent that it is difficult to take all the performances at face value.

 

Pedro 2000 was incredible.

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Carlton in 1972. 346 innings pitched (30 complete games), ERA under two, 8 shutouts, and a WHIP under 1.

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Eckersley in 1990 is another. In that same season Bob Welch had 27 wins. That one I didn't have to look up.

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How about the best pitching season that didn't win a Cy Young? Tom Seaver's 1971 season was probably his best, (20-10, 1.76 ERA, 289 K's,) but Fergie Jenkins won the Cy Young.

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I'll go with Walter Johnson's 1913 season as the best ever.

 

 Year Ag Tm  Lg  W   L   G   GS  CG SHO  GF SV   IP     H    R   ER   HR  BB   SO  HBP  WP  BFP  IBB  BK  ERA *lgERA *ERA+ WHIP
+--------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+------+----+----+----+---+----+----+---+---+-----+---+---+-----+-----+----+-----+
1913 25 WSH AL  36   7  48  36  29  11  11  2  346.0  232   56   44   9   38  243   9   3  1305       0  1.14  2.96  259 0.780

 

For the post-expansion era it is hard to go wrong with the already mentioned 2000 season for Pedro.

 

Edit: Also Dwight Gooden's 1985 season deserves mention for recent years.

 

Year Ag Tm  Lg  W   L   G   GS  CG SHO  GF SV   IP     H    R   ER   HR  BB   SO  HBP  WP  BFP  IBB  BK  ERA *lgERA *ERA+ WHIP
+--------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+------+----+----+----+---+----+----+---+---+-----+---+---+-----+-----+----+-----+
1985 20 NYM NL  24   4  35  35  16   8   0  0  276.7  198   51   47  13   69  268   2   6  1065   4   2  1.53  3.49  228 0.965

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For a reliever, how about Eric Gagne in 2003:

 

2 HRs in 83 innings, 137 strikeouts and 20 walks with a 1.20 ERA an ERA+ of 335.

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How about the best pitching season that didn't win a Cy Young? Tom Seaver's 1971 season was probably his best, (20-10, 1.76 ERA, 289 K's,) but Fergie Jenkins won the Cy Young.

 

 

David Cone 1988. 20-3, 213k's in 231 innings, 2.22 era, 8 cg, 4 shutouts, 1.1 whip. He didn't finish first, he didn't finish second, HE FINISHED THIRD!

 

 

 

Mariano Rivera, not a starting pitcher but has put up some of the best single season relief work to never win a Cy Young.

 

1996

8-3, 2.20 era, era plus of 239, 130k's in 107 innings, only 1 homerun given up during the juice ball/steroid era, 0.994 Whip. You could make a case that he was the MVP that year as well. He completely changed baseball, the use of the "setup" man and turned an above average team into World Series Champions overnight. He helped turn what was a 9 inning game into 6 innings for the opposing team.

 

Finished Third

 

 

Every other season between 1997 and 2008 except for 2007.

 

1999

 

4-3, 52 K's in 69 innings, 1.83 era, era plus 259, whip 0.884, only 2 HR's given up

 

Finished Third

 

 

2004

 

4-2, 66 K's in 78 innings, 1.94 era, era plus 231, whip 1.081, only 3 HR's given up

 

Finished Third

 

2005

 

7-4, 80 K's in 78 innings, 1.38 era, era plus 307, whip 0.868, 2 hr's given up

 

Finished Second to Fatso Bartolo Colon. I am sure that the Writers are happy to have given Colon the Cy Young over Rivera. Colon only won it because he had 20 wins. Johan Santana who by far had the much better year, more K's, .6 of an era lower finished a distant third because he only had 16 wins. Colon has won 11 games in the last 3 years since his " Cy Young" year.

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