The most dominant pitchers in the game over the last eight to ten years are Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander, Felix Hernandez, David Price and Max Scherzer.
Not one of them has a ring.
The winningest manager ever, Connie Mack, believed pitching accounts for “75 to 90%” of Baseball. This is generally accepted as gospel. But is it true?
What differentiates the National Pastime from the rest of the field is that Baseball truly is a team sport. In Basketball, the ball can be passed to Michael Jordan over and over and over and over. Wayne Gretzky can take 12 shots on goal in 60 minutes. But Mike Trout will only dig in at home four times tonight.
Granted, solid pitching is essential. But someone needs to catch the ball. Someone needs to score a run. The execution of basic fundamentals is crucial. Pitching by itself allows you to compete. Pitching by itself does not win championships.
The four winningest pitchers in history—Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Grover Cleveland Alexander and Christy Mathewson–tallied up nearly 1,700 victories between them. However, they combined for just five championships.
One can simply look at Walter Johnson. Winner of 417 games, 110 of which were shutouts, the larger-than-life legend is widely regarded as the greatest mortal to ever take the mound. He retired with a mind-boggling 2.17 ERA.
Think about that for a moment. He allowed just over two runs a game… for 21 years!!! And yet, he lost 279 times. True, starters pitched more in the Dead Ball era, but the most celebrated hurler in history averaged 13 losses per season.
Those familiar with my articles are fully aware of my feelings toward Sandy Alderson. I’ve been harsh, critical and abrasive toward the Mets GM. Oh, if you could only see some of the articles I’ve written that never got posted by Joe D.
However, I gotta tip my hat to Sandy. The Mets arguably have the most dominant young pitching staff in Baseball. For forty years we’ve been subjected to many projections and comps of the next Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman or Jon Matlack only to be letdown with the likes of Generation K, Mike Pelfrey and a host of other disappointments.
But finally, it’s on Sandy Alderson’s watch that our latest top pitching prospects, complete with all the hype, are actually coming up and meeting and exceeding expectations. The Mets now have themselves a rotation packed with elite young power arms. Now the Mets can definitely compete with the best of them. But the question remains, can they win?
As of this writing, the Mets lead the National League in WHIP, K/BB and BB/9, while ranking 4th in ERA, Opposing Batting Average and Strikeouts.
However on the other side of the ledger, the Mets are at or near the bottom in Batting Average, On-Base, Slugging, Runs Scored, RBIs and Hits.
Those of us old enough to remember the Mets of the early seventies always smile fondly when hearkening back to those days. Our Big Three were unmatched. And when Nolan Ryan was traded, he was replaced by Rookie of the Year Jon Matlack. But let’s face facts.
From 1969 through 1976, the Mets won 2 pennants and 1 World Series in that eight year span. True, I think most fans would be happy if we were to win 2 pennants and 1 World Series between now and 2022. However, those post-seasons back then did not make us a dynasty.
We weren’t exactly the Yankees of the late ‘90s winning 4 championships in 5 years. Or the Oakland A’s from 72-74. The Mets in those days were good, solid. But dominant? No. No one ever called us The Big Blue and Orange Machine.
Despite those ‘glory days’ the Mets averaged just under 84 wins per season. If you take out 1969, from that eight year span, the Mets, despite a solid rotation that ranked among the top in ERA, WHIP and Strikeouts, were basically a 500 club. (570-563.)
Speaking of 69, obviously if it wasn’t for Seaver’s 25 Wins, Koosman’s performance in the final two months, Tug McGraw’s 2.24 ERA out of the bullpen, and big contributions from oft-forgotten players like Jim McAndrew, Cal Koonce and Jack DiLauro (who???) we’d never have gotten to the post-season.
But when you think back to the 1969 Fall Classic, what are the most memorable images? There not of pitching performances. Instead we think of a few great catches by two of our outfielders, a hit batsmen, and a back-up catcher laying down a bunt.
Our pitching that season got us in the pennant race. But it was timely hitting, execution and glove work that —combined with that pitching – got us to the mountaintop.
In the 7-game 1973 World Series our pitchers allowed just 21 runs. We lost.
In the 7-game 1986 World Series our pitchers allowed 27 runs. We won.
But one doesn’t need to look at stats from long ago.
At the risk of everyone wanting to punch me in the nose, let’s tip our hat to the Atlanta Braves.
That Braves staff was not only the most impressive of this generation, but the point can be made they were possibly one of the best ever. Off the top of my head, I can’t recall a staff that boasted not one, not two, but three Hall of Famers. A starting staff mind you that was also managed by a future Hall of Fame skipper.
Yet, despite throwing Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz out there in succession, the Braves seemingly never could win a short series. Despite their dominance during the season, these formidable pitchers only won the World Series once.
If there was any staff in the last twenty five years worthy of being mentioned in the same sentence, you’d have to look to the opposite coast. Oakland’s triad of Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito were a scaled-down AL version of what the Braves had. Yet the A’s, while always able to compete, never even reached the World Series.
One doesn’t need to look back 100 years to The Big Train or almost 50 years to The Franchise or even 15 years to The Rocket. Just look back eight months.
If good pitching wins, the Kansas City Royals would be defending champions. Last October, the Giants’ starters were downright awful. Three of them never made it through six innings. Jake Peavy averaged 3 IP in his two starts, Tim Hudson averaged 3 2/3 IP in his two and Ryan Vogelsong only recorded eight outs in his one start. There was no way this team should have won. Hell, with a performance like that, there was no way this team shouldn’t have been swept.
It took a Mathewson-ian effort by Madison Bumgarner — who threw more innings than the other three combined —along with key hits, solid fundamentals and stellar defense for Bruce Bochy’s club to counterbalance the pitiful efforts of his staff.
With a little over one third of the 2015 campaign in the books the Mets have definitely played well, better perhaps than many fans expected. Had you been told we’d be in first place on June 8, safe to say most fans would be dancing a jig across the Roosevelt Ave. Bridge.
The 1969 club was built around pitching AND defense. The 86 team had solid pitching and a potent batting order 1 through 7, as well as the perfect blend of young talent and veterans who knew how to win. The 2015 Mets have excellent pitching and…?
Do the Mets have the guns to compete? Absolutely. Will the Mets be in the pennant race and play meaningful games into September? Barring a rash of injuries, yes. But can we win based solely on just pitching alone?
I wonder. Based on history, it seems unlikely. Sandy needs to complement that great pitching with a productive and consistent offense. Let’s not just build a competitive team, let’s build the first ever Mets dynasty.
