MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Ernie Broglio - 1960-1964
Bob Gibson - 1960-1964
Larry Jackson - 1960-1962
Lindy McDaniel - 1960-1962
Bob Miller - 1960-1961
Ray Sadecki - 1960-1964
Bobby Shantz - 1962-1964
Curt Simmons - 1960-1964
Ray Washburn - 1961-1964
Ron Taylor - 1963-1964
1963-1966 LOS ANGELES DODGERS
The first thing you may ask is "what happened to 1962?" The answer is that the Dodgers staff in 1962 was just league
average... a 100 ERA+. The team was good that year because of their offense, and Maury Wills' stolen bases. Even in 1963 they won
more because of their offense than their pitching. Despite the fact that this was a great staff, they were overrated by most
people because they fail to understand the severe effects that Dodger Stadium had on run scoring in those days. All those low scoring games
out there had more to do with the ballpark then the pitching. In 1962 the Dodgers pitchers allowed just 289 runs at home, but 408 on the
road, which was the 3rd highest total in a ten team league. In 1963 they allowed 248 runs at home, but 302 on the road. In 1964 they
allowed 259 runs at home but 313 on the road. In 1965 they allowed just 218 runs at home in 81 games, just 2.7 per game. On the road that
year they allowed 303 runs, 3.7 per game. 1966 was 220-270. All those low scoring games on TV in Dodger Stadium created the illusion that
the Dodgers, and more specifically Sandy Koufax, were the greatest pitching machine of all time. In reality the team staff was excellent,
but not up to all time great status. Koufax was an all time great, but not quite at the level where he should be spoken of as
perhaps the best ever as he often is. Yes, Sandy led the league in ERA for five consecutive seasons, but in only two of those seasons did he
lead the league in ERA+. Once everybody's numbers were adjusted for their home parks, it showed that he was not quite as incredible as he
seemed to be. It's sort of the reverse reason as to why Dante Bichette was not really a great hitter. Playing in Coors Field in those days
created all kinds of illusions about the Rockies players. Everything came together for Koufax once the Dodgers moved out of the LA
Coliseum, which was a horrible park for him, and into the new Dodgers Stadium. He was playing in the worst hitting park in the major
leagues, in the lowest run scoring time since the dead ball era and was at his peak on a good team.
That being said, Koufax was still great and capable of pitching a ton
of innings, and as a study has shown he was incredible in close
games. In games where his team only scored one run for him he was 9-9
for his career. Most pitchers would have been about 2-16 in that
scenario. I just don't buy all the talk of him being the best ever
from people who "saw" him. Their eyes fooled them because
they did not comprehend all the circumstances that helped cause
what they "saw."
The rest of the staff was excellent, including Drysdale, Osteen and Podres who formed the rest of the rotation for most of this period.
Brewer, Miller, Perranoski and Regan were all great relievers, and rookie Don Sutton was a great addition for the 1966 season, by far the
best season that this staff had as a unit. Great staff, but not an all time great staff. Their much maligned offense was actually got a bum
rap for the same reason that the staff was thought to be so great. It was just impossible to score many runs in Dodger Stadium.
YEAR ERA+
1963 - 106
1964 - 110
1965 - 116
1966 - 126
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Jim Brewer - 1964-1966
Don Drysdale - 1963-1966
Sandy Koufax - 1963-1966
Bob Miller - 1963-1966
Claude Osteen - 1965-1966
Ron Perranoski - 1963-1966
Johnny Podres - 1963-1966
Howie Reed - 1964-1966
Phil Regan - 1966
Pete Richert - 1963-1964
1963-1968 CHICAGO WHITE SOX
This might be my favorite pitching staff from my early days as a baseball fan. They were just tremendous with Peters, Horlen, John and
Pizarro as the main starters, and great relievers like Locker, McMahon and maybe the best ever, Hoyt Wilhelm. The knuckleball
pitcher had an ERA that was under 2.00 for five straight seasons on this club. They
did finish second with 94 wins in 1963, but generally they had a lot of trouble winning games because of a pathetic offensive lineup.
In 1968 they had as good pitching as anybody in the league but could only win 67 games and finished in 9th place. They scored a league low
463 runs that season. That's 2.85 runs per game. Their team batting average was .228. Pete Ward and Tommy Davis tied for the
team lead with a whopping 50 RBIs apiece, and Ward only hit .216. He was their only batter to reach double figures in HRs, with 15. You get
the idea. If this staff had just had an average offense in these six years they would have won at least a couple of pennants. They were, of
course, part of the great pennant race of 1967 along with the Twins, Tigers and eventual winner Boston. A great staff for sure.
YEAR ERA+
1963 - 118
1964 - 127
1965 - 107
1966 - 118
1967 - 127
1968 - 110
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
John Buzhardt - 1963-1967
Eddie Fisher - 1963-1966
Ray Herbert - 1963-1964
Joel Horlen - 1963-1968
Bruce Howard - 1963-1967
Tommy John - 1965-1968
Bob Locker - 1965-1968
Don McMahon - 1967-1968
Gary Peters - 1963-1968
Juan Pizarro - 1963-1966
Hoyt Wilhelm - 1963-1968
1964-1968 SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
The 1960s Giants were an enigma. They had more hall of fame players than any other club that never won a world series. McCovey, Cepada,
Mays, Marichal, Perry and even Spahn for a season. Other excellent to great players like Bonds, Felipe Alou, Billy Pierce,
Kuenn and McDaniel passed through, but they could only manage one pennant in the decade, and they had to rally in the 9th inning in
game # 165 to get that. My theory is that they were not balanced. They had a few superstar hitters, always
outfielders and first basemen. They had a lot of mediocre infielders. Other than Mays, Bonds and Hal Lanier they
usually put some really bad defense out there, especially in the infield. Tito Fuentes, Jim Ray Hart, Ron Hunt, Jim Davenport,
Cepada, McCovey and Jose Pagan were all below average fielders according to Bill James' win shares ratings. Chuck Hiller was
especially pathetic defensively as the second baseman from '62 to '64. Not one of them rated above a C. Felipe Alou was a C+ outfielder. Kuenn was a C- outfielder. It was really a disaster when they
played Cepada, McCovey or Hart in the outfield. Their only real good fielding infielder in this era was Hal Lanier, who got an A-
at shortstop. Something was just not in synch with this team. They were getting beaten out for pennants by a team like the Cardinals that
had tremendous fielders in this era. The staff was very good for these six years, though. Marichal and Perry were great. Sadecki and
Shaw were very good, Bolin solid, and McCormick took home their only hardware during these years, winning the 1967 Cy Young award. The
bullpen was very solid with Gibbon, Herbel, Linzy and McDaniel. With better fielding they would have put up some more
impressive ERA+ numbers. They finished in second place in every season from 1965 through 1969. I really think their front office did not do a good job of putting talent together. They should have been better.
YEAR ERA+
1964 - 112
1965 - 112
1966 - 113
1967 - 113
1968 - 109
1969 - 108
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Bobby Bolin - 1964-1969
Joe Gibbon - 1966-1969
Ron Herbel - 1964-1969
Frank Linzy - 1965-1969
Juan Marichal - 1964-1969
Mike McCormick - 1967-1969
Lindy McDaniel - 1966-1968
Gaylord Perry - 1964-1969
Ray Sadecki - 1966-1969
Bob Shaw - 1964-1966
1965-1970 MINNESOTA TWINS
Very good staff for quite a while, they led the team to a pennant in 1965 and to two divisional titles later on. Kaat and Perry were the
mainstays of the rotation, but Grant and Chance were each great for a time too. Merritt and Pacual were very good, and they had a bunch of
good relievers during this span, including Tom "The Blade" Hall, who threw very hard back then. Would like to have seen Billy
Martin break Boswell's jaw.
YEAR ERA+
1965 - 113
1966 - 115
1967 - 110
1968 - 107
1969 - 113
1970 - 115
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Dave Boswell - 1965-1970
Dean Chance - 1967-1969
Mudcat Grant - 1965-1967
Tom Hall - 1969-1970
Jim Kaat - 1965-1970
Johnny Klippstein - 1965-1966
Jim Merritt - 1965-1968
Bob Miller - 1968-1969
Camilo Pascual - 1965-1966
Ron Perranoski - 1968-1970
Jim Perry - 1965-1970
Jim Roland - 1967-1969
Dick Woodson - 1969-1970
Al Worthington - 1965-1969
1966-1969 ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
After just one year off, the Cardinals had rebuilt a new great
staff with the only two holdovers from the 1960-1964 staff being Gibson and Washburn. Gibson was by then one of the best
pitchers baseball had ever seen. Add in Briles as an excellent # 2 starter, with Hughes and Jaster each having a big year in the mix, and
they had a bona fide solid rotation which was bolstered even further when the young Steve Carlton became a regular in 1967. Hoerner was an
awesome reliever in all four of these seasons, and Willis was also very good. The staff really was tremendous by 1969 when Carlton posted
a 2.17 ERA in 236 innings to go along with Gibson's 2.18 ERA in 314 innings. They won back to back pennants in '67 and '68, beating Boston
in '67 for the title. One of the most memorable world series games for me was game one of 1968 when Gibson struck out 17 Tigers.
YEAR ERA+
1966 - 115
1967 - 108
1968 - 116
1969 - 121
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Nelson Briles - 1966-1969
Steve Carlton - 1966-1969
Bob Gibson - 1966-1969
Joe Hoerner - 1966-1969
Dick Hughes - 1966-1968
Al Jackson - 1966-1967
Larry Jaster - 1966-1968
Mike Torrez - 1967-1969
Ray Washburn - 1966-1969
Ron Willis - 1966-1969
It is doubtful that many people took note of the great pitching stats put up
by the 1968 Mets during their 9th place campaign that season. A team ERA of 2.72 with over 1,000 strikeouts and also a league low .230
batting average allowed should have told somebody something. The Mets were actually good at something for the first time in their sorry
existence. They of course got noticed a lot more in 1969 when they won the world series. A great staff made up mainly of younger pitchers
came together very quickly as Seaver and Koosman arrived in 1967, and Gentry in 1969. Add in young flamethrower Nolan Ryan along with great
relievers Ron Taylor and Tug McGraw,a few other real solid hurlers and the Amazin's had themselves a championship caliber
pitching staff almost overnight.
1969 - 122
1970 - 117
1971 - 114
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Don Cardwell - 1968-1970
Danny Frisella - 1968-1971
Gary Gentry - 1969-1971
Cal Koonce - 1968-1970
Jerry Koosman - 1968-1971
Jim McAndrew - 1968-1971
Tug McGraw - 1969-1971
Nolan Ryan - 1968-1971
Ray Sadecki - 1970-1971
Tom Seaver - 1968-1971
Ron Taylor - 1968-1971
1968-1973 BALTIMORE ORIOLES
This staff absolutely dominated AL hitters in these years, as the team
won three straight pennants, one world series and one other division title during this span. Hall of fame pitcher Jim Palmer teamed with big stars
McNally and Cuellar to give them three of the top starters in baseball. In 1971 Pat Dobson joined and the Orioles had four different
pitchers each win 20 games that season, only the second time (1920
White Sox) that has ever been done. Watt, Richert, Reynolds, Jackson and Leonhard were all sensational out of the bullpen, and the other guys
listed all had very good stints there too. Earl Weaver's formula of pitching, defense and three run homers worked great in 1969, 1970,
1971 and 1973, but did not do so well in '68 and '72, as offensive levels were really down then and he is still waiting for those three run homers that never came.
1969 - 126
1970 - 116
1971 - 112
1972 - 121
1973 - 122
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Doyle Alexander - 1972-1973
Mike Cuellar - 1969-1973
Pat Dobson - 1971-1972
Dick Hall - 1969-1971
Jim Hardin - 1969-1971
Grant Jackson - 1971-1973
Dave Leonhard - 1968-1972
Dave McNally - 1968-1973
Jim Palmer - 1969-1973
Tom Phoebus - 1968-1970
Bob Reynolds - 1972-1973
Pete Richert - 1968-1971
Eddie Watt - 1968-1973
The Cubs had a nice staff at this time, led by hall of famer
Fergie Jenkins. Hands, Holtzman, Pappas, Hooton and Reuschel were all star pitchers at various times in their careers. Aker, Decker and
Regan were all excellent relievers for the Cubs and they even got great single seasons during this run from people like Ted
Abernathy, Ray Burris and Bob Locker. A bittersweet time for Cubs fans
for sure, with the collapse of 1969 and no pennants to show despite a strong pitching staff, their first good multiyear staff in over 50 years.
1969 - 120
1970 - 120
1971 - 109
1972 - 118
1973 - 108
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Jack Aker - 1972-1973
Bill Bonham - 1971-1973
Joe Decker - 1969-1972
Bill Hands - 1969-1972
Ken Holtzman - 1969-1971
Burt Hooton - 1971-1973
Ferguson Jenkins - 1969-1973
Milt Pappas - 1970-1973
Juan Pizarro - 1970-1973
Phil Regan - 1969-1972
Rick Reuschel - 1972-1973
1971-1975 OAKLAND ATHLETICS
Never truly great but always great when the really had to be, this was never a dominant staff or a dominant overall team. They
just won the big games when they had to, as the only other team aside from a few Yankee teams that was able to win three consecutive
world series championships. Notice the ERA+ marks.....between 108 and 112 every year. Nothing sensational but consistently about 10%
better than league average. Vida Blue became an overnight sensation with his spectacular 1971 MVP season. Hunter, Holtzman and Odom
filled out the rotation and they had a abundance of strong relievers led by hall of famer Rollie Fingers. Hall of fame manager Dick
Williams (left after 1973) was not shy about using them either, as Darold Knowles pitched in all 7 games of the 1973 world series
without ever giving up an earned run.
1972 - 110
1973 - 108
1974 - 112
1975 - 111
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Glenn Abbott - 1973-1975
Vida Blue - 1971-1975
Rollie Fingers - 1971-1975
Dave Hamilton - 1972-1975
Ken Holtzman - 1972-1975
Catfish Hunter - 1971-1975
Darold Knowles - 1971-1974
Paul Lindblad - 1971, 1973-1975
Bob Locker - 1971-1972
Blue Moon Odom - 1971-1975
1972-1978 LOS ANGELES DODGERS
This was a tremendous and super consistent staff with an ERA+ between 112 and 120 for SEVEN consecutive seasons. Every pitcher
listed below was a high quality major leaguer for much of his career. Sutton was a hall of famer. Messersmith was brilliant in a
short career, throwing 27 shutouts. John, Hooton, Downing, Osteen and Rhoden were all big time starters. Brewer, Marshall, Richert, Hough
and Sosa were all very good relievers while here, with Marshall having an all time great year in his Cy Young season of 1974. The 1978 club
really had a great bullpen with the additions of Terry Forster and sensational rookie Bob Welch, who spent time in the pen in
between thirteen starts that year. They won three pennants during this time but could not finish the job in the world series. Lowlights were
Downing allowing Hank Aaron's record 715th HR in 1974, and then in 1977 when Hooton, Sosa and Hough all allowed home runs to Reggie
Jackson in the same clinching world series game. Audio tape of LaSorda removing Doug Rau from the game during game 4 of the 1977 world series
is a classic.
Hear the recording
1972 - 120
1973 - 115
1974 - 114
1975 - 116
1976 - 112
1977 - 119
1978 - 112
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Jim Brewer - 1972-1975
Al Downing - 1972-1977
Burt Hooton - 1975-1978
Charlie Hough - 1972-1978
Tommy John - 1972-1974, 1976-1978
Mike Marshall - 1974-1976
Andy Messersmith - 1973-1975
Claude Osteen - 1972-1973
Doug Rau - 1972-1978
Rick Rhoden - 1974-1978
Elias Sosa - 1976-1977
Don Sutton - 1972-1978
1975-1978 KANSAS CITY ROYALS
This solid staff was never really great but good enough to help them win three straight division titles, although they lost to the Yankees each
time in the ALCS. The 1977 series was especially heartbreaking as they blew a two games to one lead and then blew a one run lead in the 9th
inning of game five when their ace Dennis Leonard came in to start the inning. Mickey Rivers had the big hit and Willie Randolph gave the
Yankees a lead with a deep sacrifice fly to center field. All this occurred after they lost the 1976 series when Littell surrendered a walk off HR to Chris
Chambliss in the final game. Littell had only allowed one HR that year in over 100 innings. Leonard, Spilttorff, Pattin, Hassler and
Fitzmorris formed a solid rotation with Gura joining in by 1978. Busby was good early on. Bird, Littell and especially Mingori were all
excellent out of the pen. An off year in 1979, but they regrouped in 1980 and finally beat the Yankees in the playoffs. Swept them in fact,
the big blow a three run upper deck HR by Brett against Goose Gossage in game three at Yankee Stadium.
1975 - 111
1976 - 109
1977 - 115
1978 - 111
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Doug Bird - 1975-1978
Steve Busby - 1975-1978
Al Fitzmorris - 1975-1976
Larry Gura - 1976-1978
Andy Hassler - 1976-1978
Dennis Leonard - 1975-1978
Mark Littell - 1975-1978
Steve Mingori - 1975-1978
Marty Pattin - 1975-1978
Paul Splittorff - 1975-1978
1983-1985 LOS ANGELES DODGERS
A strong staff led by Valenzuela, Hershiser, Welch and Reuss helped
Tommy LaSorda win two division titles in these three seasons. Unfortunately, the single most memorable moment of the three seasons
was Tommy letting Niedenfeur pitch to Jack Clark with first base open in game 6 of the 1985 NLCS. Bullpen was up and down. Howe couldn't
stay off of drugs and Pena, Niedenfeur and Howell all had trouble at times in big games. LaSorda made up for it in 1988 when he pushed a
pretty weak playoff team (only +88 run differential) to the world championship behind Bulldog Hershiser and Kirk Gibson.
YEAR ERA+
1983 - 116
1984 - 111
1985 - 117
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Carlos Diaz - 1984-1985
Orel Hershiser - 1983-1985
Ken Howell - 1983-1985
Rick Honeycutt - 1983-1985
Burt Hooton - 1983-1984
Steve Howe - 1983-1984
Tom Niedenfeur - 1983-1985
Alejandro Pena - 1983-1985
Jerry Reuss - 1983-1985
Fernando Valenzuela - 1983-1985
Bob Welch - 1983-1985
Pat Zachry - 1983-1984
1985-1987 KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Better than their earlier great staff, and this time they got a world
championship to show for it. It is particularly interesting that in a seven game world series that year they only used 6 pitchers. You'll never see that again. The
rotation featured the same five starters for all three of these seasons, with Quisenberry as a great closer. Saberhagen eventually emerged as
the ace of the staff, but otherwise the five starters were incredibly balanced. Hard to say who was the # 2, # 3, # 4 and # 5
starter. Steve Balboni had 36 homeruns in 1985 for the world championship team.
YEAR ERA+
1985 - 119
1986 - 111
1987 - 118
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Joe Beckwith - 1984-1985
Bud Black - 1985-1987
Steve Farr - 1985-1987
Mark Gubicza - 1985-1987
Danny Jackson - 1985-1987
Charlie Leibrandt - 1985-1987
Dan Quisenberry - 1985-1987
Bret Saberhagen - 1985-1987
Stewart, Welch, Davis, Young and Moore formed an excellent rotation
during this time. Scott Sanderson replaced Davis in 1990. They also had one of the greatest regular season relief pitchers of all time
right in his awesome prime for these three years. How about an ERA+ for Eckersley of 605 in 73 innings in 1990? Remember that
season....four walks all year, and I think he did not allow an earned run
on the road. Honeycutt was also tremendous out of the pen in all three of these seasons. Interesting parallel here with another great team
from almost exactly twenty years prior to this, the 1969-1971 Orioles.
Both teams had a hall of fame manager. Both teams dominated the league in the regular season and in the league championship series in each of
the three years. And both teams were upset in five games in the first of the three world series by a seemingly much weaker team that
was a huge underdog in the series. Both teams then won their second world series, the middle one, easily. They both lost the last of
three world series to an underdog. Both teams are regarded as underachievers by historians for not winning more than one world
series during their run.
1988 - 110
1989 - 119
1990 - 117
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Todd Burns - 1988-1990
Greg Cadaret - 1988-1989
Storm Davis - 1988-1989
Dennis Eckersley - 1988-1990
Rick Honeycutt - 1988-1990
Mike Moore - 1989-1990
Gene Nelson - 1988-1990
Eric Plunk - 1988-1989
Dave Stewart - 1988-1990
Bob Welch - 1988-1990
Curt Young - 1988-1990
This legendary pitching staff featured three future hall of fame pitchers. Each won at least one Cy Young award during this run together, with two of
the three (Glavine, Maddux) winning multiple Cy Young awards, and the other one (Smoltz) saving an NL record 55 games in 2002 when the team
needed a closer. Avery, Neagle and Millwood were all great for a time as the 4th starter. The bullpen was hit and miss at times although several
relievers (Wohlers, Stanton, Rocker, Mercker, etc.) were spectacular in some years. They went to five world series in this time period, only winning only one of them (1995), but establishing a multiyear standard for great team
pitching that is not likely to ever be seen again. Has to be the greatest sustained run ever for one pitching staff.
YEAR ERA+
1991 - 111
1992 - 116
1993 - 128
1994 - 119
1995 - 124
1996 - 125
1997 - 132
1998 - 128
1999 - 124
2000 - 113
2001 - 123
2002 - 133
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Steve Avery - 1991-1996
Tom Glavine - 1991-2002
Kerry Ligtenberg - 1997-2002
Greg Maddux - 1993-2002
Greg McMichael - 1993-1996
Kent Mercker - 1991-1995
Kevin Millwood - 1997-2002
Denny Neagle - 1996-1998
Mike Remlinger - 1999-2002
John Rocker - 1998-2001
John Smoltz - 1991-2002
Mike Stanton - 1991-1995
Mark Wohlers - 1991-1999
This was the first great staff where the relievers were more
responsible for their success than the starters. A young Pedro Martinez came along and pitched some for the '94 club, but otherwise
they have one good long career starter in "El Presidente" (Dennis Martinez) and a good short career starter in Hill, but
nothing else very impressive in the rotation. The team's real pitching strength was in its deep and excellent bullpen that
reflected the way that baseball was starting to be played at this time, a battle of middle relievers to get to the closer.
Fassero and Rojas were sensational in that role, with Wetteland as an awesome closer. It's no accident that these were the only three
years that Wetteland was on the team. Other strong relievers here included Barnes, Henry, Heredia, Shaw and Scott. From this point on
in modern baseball most great staffs will only be that way if they have several excellent relievers.
YEAR ERA+
1992 - 107
1993 - 118
1994 - 119
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Brian Barnes - 1992-1993
Jeff Fassero - 1992-1994
Butch Henry - 1993-1994
Gil Heredia - 1992-1994
Ken Hill - 1992-1994
Dennis Martinez - 1992-1993
Chris Nabholz - 1992-1993
Mel Rojas - 1992-1994
Kirk Rueter - 1993-1994
Tim Scott - 1993-1994
Jeff Shaw - 1993-1994
John Wetteland - 1992-1994
1993-1996 KANSAS CITY ROYALS
This staff's ERA was well over 4.00 for these four seasons, but at this time in baseball history they were still well above
average, as it was right in the middle of the steroids era when a ton of runs were being scored. Appier was the ace, although
when Cone was there they had two aces. Gordon was good as mainly a starter. Montgomery was a great closer and
Pichardo was very good in middle relief. Gubicza was still pretty good as the lone holdover from their last great staff.
YEAR ERA+
1993 - 113
1994 - 118
1995 - 107
1996 - 110
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Kevin Appier - 1993-1996
David Cone - 1993-1994
Tom Gordon - 1993-1995
Mark Gubicza - 1993-1996
Chris Haney - 1993-1996
Mike Magnante - 1993-1996
Rusty Meacham - 1993-1995
Jeff Montgomery - 1993-1996
Hipolito Pichardo - 1993-1996
1994-1996 CLEVELAND INDIANS
Nagy was their top starter with Hershiser, Martinez andOgea all pitching well in the rotation. The real
stud on this staff was middle reliever Eric Plunk, whowas just outstanding in all three of these seasons. He
was 16-6 in over 200 innings during theseyears, with an ERA+ over 175 in all three seasons. The
1995 team had legendary numbers, going 100-44 and leading the league in most runs scored (840) and fewest
runs allowed (607). They couldn't finish the job that year though, bowing to the Braves in six games in the series.
Albert Belle got absolutely screwed out of the MVP
that year. I guess maybe because they won the division by thirty games that our sportswriter friends who voted
for the award figured that they would have still won without him....at least that what they would say. We all know the real reason.
YEAR ERA+
1994 - 108
1995 - 122
1996 - 113
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Mark Clark - 1994-1995
Jason Grimsley - 1994-1996
Orel Hershiser - 1995-1996
Dennis Martinez - 1994-1996
Jose Mesa - 1994-1996
harles Nagy - 1994-1996
Chad Ogea - 1994-1996
Eric Plunk - 1994-1996
Jim Poole - 1995-1996
Julian Tavarez - 1994-1996
1997-1999 NEW YORK YANKEES
Surprisingly, the Yankees pitching was not anything spectacular in either 1996 or 2000, two of the years
that they won the world series. These three years are when the pitching was it its best for Joe Torre's
Yankees. Cone, Wells and Pettitte were the big three starters, with Clemens replacing Wells in 1999. El Duque
was very good and even Irabu was good in their phenomenal 114 win season in 1998. Mendoza was a
tremendous swing man, and Stanton, Nelson and even Lloyd
did great jobs out of the pen. Then there's Rivera, the greatest closer the game has ever seen. An excellent
overall staff that did a ton of winning in these seasons.
YEAR ERA+
1997 - 112
1998 - 114
1999 - 114
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
David Cone - 1997-1999
Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez - 1998-1999
Hideki Irabu - 1997-1999
Graeme Lloyd - 1997-1998
Ramiro Mendoza - 1997-1999
Jeff Nelson - 1997-1999
Andy Pettitte - 1997-1999
Mariano Rivera - 1997-1999
Mike Stanton - 1997-1999
David Wells - 1997-1998
1998-2002 BOSTON RED SOX
The fact that there are no less than 16 pitchers listed below on a staff that was very good for a five year period is illustrative of what modern baseball
has become. With the accent nowadays on middle relievers, setup men and closers, pitching staffs
are now larger than ever before. Combine the way the game is played with free agency and the other business
aspects that have players changing teams constantly and you see why there were so many different
pitchers here in a five year period. Most teams will carry 12 pitchers on their roster nowadays. It wasn't that
long ago that some teams carried only 9 pitchers on their roster and most teams carried 10. Thirty
years ago it was very rare to see a team carry 11
pitchers. Now 11 pitchers is the absolute minimum. There were several other pitchers who were on this staff for a couple of years but who
didn't get listed below, like Urbina who came over last in 2001 and was the closer in 2002. Pedro was of
course the superstar of this staff, but Derek Lowe was also excellent as the closer and also as a starter.
Most everybody else listed was a role player to some degree. Unfortunately this team was stuck in the same
division as the Yankees, who won the AL pennant in thefirst four seasons in this staff's run.
YEAR ERA+
1998 - 113
1999 - 124
2000 - 119
2001 - 108
2002 - 120
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Rolando Arrojo - 2000-2002
Rod Beck - 1999-2001
Frank Castillo - 2001-2002
Rheal Cormier - 1999-2000
Bryce Florie - 1999-2001
Casey Fossum - 2001-2002
Rich Garces - 1998-2002
Tom Gordon - 1998-1999
Derek Lowe - 1998-2002
Pedro Martinez - 1998-2002
Tomo Ohka - 1999-2001
Hipolito Pichardo - 2000-2001
Pat Rapp - 1999-2000
Brian Rose - 1998-2000
Bret Saberhagen - 1998-2001
Pete Schourek - 1998, 2000-2001
Tim Wakefield - 1998-2002
John Wasdin - 1998-2000
1999-2003 ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Johnson and Schilling formed a 1-2 punch that peaked with their co-MVP awards in the 2001 world series. The following season they each struck out over 300 batters.
Batista was a solid # 3 starter once he took hold. The bullpen was never great. Closers Mantei and Kim were up
and down. Swindell was very good. This was a throwback staff that relied heavily on their top two starters in the
tradition of Koufax/Drysdale, Marichal/Perry and McLain/Lolich. The bullpen was spotty and the rest of the rotation
changed often and was nothing special. The top two guys were so good though that it made this an excellent
overall staff. 2003 newcomer Brandon Webb wasto become a superstar later on.
YEAR ERA+
1999 - 121
2000 - 108
2001 - 118
2002 - 113
2003 - 121
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Brian Anderson - 1999-2002
Miguel Batista - 2001-2003
Randy Johnson - 1999-2003
Byung-Hyun Kim - 1999-2003
Mike Koplove - 2001-2003
Mike Mantei - 1999-2003
Armando Reynoso - 1999-2002
Curt Schilling - 2000-2003
Todd Stottlemyre - 1999-2001
Greg Swindell - 1999-2002
2001-2003 NEW YORK YANKEES
The Yankees re-tooled with six members of their late 1990s staff and the additions here of two hall of
fame level pitchers, Clemens and Mussina, along with Jeff Weaver and Ted Lilly. Not quite as good
as the earlier staff overall, but good enough tohelp them win two pennants in the three seasons
listed here. Wells had left and then came back,and "El Duque" had his usual regular
season injuries every year before miraculouslygetting healthy for the post season.
YEAR ERA+
2001 - 112
2002 - 113
2003 - 109
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Roger Clemens - 2001-2003
Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez - 2001-2002
Ted Lilly - 2001-2002
Ramiro Mendoza - 2001-2002
Mike Mussina - 2001-2003
Andy Pettitte - 2001-2003
Mariano Rivera - 2001-2003
Mike Stanton - 2001-2002
Jeff Weaver - 2002-2003
David Wells - 2002-2003
For the first four seasons here this staff was like the "Mini-Braves" with their big
three of Hudson, Mulder and Zito. They received great middle relief from Bradford, Duchscherer, Mecir and Rincon but they changed closers in each
of these seasons until Huston Street's huge year in 2005. Of course once the three starterswere able to leave they were gone to other teams
for the big money that Beane could not give them in Oakland, but for 2001-2003 they hadan especially great staff.
YEAR ERA+
2001 - 123
2002 - 119
2003 - 124
2004 - 109
2005 - 118
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Joe Blanton - 2004-2005
Chad Bradford - 2001-2004
Justin Duchscherer - 2003-2005
Rich Harden - 2003-2005
Tim Hudson - 2001-2004
Cory Lidle - 2001-2002
Jim Mecir - 2001-2004
Mark Mulder - 2001-2004
Ricardo Rincon - 2002-2005
Jeff Tam - 2001-2002
Barry Zito - 2001-2005
2004-2006 MINNESOTA TWINS
I hope Ron Gardenhire gets this team to a world
series one of these days. He's been an excellent manager for a while now with a lot of post season appearances, but they just can't get on a roll in October. He's still got them in contention even though he's lost his best pitcher and his all
star center fielder recently. Eight of the eleven pitchers listed here were on the staff for all three
seasons. Santana of course was brilliant, but Radke and Silva were good too, and Liriano was awesome in 2006. Romero, Rincon and Crain were all
tremendous in the bullpen, and their closer JoeNathan was fabulous in all three of these seasons.
YEAR ERA+
2004 - 117
2005 - 119
2006 - 113
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Scott Baker - 2005-2006
Jesse Crain - 2004-2006
Francisco Liriano - 2005-2006
Kyle Lohse - 2004-2006
Terry Mulholland - 2004-2005
Joe Nathan - 2004-2006
Brad Radke - 2004-2006
Juan Rincon - 2004-2006
J.C. Romero - 2004-2005
Johan Santana - 2004-2006
Carlos Silva - 2004-2006
2005-2008 LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHEIM
The only current staff that's been very good for each of the past three seasons, led by their ace
John Lackey who has come into his own during this run, and of course their terrific
closer Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez, who left for the NY Mets. K-Rod averaged 48.5 saves during these four years, capped
off by his record breaking 62 save season in 2008.
His career ERA+ is 189. Shields has been awesome in middle relief. Escobar has been very good in
the rotation, Santana okay and Weaver okay too after a sensational debut in 2006. Darren Oliver
has pitched the best baseball of his career in 2007 and 2008. Probably the best team in
baseball in 2008, but another disappointing post season as they just can't get past the Red Sox in a playoff series.
YEAR ERA+
2005 - 115
2006 - 113
2007 - 108
2008 - 111
MAIN MEMBERS OF THE STAFF
Hector Carrasco - 2006-2007
Bartolo Colon - 2005-2007
Brendan Donnelly - 2005-2006
Kelvim Escobar - 2005-2007
Kevin Gregg - 2005-2006
John Lackey - 2005-2008
Darren Oliver - 2007-2008
Francisco Rodriguez - 2005-2008
Ervin Santana - 2005-2008
Joe Saunders - 2005-2008
Scot Shields - 2005-2008
Justin Speier - 2007-2008
Jered Weaver - 2006-2008
Cy Young Award Winners / All-Time Career Leaders
1Calculations are done to determine the effect that each park has on run scoring. Some parks
(Astrodome, Dodger Stadium) severely deter run scoring. Other parks (Coors
Field, Fenway) boost run scoring. Park adjustments equalize the stats of players so that they are not distorted because of their home park.
The way this is done is to look at a team's runs scored and runs allowed at home and on the road for each season.
2OPS is On base percentage Plus Slugging percentage, a measure of a player'soverall effectiveness as a hitter. It is on base percentage plus slugging
percentage, which is the best simple predictor of how many runs a team will
score in a season, so it also gives us a good idea of how many runs an
individual player will create in a given number of at bats. OPS+ is OPS after it
is adjusted for the player's home park and league averages. They are added
together and then adjusted for league averages and home park, then converted so
that 100 is average. If the league average park adjusted OPS is 680 and a
player's park adjusted OPS is 687 it would be 686 divided by 680 which wouldgive you his OPS+ of 101. The basic formula is:
OPS = OBP + SLG
where OBP is on-base percentage, and SLG is slugging percentage.
These percentages are defined
SLG = TB/AB and OBP = H + BB + HBP / AB + BB + SF +
HBP where
H = Hits, BB = Bases on balls, HBP = Times hit by pitch, AB = At bats, SF = Sacrifice flies, TB = Total
bases
Since OBP and SLG have different denominators, it is possible to rewrite the
expression for OPS using a common denominator. This expression is mathematicallyidentical to the simple sum of OBP and SLG:
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