Once upon a time wins and losses meant more, when starters were routinely pitching complete games or close to it.
Though there were still the distortions caused by run support.
I got into baseball statistics early, and in 1968, when I was 12, I was fascinated by the records of McLain and Gibson.
McLain 31-6 1.96 ERA
Gibson 22-9 1.12 ERA
This was my introduction to the concept that pitchers with good hitting teams behind them have better records.
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
In 1968 Yaz was the only hitter in the AL to hit .300, at .301. Number Two was, you guessed it, Danny Cater at .290.
Yaz was at .269 on August 13, before hitting .372 in his last 44 games.
I remember thinking it was a disappointing year for him nonetheless, after his Triple Crown year. Looking at it now, his OPS of .922 and OPS+ of 171 were not too shabby.
Leading the NL in hitting in 1968 was Pete Rose at .335.
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
That 171 OPS+ was the 3rd best in his career.
193 1967
177 1970
171 1968
156 1965
(All led the league)
The next were 148 in '63 and 139 and 140 in '73 and '74.
Some perspective:
Top Ortiz OPS+ (Never led league in OPS+)
173 in 2012
171 in '07
Manny (never led league in OPS+ w BOS)
186 w CLE in '00
184 w BOS '02
174 w CLE '99 (only year he led the league in this category)
166 in '08 w 2 teams
(He had 12 seasons over 150 and 16 over 144!
Last edited by moonslav59; 06-16-2023 at 04:32 PM.
Sox 4 Ever
One interesting about that 1968 season is this...
1.12 ERA by Gibson was a 258 ERA+
Pedro:
1.74 ERA in 2000 was a 291 ERA+
(He led the league 5 times in ERA+ and had 7 straight seasons over 163 (6 of 7 over 188 and 5 of 7 over 202)
Different eras.
Gibson led in ERA+ twice in his career and was only over a 164 ERA+ that one season. Pedro did it 7 straight seasons!
Sox 4 Ever
Pedro's 1997-2000 is probably the best I'll ever see a pitcher do it. And that is fully acknowledging Clemens' ridiculous output (insert PED opinion here), The Big Unit, and Maddux's elegant brilliance.
Like Pedro's 1.74 ERA led the majors by almost a full run. Kevin Brown was 2nd at 2.58. In the American League, Pedro was almost 2 full runs clear of 2nd place! (Clemens 3.70). Clemens was closer to 34th place among qualified AL starters than he was to 1st!
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