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Baseball - Your Top-5 Starting Rotation w/ One Closer and Three Honorable Mentions

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Comments

  • kelly_bkelly_b Posts: 1,464 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
    edited February 2019

    Agree w/ everyone about Paige. Great call @DGDinNYC. Also happy to see the inclusion of Spahn and Haddix slipped right by me. Kudos. I'd considered Eck as well but I think it was - for me - Rivera, wow. He threw such a HEAVY ball. Wonder who has broken more bats than anyone else? @Bankwalker - If Doc hadn't have had his addiction problems he would have been very high because for those few years, that kid was unhittable. So sad about him and Straw. I guess you guys have seen that documentary about them meeting...seems like Gooden is still struggling but Straw has started an outreach program. @christopherules - thx, but I gotta say, any of these choices are almost automatically interchangeable.

  • AnotherDawgAnotherDawg Posts: 6,761 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    That documentary is good but also hard to watch, given how much Doc is still struggling. We may be reading his obituary some day soon.

    Over time he'll be nothing but a footnote in baseball history, but for one brief shining moment, he was the best I ever saw.

  • kelly_bkelly_b Posts: 1,464 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
  • volatilisvolatilis Posts: 3,239 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Maddux

    Pedro

    Cy

    Johnson

    Jim Palmer

    closer: By the numbers? Hands down, Mariano. Trevor Hoffman an easy 2nd.

    Great topic. Too bad it can't speed up Aug 31!!!

  • WCDawgWCDawg Posts: 17,293 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Starters

    Greg Maddux

    Tom Seaver

    Christy Matthewson

    Lefty Grove

    Sandy Kofax

    Bench

    Randy Johnson

    Warren Spahn

    Jim Palmer

    Closer

    Mariano Rivera



  • WCDawgWCDawg Posts: 17,293 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
    edited February 2019

    Also my opening day starter would be Lefty Grove.

    I once did research with every 300 game winner to see which had the biggest percentage difference between their career ERA and their contemporaries in the league and years they pitched, Grove came out #1. He also has the best winning percentage among all 300 game winners.

  • WCDawgWCDawg Posts: 17,293 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    A fun bit of trivia. Phil Niekro pitched the only shutout for a 300th win since 1891.

  • KaseyKasey Posts: 28,881 mod

    Ok I like this topic, but I'm only going with guys I saw play in the modern era. And I'm not going to pick Greg Maddux. He was great for sure, but I always felt like Glavine and Smoltz had an extra gear in the postseason Maddux never seemed to have.

    1. Pedro Martinez (98-02)
    2. Madison Bumgarner (12-15)
    3. John Smoltz (91-95)
    4. Dave Stewart (88-93)
    5. Jack Morris (88-92)

    Closer: There is only one...Mariano Rivera. He is the only closer, everyone else just saves games.

  • dawghousedawghouse Posts: 720 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    A bit off topic but if you had one pitcher to pick and you only need to base it on one of that pitcher's seasons (not career) who would it be? I'm not jumping to mlb.com to review stats because I know who was the most dominant I ever saw in my lifetime -- a young Doc Gooden. He was simply untouchable with an electric fastball that had a ton of movement, and then he would make your knees buckle with a big looping curve that he threw consistently for strikes.

    Best pitcher over a career that I saw in my lifetime? Hands down Mad Dog.

  • kelly_bkelly_b Posts: 1,464 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
    edited February 2019

    @WCDawg - Love that stat about Niekro. And for whatever reason (BOARD STUFF) the spoiler alert didn't work on my end.

    @Kasey - Is Bumgarner still active? Or did he retire and I missed it? Don't worry. I ain't getting uptight. :)

    @dawghouse - Extremely tough call and Doc is right up there. One game based on one season...I considered Smoltz' '96 season, plus his post-season success is undeniable, but that spans his career. I'm going to stick with Gibson.

    One other thing: RIP Frank Robinson - a true gamer and yet another who'll be missed. Just to remember him by the numbers: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/robinfr02.shtml

    But he was more than just a great HOF player. He carried the mantle for Robinson (his first year was Jackie's final) with grace and dignity, and honesty. He has his point of view and whether you agree w/ it or not, he demanded respect both for his on-field performance and his life.

  • TMazz2009TMazz2009 Posts: 1,085 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    MadBum of '14 gets my nod if I had to have one game to win a series on short days notice. Dude had the best postseason run in history that year. He was literally unhittable after throwing 300 pitches in 4 days.

  • TMazz2009TMazz2009 Posts: 1,085 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
    edited February 2019

    Hard to judge Doc. Blow may have been his hidden secret like steroids were for Bonds.

    Some powerlifters and bodybuilders used blow in the 1960s and 70s as a preworkout.

  • AnotherDawgAnotherDawg Posts: 6,761 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    @kelly_b I'll join you in honoring/remembering Frank Robinson. One minor quibble though. Lots of people demand respect, whether they deserve it or not. In Robinson's case, the word is command.

  • BigcalidawgBigcalidawg Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    I’ll stick to my lifetime.

    Rotation:

    Maddux, Steve Carlton, Pedro Martinez, Clayton Kershaw, and Roger Clemens

    Long Relief: Dennis Eckersley

    Closers: Mariano Rivera and Kimbrel

  • WCDawgWCDawg Posts: 17,293 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
    edited February 2019

    Another bit of interesting trivia. Warren Spahn has the most complete games pitched post WWII with 382. Greg Maddux has 109. The most by an active pitcher is just 38 by CC Sabathia.

    That gets to the most radical change to the game in the past 100 years.

    Also, give me Rollie Fingers for long relief. He could as easily pitch 6 innings as a 1 inning save.

  • KaseyKasey Posts: 28,881 mod

    Yea I missed that part when I originally wrote it. I figured since I specified their specific time frame I'd get a pass ;)

  • volatilisvolatilis Posts: 3,239 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    One season - I'd go with Ron Guidry, 1978. 25-3, 1.74 ERA, 16 complete games, 9 shutouts. Louisiana lightning was pretty good that year.

  • dawghousedawghouse Posts: 720 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Smoltz and Gibson are both good options, would never argue against either.

    I was a little on the younger side during Gibson's dominant seasons. Back then (pre-cable days) I never saw him on TV since I grew up watching the local American League team. But used to devour every story I could about him back in those days as I lived for baseball in those years. Fearsome pitcher.

    Will come clean and admit that while I am in awe of his talent and achievements, I'm not a big fan of Smoltz. But I would not argue at all that he should be on the short list.

  • dawghousedawghouse Posts: 720 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    What a great season that was, and Guidry was so small and thin he had to jump around in the shower just to get wet. But man did he bring it. If memory serves me correctly -- Guidry's '78 season is widely credited with starting the tradition of fans standing and cheering when a pitcher gets two strikes on a hitter.

  • AnotherDawgAnotherDawg Posts: 6,761 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    @dawghouse Just out of curiosity, why are you not a fan of Smoltz?

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