The Best Starting Pitching Staffs in the Last 100 Years: Part I
March 26, 2021 by John Baranowski · 1 Comment
Pitching, pitching, pitching. You may have heard the saying, “You can never have enough pitching.” Of course, if you are going to have good pitching it begins with your starting pitching staff.
Which starting pitching staff was the best ever? A few that come to mind right away were the Atlanta Braves of the ‘90s. Beginning in 1991, the Braves made the post-season in 13 of the next 14 seasons. Despite their great starting pitching, the Braves won only one World Series.
Similarly, the ’71 Baltimore Orioles with four 20-game winners is another group that is often mentioned. They also did not win the World Series that year. Likewise,the 1954 Cleveland Indians starting pitching staff is legendary as well, but they did not win the World Series either.
I guess that’s proof that starting pitching will give your team a chance. Then again a team needs more than just starting pitching.
I considered and reviewed every team that made it to the World Series and some other notable ones that did not. After viewing all the statistics, teams after the Dead Ball Era were only considered. Comparatively, considering teams before and after 1920 is more an apples-to-oranges comparison than an apples-to-apples one.
All the statistics listed below were found in baseball-reference.com as well as the players listed as starting pitchers for their respective teams. If you disagree with someone that is listed as a starting pitcher, take that up with baseball-reference.com.
How do you compare and rate starting pitching staffs? Do you base it on how good a pitching staff was by the number of 20-game winners it had? If a team had one 20-game winner and the other starters won 13 games each but another team had four 19-game winners, do you still think the team with the one 20-game winner had the superior pitching staff?
Is a starting pitching staff like a chain and only as strong as its weakest link? Do you judge a starting pitching staff on its weakest link? If so, that doesn’t bode well for the ’73 Oakland Athletics. They had three 20-game winners: Jim Catfish Hunter (21), Ken Holtzman (21) and Vida Blue with 20. But their fourth starter was John Blue Moon Odom, and he went 5-12 that year with a 4.49 ERA. How could any World Series winner and particularly the 1973 A’s have a starter seven games under .500?
If that is a major factor in your decision on basing the best of starting pitching staffs, those eliminated would include:
YEAR | TEAM | PITCHER | RECORD |
1934 | St. Louis Cardinals | Bill Hallahan | 8-12 |
1942 | New York Yankees | Marv Breuer | 8-9 |
1951 | Cleveland Indians | Bob Chakales | 3-4 |
1961 | Cincinnati Reds | Ken Hunt | 9-10 |
1961 | New York Yankees | Bob Turley, Bud Daley | 3-5, 8-9 |
1964 | Chicago White Sox | Ray Herbert, Fred Talbot | 6-7, 4-5 |
1968 | St. Louis Cardinals | Larry Jaster | 9-13 |
1969 | New York Mets | Don Cardwell, Jim McAndrew | 8-10, 6-7 |
1972 | Oakland Athletics | Vida Blue | 6-10 |
1973 | Oakland Athletics | Blue Moon Odom | 5-12 |
1974 | Oakland Athletics | Glenn Abbott | 5-7 |
1974 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Al Downing | 5-7 |
1977 | New York Yankees | Ken Holtzman | 2-3 |
1980 | Houston Astros | Ken Forsch | 12-13 |
1985 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Rick Honeycutt | 8-12 |
1985 | Kansas City Royals | Bud Black | 10-15 |
1988 | New York Mets | Bob Ojeda | 10-13 |
1989 | Oakland Athletics | Curt Young | 5-9 |
1992 | Atlanta Braves | Mike Bielecki | 2-4 |
1993 | Atlanta Braves | Pete Smith | 4-8 |
1999 | Atlanta Braves | Odalis Perez | 4-6 |
2002 | Atlanta Braves | Jason Marquis | 8-9 |
2002 | New York Yankees | Ted Lilly | 3-6 |
2003 | New York Yankees | Jeff Weaver | 7-9 |
2011 | Philadelphia Phillies | Roy Oswalt | 9-10 |
2014 | Detroit Tigers | Drew Smyly | 6-9 |
COMING SOON: Part II
Try this method… Determine the top five or six starting pitchers on each team since 1969. Use games started as your criteria. Once each “rotation” has been determined, multiply ERA+ by innings pitched for each man. Then sum those totals. Prior to 1969, use four or five pitchers. Each “rotation” should account for between 120 and 162 of their teams starts of course.
Here is an example of the 1977 vs 1978 Los Angeles Dodgers. The 1978 version included the same five guys, plus about half a year’s worth of Bob Welch.
Name……..IP…………..ERA+……..Product
Sutton……240.33…..121…………..29080
John……..220.33…..138…………..30406
Hooton….223.33…..147…………..32830
Rau……..212.33…..112…………….23781
Rhoden….216.33…..103………….22282
Final Total for 1977 Rotation (158 starts)….138389
Final Total for 1978 Rotation (six men, all 162 starts amounted for)….. 133736.5
So here we have a stronger showing by the 1977 rotation, due in part because Rhoden and Sutton had ERAs slightly above he league average in 1978.
Multiply Innings Pitched by ERA+ and you get a mix of quantity and quality that manager look for in a set rotation.
I look forward to seeing your method.