Was 1985 Dwight Gooden the most dominant year ever by a pitcher?

[Rock Strongo]

Pedro was over 2 runs ahead (i.e better) vs the guy who finished 2nd in era in 2000.

Thats astounding.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Speaking of Pedro, wasn't Grienke giving Pedro a run for his money for a while in the ERA+ department until recently?

 

[navamind]

Speaking of Pedro, wasn't Grienke giving Pedro a run for his money for a while in the ERA+ department until recently?

Yup. He's still at 222 though, which would be tied with Clemens' 1997 season (which should be in the conversation for all-time seasons IMO, especially considering he had 264 innings) for 15th best of all-time. Greinke also had a 205 ERA+ in 2009.

Greinke's had a pretty bizarre career path.

 

[DragonfromTO]

C'mon man......other pitchers with the record number of walks AND wild pitches, would NEVER have lasted 23 years, or won as many games, EVER.
While I may be a homer about him, you on the other hand, or not giving him nearly enough credit....imho.

You make it sound like those wild pitches and walks were things that just happened to him, rather than part of what he was and what he did.

 

[Hbomb]

I dont think you will find outside of nyc to say pedro used anything.

Half the reason hes so revered is for doing what he did in that era vs guys on horse grade steroids.

I remember when they said Arod was clean. Pedro is Dominican. That's enough to wonder since there's no regulation there.

 

[rmilia1]

As others have mentioned... Pedro was much better in 2000.

I dont know if Id say MUCH better or even if Id say better at all frankly but its certainly a good call

 

[DragonfromTO]

That's fair. And his W-L was hurt by the teams he pitched for. I just think a lot of people need to realize you can't gauge a pitcher's "dominance" solely by strikeouts and no-hitters. I still think Ryan was a great pitcher, and 5000+ innings is nothing to sneeze at.

I don't think this is that big a factor though. He had a .526 W% while playing for teams that had a .507 W% (.503 when you back out Ryan's decisions), it's not like his teams lost 100 games every year (or ever for that matter, hell in 26 years only one of his teams even lost 90).

 

[Hbomb]

He had 14 in 1962. He had 19 in 1964. He also pitched in a time where 20+ win seasons were common.

Was working from memory maybe it was 14-2 or something like that. Too lazy to look it up. The 19 win season was also cut short or abbreviated.

20 win seasons were indeed plentiful back then. Pitchers finished what they started and really didn't care about their ERAs. They also pitched in what was effectively a 3 man rotation. The 4th starter was often skipped.

 

[Rock Strongo]

I remember when they said Arod was clean. Pedro is Dominican. That's enough to wonder since there's no regulation there.

Im italian. Am i a good cook?

 

[navamind]

I don't think this is that big a factor though. He had a .526 W% while playing for teams that had a .507 W% (.503 when you back out Ryan's decisions), it's not like his teams lost 100 games every year (or ever for that matter, hell in 26 years only one of his teams even lost 90).

Fair enough. He had better run support than I thought he did (save for the 8-16 year), though still not great. His neutralized W-L% is .540, fwiw. His neutralized ERA is also a lot higher at 3.62.

 

[Villain]

Here you go

 

[soxfan1468927]

Amazing thing about Pedro's 1999 season, is his BABIP was .323. He just struck out 37.5% of the batters he faced and walked just 4.4%. Ridiculous 1.39 FIP, 3rd lowest single season all time behind 1908 Christy Mathewson and 1910 Walter Johnson. To do that in the steroid era, in a hitter's park, was absurd.

Then following that up with 2000 with a 1.74 ERA when the average starter outside of Pedro had a 4.89 ERA. The league ERA that year was the 2nd highest of all time

 

[navamind]

Amazing thing about Pedro's 1999 season, is his BABIP was .323. He just struck out 37.5% of the batters he faced and walked just 4.4%. Ridiculous 1.39 FIP, 3rd lowest single season all time behind 1908 Christy Mathewson and 1910 Walter Johnson. To do that in the steroid era, in a hitter's park, was absurd.

Then following that up with 2000 with a 1.74 ERA when the average starter outside of Pedro had a 4.89 ERA. The league ERA that year was the 2nd highest of all time

Moose linked to it before, but Pedro's 1999 season was the lowest FIP- of all-time... by a pretty good margin. FIP- of 30 that year, with 1995 Randy Johnson being 2nd... at 45. 2000 Pedro's 3rd at 48.

 

[Villain]

Amazing thing about Pedro's 1999 season, is his BABIP was .323. He just struck out 37.5% of the batters he faced and walked just 4.4%. Ridiculous 1.39 FIP, 3rd lowest single season all time behind 1908 Christy Mathewson and 1910 Walter Johnson. To do that in the steroid era, in a hitter's park, was absurd.

Then following that up with 2000 with a 1.74 ERA when the average starter outside of Pedro had a 4.89 ERA. The league ERA that year was the 2nd highest of all time

That's dead-ball era, too.

The fact that he has basically the same WAR as '72 Carlton with 100 less innings is also stupidly good. '99 Pedro was the best of anyone.

 

[StanMarsh51]

Screw a year, check out the career best ever:

Nolan Ryan
5200 plus k's
7 no-no's...( 7 dang no hitters..?!?!?! )

And that's just fer starters.

Pitcher A - .526 win %, 112 ERA+, 1.25 WHIP, 2.04 K/BB, 222 complete games
Pitcher B - .534 win %, 118 ERA+, 1.20 WHIP, 2.80 K/BB, 242 complete games

Pitcher A was Ryan...pitcher B was Bert Blyleven.

 

[broncosmitty]

Brett Favre is to the NFL what Nolan Ryan is to MLB, imo.

Fuck that shit!

 

[gb2]

Pitcher A was Ryan...pitcher B was Bert Blyleven.

Not bad.

 

[Howie115]

What I will say is this, when Nolan Ryan was at his best, he was absolutely terrifying.

True. Best quote I ever read following a Ryan no-hitter was by the Tigers' Mickey Stanley in 1973: "Those were the best pitches I ever heard."

 

[DragonfromTO]

Shouldn't this be a season by a closer?

 

[navamind]

2013 Edinson Volquez.