Best Major League Baseball Seasons by Pitchers--w/PICS
vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.co… — From SI. Pics (w/stats) of best 15 pitcher/seasons since 1961. Don't agree with all, but good list with some good photos. 4 on list: Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Denny McLain, Vida Blue.
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- halicore, on 05/17/2008, -1/+3nice list - lots of cards :)
- GregFD3S, on 05/18/2008, -0/+1Juan Marichal #1 FTW!!!!!!
Honestly, I think this list should be called "Best Recent Pitching Seasons", these pitchers are great but not the best of all time. It could do without a few, and a few were left out. Including Dennis Eckersley and Nolan Ryan. - GregFD3S, on 05/18/2008, -0/+1Of course one of my favorites is Christy Mathewson.
Best Season: 20-2 - 1899 for the New York Giants
Career 2.13 ERA, 373 wins and 2500+ strikeouts!
- GregFD3S, on 05/18/2008, -0/+1Juan Marichal #1 FTW!!!!!!
- evan119, on 05/17/2008, -2/+12Shouldn't #12 have an asterisk?
- Anijake, on 05/17/2008, -6/+11No Nolan Ryan, no dice.
- occam, on 05/17/2008, -0/+7While I agree Nolan Ryan was a spectacular pitcher, keep in mind this isn't a list of spectacular pitchers. It's a list of the best *seasons* by pitchers. Perhaps Ryan was a great pitcher, but he may never have put together a season quite like the ones listed. I haven't done any research into it however, so I may be wrong!
- socialspirit, on 05/18/2008, -0/+0First thing that came to mind when I read your reply was the year he struck out 383. I looked in up on baseball-reference.com. In 1973 he went 22-16 with a 2.87 and came 2nd in the Cy Young vote to Jim Palmer. Palmer went 22-9, 2.40, with 158 strikeouts. So I agree you can't put him on that list if he wasn't even considered to have the best season that year.
- dotvexed, on 05/17/2008, -2/+3I was just about to say that same thing. No Nolan?
- robknight, on 05/17/2008, -0/+2I agree with occam, Nolan was an amazing pitcher, but he never had a truly dominant season. He was consistently amazing throughout his career and one could argue that throwing 2 no-hitters in one season could qualify, but even that year (1990?) he didn't have an outstanding W-L record.
- occam, on 05/17/2008, -0/+7While I agree Nolan Ryan was a spectacular pitcher, keep in mind this isn't a list of spectacular pitchers. It's a list of the best *seasons* by pitchers. Perhaps Ryan was a great pitcher, but he may never have put together a season quite like the ones listed. I haven't done any research into it however, so I may be wrong!
- Fletchex, on 05/17/2008, -18/+0BORING. Why do people keep posting and digging this vague meaningless Sports ***** all over digg?
- sgentry6, on 05/17/2008, -0/+8Because some people are interested in sports. If you're not then why complain, just move on.
I will never understand users that post comments such as these. This is one of the truer forms of democracy we have on the web, because everyone involved has a chance to vote; all too often people complain about that freedom. - Fletchex, on 05/17/2008, -4/+0I'm interested in sports, quite enjoy Ice hockey, but I don't want to look at meaningless pictures or magazine covers. A video of an amazing pitch I could understand, but nothing in any of these photo is actually interesting, it's a waste of time and fills up the front page with crap.
- sgentry6, on 05/17/2008, -0/+8Because some people are interested in sports. If you're not then why complain, just move on.
- pirating, on 05/17/2008, -8/+3Exactly the way I feel anijake. Nolan Ryan should have been on that list hands down for several reasons, especially because of his 5,714 career strikeouts or the 7 no-hitters and 12 one hitters.
- cannarymburns, on 05/17/2008, -1/+11this had nothing to do with the pitcher's carreer... if it did, would gooden be on there being the total wash up he wound up being? ryan is deserving of the list, but the teams he played on sucked, so what prevented him was the fact that he had a really poor win-loss record, plus he had a high whip as well... his 72' season would have been worthy of the list had he not walked 157 batters and not lost 16 games...
- Ourcellardoor, on 05/17/2008, -5/+3No brainer to me, but... Cy Young maybe?
- rabuksak, on 05/17/2008, -0/+6"since 1961"
- midejitsu, on 05/17/2008, -0/+2Come on! Everyone knows that even in his best season, 1901 with the American League team in Boston, he only struck out 158 batters. Okay, so I had to look that up, but Young played in a very different time and can probably not be compared to Greg Maddux at his prime.
- Ourcellardoor, on 05/18/2008, -0/+1Then they should hand out the Greg Maddux awards at the end of each season.
- midejitsu, on 05/18/2008, -0/+1I completely agree. I really hope that he can get five more wins this year to move past Clemens on the all time list. Cy Young died 50 years ago, while Greg Maddux is completely awesome.
- Ourcellardoor, on 05/18/2008, -0/+1Then they should hand out the Greg Maddux awards at the end of each season.
- lead2thehead, on 05/17/2008, -2/+1Best Major League Baseball Seasons by Pitchers--w/PICS*
Fixed that for you, subby. - Number23, on 05/17/2008, -4/+5I've seen Clemens pitch many times and he was spectacular, but we know now he's a cheater and doesn't belong on any "best" list.
- Notasheeple, on 05/17/2008, -4/+5Seriously. How in the hell can you put Roids Clemens, the child molester/sex offender on the list, and not put on Nolan Ryan? That ruined the list for me. Maybe the writer does not know that Nolan has over 300 wins, 222 complete games, 6- 300 k seasons, 7 no-hitters and darn near 6,000 k's! seriously. How?
- jackalsclaw, on 05/18/2008, -0/+1and no all time great season.
- cbell1956, on 05/17/2008, -2/+6No doubt: Nolan Ryan's 1973 season should be on the list.
Honorable Mention to John Tudor's 1985 season: 10 shutouts, 1.93 era and .938 whip. - IAmTheGuy, on 05/17/2008, -0/+4In a year, Cliff Lee's 2008 season will undoubtedly make this list.
- Iamthechamp, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1and Webb. 9-0.
- dookie1481, on 05/18/2008, -0/+0What? They are a quarter of the way through the season, if he is still pitching this way 3/4 of the way through we will see...
Jay
- Mark2600, on 05/17/2008, -1/+2That was an amazing season watching Pedro dominate... Too bad they had schmucks behind him who couldn't do a thing.
- partysan, on 05/17/2008, -1/+2How 'bout linking to the first slide next time?
- mizatt, on 05/17/2008, -0/+7"Gibson, the easy choice for NL Cy Young that season, won 22 games and notched 13 shutouts, then added a World Series-record 17 more in Game 1 of the Cardinals eventual seven-game Series loss to the Tigers."
17 shutouts in one game. Amazing. This bests the next closest single-game record by 16 shutouts- KevinRWright, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1Yeah, wtf? I think they meant K's.
- vagrantwade, on 05/17/2008, -0/+2Lifelong Twins fan saying adios Santana :(. Those 13 straight wins were just dominant. I hope Liriano gets back to where he was. He was en route to ousting Santana for a Cy Young before he got hurt in 2006. The Twins and the A's should get some kind of trophy for how well they are able to compete each year with such a small market.
- vmfan, on 05/17/2008, -1/+1Amazing stuff. Time for controversial question: Who will be the best pitcher in MLB this year?
- wit21, on 05/17/2008, -1/+2Roger Clemens?
- Notasheeple, on 05/17/2008, -1/+2Edinson Volquez
- Perigren, on 05/17/2008, -1/+1Tim Hudson
- midejitsu, on 05/17/2008, -0/+2Brandon Webb certainly looks very good. He obviously won’t win the 34 games he’s currently on track for, but it seems quite possible that the NL will get its first 20 game winner since ’05.
- Yeyui, on 05/17/2008, -0/+4Cliff Lee.
Every pitcher with a start as good as Lee's (in terms of ERA) has won the Cy Young.
- Perigren, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1Mad Dog is an artist sorry padre fans but can the braves have him back... please.
- DreamVsPs2, on 05/17/2008, -4/+1List is missing Brandon Webb.
- impei, on 05/17/2008, -0/+2Are you talking about his 2006 season? 16-8 with a 3.10 doesn't come close to any of the seasons on the list.
- nightfright, on 05/17/2008, -0/+3Koufax is my favorite pitcher of all time. Thanks for this list it was cool
- paulb0t, on 05/17/2008, -2/+1No Walter Johnson or Lefty Grove? I'm assuming this list was done in no particular order, too. What'd the writer do, pick some names out of a hat and throw them together?
- cbell1956, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1This was a list made from the Expansion era.
- pootpoot, on 05/17/2008, -1/+0Just now realized how goofy pitchers look mid-throw. Good laugh, so/so list.
- impei, on 05/17/2008, -2/+2 Also missing Eric Gagne - 2003: 55 saves in 55 save opportunities, 137K's in 82 1/3 innings
- TeamRocket, on 05/17/2008, -1/+1He gots Juicing problems
- impei, on 05/17/2008, -0/+2So does Clemens and he was on the list
- carbon28, on 05/17/2008, -0/+0I'd agree with you impei. It's sad to see him with so many blown saves this season already. Wtf happened to him?
- TeamRocket, on 05/17/2008, -1/+1He gots Juicing problems
- AManOfLOP33, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1Vida!
- TeamRocket, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1got no love for Fernando Valennzuela?
- KevinRWright, on 05/17/2008, -1/+1Steve Carlton is the *****. Too bad Cele Hamels will one day hold all his records, mwa ha ha ha
- FuckXboxx, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1Randy Johnson is officially a turtle.
http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/multimedia/photo_g ...
http://www.animalpicturesarchive.com/animal/a3/Thr ... - notorious., on 05/17/2008, -0/+2Is there a reason you started with Koufax (#2 of 15) and not with Juan Marichal (#1 of 15)?
- Chunken, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1These are all starters but I can think of some closers that should have made the list: Dennis Eckersley 1990 with an 0.61 ERA and Eric Gagne in 2003 with 55 consecutive saves.
- PeckerSlap, on 05/18/2008, -0/+1spectacular
- socialspirit, on 05/18/2008, -0/+0The SI covers catching the moments send a chill down my back.
- hoopy22, on 05/18/2008, -0/+0Baseball, a sport, a work of art, a lesson on life. Gotta love it.
- AkiraXXX, on 05/18/2008, -0/+1Yes, Vida Blue had an excellent 1971, but the winner for that year should have been the Baltimore Orioles' pitching staff: Four 20 game winners. That, I think, was only the second time it had ever been done in baseball history and was the last time (and likely will be the last time ever). Plus, it started Jim Palmer's underwear modeling career. ;)
- dslartoo, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1The only one of these I can argue with is Johan Santana's. That one's still a little too recent and his accomplishments are just a notch or two below what I'd consider to be all-time great. A number of great seasons were left out (Eckersley's 1990 season being the most egregious example). Still a great article, and they have Sandy's 1965 season on there, so I'm happy.
- mariposaskyman, on 07/04/2008, -0/+0Good list, Marichal and Koufax at one and two a bit too high, but certainly great seasons. They have a good list at http://www.baseballevaluation.com with a searchable pdf of the top 182 seasons and their stats, plus a list of the top Relief Pitching years, too. Pretty interesting.
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