BASEBALL
	The Top 20 Pitching Seasons since 1970 Yesterday I counted down seasons 11-20 of the top 20 pitching seasons since 1970.  Here are the top 10 (see yesterday's article for methodology): 10.  Greg Maddux  1994  16-6  10 CG 3 SHO 31BB 156K 1.56ERA 273ERA+   I have written before about the effects of the strike of 1994 on baseball statistics and history, and here is another casualty.  Maddux was in the midst of one of the greatest pitching seasons ever when the strike cut it short after his 25th start.  Even with the abbreviated season, which hurt his standing in wins, CG, SHO, strikeouts and presumably helped in walks and perhaps in ERA, Maddux still winds up at number ten on this list. 9.  Roger Clemens  1990  21-6  7 CG 4 SHO  54BB  209K 1.93ERA  211ERA+  It appears as if Clemens may have missed a couple of starts this season - he had 35 in 1989 and 1991, but only 31 in 1990, which explains his relatively low strikeout number.  Once again, we'll never know how much that helped or hurt his numbers, but even without four starts he gets a top ten season. 8.  Roger Clemens  1997  21-7  9 CG 3 SHO  68BB  292K  2.05ERA 226ERA+ It is remarkable how little Roger had changed in the intervening years between #9 on this list and #8.  The numbers are very similar, especially if you project out the walks and strikeouts in 1990 to what he might have had if he had made his full complement of starts.  Surprisingly, though, this is The Rocket's peak on this list.  This was his career high in strikeouts and only the 1986 season discussed yesterday surpassed this season in wins, and only #9 surpassed this season in ERA.  It also must be noted, much to Bill Simmons' chagrin, that this was the season after Boston let Roger go to the Blue Jays. 7.  Greg Maddux  1995  19-2  10 CG 3 SHO 23BB 181K 1.63ERA 259ERA+ Maddux picked up right where he'd left off after the strike.  Once again, in 1995, the season was shortened at the beginning due to the strike, so Maddux only got 28 starts.  Who knows how far up this list he may have ended if he'd gotten five more starts.  Greg Maddux' legacy is safe anyway, but the strike stole about twelve starts of the absolute apex of his career between 1994-1995. 6.  Tom Seaver 1971  20-10  21 CG 4 SHO 61BB  289K 1.76ERA 193ERA+ More than a strikeout per inning pitched and an ERA under 2.00.  Is it possible for a Hall of Famer to be underrated?  Perhaps it is just my age, since Tom's peak years were before I was born, but it doesn't seem like you hear nearly as much about Tom Seaver as you do about Nolan Ryan, Sandy Koufax and the like when people talk about strikeout pitchers. 5.  Pedro Martinez  1999  23-4  5 CG 1 SHO 37BB 313K  2.07ERA 245ERA+ Pedro is unlike any of the other big time strikeout pitchers on this list in that he is a smaller guy, weighing only about 170.  That could be the reason that he doesn't seem to start as many games per season as some other pitchers.  In this case, he only started 29 games - imagine what the numbers might be if he had started 33 or 34. 4.  Steve Carlton  1972  27-10  30 CG 8 SHO 87BB 310K 1.97ERA 182ERA+ Carlton, on the other hand, completed more games in 1972 than Pedro started in 1999.  It is amazing how much the game has changed.  It is also amazing that a sub-2.00 ERA in 1972 didn't get you any better than a 182 ERA+.  Carlton is somewhat of an enigma.  This was his best season in all categories except walks, and he had some truly bad seasons mixed in with his brilliant ones.  For example, in 1973 his ERA jumped to 3.90, which is still very good by today's standards, but in 1973 it was actually below average (98 ERA+).  Another remarkable thing about his 1972 season was that he was playing on a team that finished 59-97 on the season, meaning that Carlton's 27 wins were 46% of his team's wins. 3.  Pedro Martinez  2000  18-6  7 CG 4 SHO 32BB 284K 1.74ERA 285ERA+ This is Pedro's peak year on this list.  Combining this with the previous year (#5) gives you the best two year run perhaps ever (Maddux' 1994-1995 strike shortened outings are close).  Pedro combined incredible power pitching with ridiculous control (not to mention ridiculous jerri-curls).  The fact that he's walking less than 40 batters while striking out about 300 batters in these two years shows his dominance (in fact, Pedro's 1999 year actually tied with Carlton for #4, but the unweighted scores broke the tie, giving Carlton the edge). 2.  Ron Guidry  1978  25-3  16 CG 9 SHO 72BB 248K 1.74ERA 208ERA+ I have to admit that this one surprised me.  When you think of great pitchers of the last 35 years, Ron Guidry isn't usually near the top of the list.  He was a good pitcher for about 8 years, but he never came close to these numbers before or after this season.  He didn't have the #1 ranking on any single category on the list, but his all around excellence propelled him to the #2 spot overall. 1.  Dwight Gooden 1985  24-4 16 CG 8 SHO 69BB 268K  1.53ERA 226ERA+ When it came down to it, it wasn't really very close.  Gooden was head and shoulders above everyone else.  He had the lowest ERA since Bob Gibson's 1.12 in 1968 (and no one has been lower since), a lot of wins, a lot of strikeouts, and great command.  All at age 20.  It's too bad that drugs and injuries derailed what looked to be a spectacular career. So, where will the years Clemens and Carpenter are having fit into this list?  Well, each has started 26 games so far, so we have to assume that each has 6-7 starts left.  Carpenter has already won 18 games, which barely gets him on the list, at present, but if he continues his pace and ends at 22-23 wins, he'd be up near the top in that category.  Clemens, on the other hand, only has 11 wins (due to terrible run support) and even if he wins all of his remaining starts, he'd still be towards the bottom of that category.  Carpenter has 6 complete games and 4 shutouts already, putting him in the middle in both categories, meaning he has a chance to end up near the top.  Clemens has only one complete game and no shutouts, so he'd be at the bottom of both.  Both are in the 40's in walks and will probably end up in the middle of the pack in that category.  Carpenter has 178 K's already, while Clemens has 161, so both have a chance to make it into the middle of the pack there.  Clemens has a 1.56 ERA right now, which would put him right up near the top in that category, while Carpenter is sitting at 2.34, which puts him just outside the top 20. With a month left to go it is still, of course, too early to say how their seasons will compare to those on this list.  It is certainly within the realm of possibility, though, that we are witnessing two of the best pitching seasons in the last 35 years.
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