Pitching Wins the World Series
Good Pitching Usually Prevails in October Baseball Games
Pitching wins championships. From Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy, known as Connie Mack, to the modern era of Joe Torre, good pitching will usually stop good hitting.
Pitching wins championships. From the days of Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy, known as Connie Mack, to the modern era of Joe Torre, good pitching will usually stop good hitting. In a best of seven series, teams with two outstanding starters are a formidable opponent. Teams with three excellent starters usually win, even if they have eight starting players who are inferior to the opposition’s eight starters. Enter some modern analysts.
The Team With the HIGHER ERA Has Won Nine of Twelve Championships
Since 1995, a team must win two playoff rounds to win the pennant. In the twelve World Series played, the team with the HIGHER season ERA has won 9 of the 12. Some modern experts conclude that the data prove pitching is overrated. That conclusion is patently wrong, as some analyzing will show.
Analysis of ERA
The designated hitter has made the American League a more offensive league than the National League, increasing the chances that the NL pennant winner will have a lower team ERA than the AL champion. In five of the nine years that the team with the higher ERA won, the difference was less than one half a run a game, and in some instances, it was virtually the same. When the Sox beat the Astros in 2005, their ERA was 3.61 compared to the Astros’ 3.51. No difference, and with a DH, the Astros’ ERA would have been higher.
Team ERA Cannot Be Taken At Face Value
Team ERA is a statistic that cannot be taken at face value. The 2001 Diamondbacks had a 3.87 ERA, but it was that low because of Randy Johnson’s 2.49 in 249 2/3 innings, Curt Schilling’s 2.98 in 256 2/3 innings, and Miguel Batista’s 3.36 in 139 1/3 innings. Byung-Hyun Kim, the closer, had a 2.94 ERA in 98 innings. The rest of staff had a 4.90 ERA, which illustrates how ridiculous it is to use a team’s ERA without dissecting it to reach valid conclusions.
Matching the Braves' Great Pitching
The Atlanta Braves have been cited as proving that winning the World Series is a crapshoot, which is nonsense. Going back to 1991, it took a Herculean performance by Jack Morris, who pitched a ten-inning shut out to beat John Smoltz, 1-0, to win Game 7. When the Yankees beat the Braves in 1996 and 1999, they had David Cone, Andy Pettitte, Orlando Hernandez, Roger Clemens, and Mariano Rivera, who could match the Braves’ Maddux, Smoltz, and Glavine.
Poor Hitting Teams That Won
Offensively challenged teams that have become World Champions thanks to great pitchers include the 1906 White Sox, known as the “hitless wonders.” Granted, they played in the dead ball era, but they are cited because they hit .230, averaged 3.7 runs a game and beat a team that won 116 games. More recent teams include the 1969 Mets, who hit .242, the 1959 Dodgers (.257), the 1963 Dodgers (.251), and the 1965 Dodgers (.245). Think Koufax, Drysdale, Podres, Sherry, and Perranoski were important?
Eighty Two Beats Ninety Nine
The 1973 New York Mets won only 82 games, but they were the only team in the National League's Eastern Division to play better than .500 baseball. The Mets beat the highly favored Reds( 99 regular season wins) in the playoffs, but didn’t beat Oakland in the World Series. The Reds couldn’t match Seaver, Koosman, Matlack and McGraw. With Hunter, Holtzman, Blue and Fingers, the A’s could.
"We'll Get As Far As Our Starting Pitching Takes Us"
Since the two-playoff round started, Joe Torre has won more World Championships than any other manager. The last few seasons, with sluggers such as Rodriguez, Giambi, Soriano, Matsui, and Sheffield, the Yankees have not won the World Series. Why? Joe knows why. Every year, when asked how his team will fare, Joe says, “We’ll get as far as our starting pitching takes us.” End of story.
Reference:
