I hate to say "I told you so"... no wait! I LOVE saying "I told you so"

10 days ago I wrote a blog post... basically calling Joe Girardi's pitching rotation for the ALCS insane.

I thought that lining up the rotation so Sabathia would not be available to pitch Game 7, flip flopping Hughes and Pettitte so Andy faced Cliff Lee and throwing A. J. Burnett in Game 4 gave the Rangers a clear and almost unfair advantage in Games 3, 4 and 7.

In other words, Girardi had set up the rotation so the Yankees had no margin for error in Games 1, 2, 5 and 6.

I said that Sabathia needed to throw games 1, 4 and 7. (Spare me the "he's tired" act. He had thrown 6 innings over 2 weeks.)

They needed Pettitte to throw game 2 (because he was their second best option) and start A. J. Burnett against Cliff Lee (consolidating their miserable match ups).

Hughes (available for bullpen work in Games 1 and 2) would be on full rest for Game 5... Pettitte 6 and Sabathia 7th.

Instead they sent out the mismatched 3 and 4 games and lost by a combination of 18-3 in those two games.

The fact that the Yankees were outscored 31-6 in the four losses shows that the pitching kinda sorta favored the Yankees.

It didn't have to be that bad.

I told them so.

10 thoughts about Game 4 of the 2010 ALCS

Thought 1: A. J. Burnett wasn't good.

There will be some defenders of his outing... that he was effective until the 6th inning and that he pitched better than expected.

But let's get down to brass tacks. It was only his jaw droppingly low expectations that made this game look good by comparison.

6 innings, 5 runs, 6 hits and 3 walks is not a good line. That is a 7.50 ERA.

They needed a quality start. They didn't get one.

Thought 2: After throwing out the first pitches, Girardi should have seen if Tino Martinez and Bernie Williams could stay in the lineup.

Isn't the total lack of pop from the Yankees startling? Take away the 5 run outburst in Game 1, and the Yankees have scored 6 runs total in the series.

Thought 3: Maybe Mariano Rivera is a better 9th than Sergio Mitre

I could be wrong about that. For the second straight day, the scrubs of the Yankee bullpen let the game get out of hand in the 9th inning while Mariano Rivera sat on a chair, reading Bazooka Joe comics.

I know that Girardi doesn't want to over use him this post season... He hasn't thrown a pitch since Friday and has thrown 4 1/3 innings in the last 17 days.

I don't think he's worn out.

Thought 4: I think Josh Hamilton's ribs are fine

If he hits 2 more homers, then he will have hit the most in a post season series history. So much for his swing not being strong.

Thought 5: Speaking of ribs, it looks like Bengie Molina found a good rib joint in Texas

At one point when he had his catchers gear on, his chest protector looked like it was going to pop off like a bad cumberbun.

Like he cares! He can have his cake and evidently eat it all too as long as he keeps crushing 2 out 3 run go ahead homers in the playoffs.

Thought 6: I don't want to hear Yankee fans complaining about other fan bases leaving before the end of the game

For the second straight night, by the end of the game Yankee Stadium was so empty that it looked like one of those high school tournaments where they play the championship game in a big league park that only has friends and family sitting in the first few rows.

Thought 7: Remember when Joba Chamberlain could have fetched Johan Santana on the trade market?

Could he even be worth a used Santana CD now?

Thought 8: Doesn't Game 5 starter C. J. Wilson look a little like the dude who plays Castle?

Could be just me.

Thought 9: This isn't a best of 5 series

This series isn't over... sure it LOOKS like the Yankees are dead from the neck up.

(Being outscored 25-5 over 3 games including losing by a combined 18-3 at home looks bad.)

But Sabathia isn't going to have another subpar outing. This series is probably headed back to Texas. And if we've learned anything, it is don't count this Yankee team out.

Thought 10: This isn't 2004

I had a Yankee friend e mail me saying "This must be what it felt like for you after Game 3 of the 2004 ALCS." Obviously he's trying to pump himself up for a big 3-1 comeback.

And they could win... but here's the big difference:

In 2004, the Yankees were left with Kevin Brown, Javier Vazquez and Esteban Loaiza to pitch Game 7.

The Rangers will have a rested and ready Cliff Lee.

See the difference?

It is subtle.

Texas Dragonslayers

You want to slay dragons this off season, Texas… then there’s no better way to do it than this.
When my Red Sox slew their many dragons in 2004, they had to go through New York to do it… facing down fears and demons that brought down the franchise for so many generations.

Well, so far the Rangers have reached heights that the franchise has never scaled before. They are in the ALCS.

They still haven’t won a home game.
And they still haven’t beaten the Yankees.

Both dragons need to be slain if they have any aspirations of making it to the World Series.

You have the twin headed beast of former Rangers, Teixeria and A-Rod… and their fiercest opponent, Sabathia is looming tonight.

Stay focused and take them on. Win a home game in the first 2 meetings and suddenly you go into THEIR lair with your best slayer… the one who slew them twice last October.

Win today or tomorrow and you have a fighter’s chance.

Just watch out. These guys breathe a LOT of fire.

Are the Yankees insane?

Let's say you are organizing the entertainment at a casino.
While putting the line up of shows together, you realize that you can have Frank Sinatra perform three nights... but you say "Nah... we only want Frank for two nights. We need to save his voice, so we'll book Steve Lawrence instead for a night."

And when lining up the shows you say "We won't have Sinatra in our biggest show. We're booking Wayne Newton for our biggest show."

Chances are someone would break your legs or at least call you an idiot.

That's basically what the Yankees are doing.

They have that most valuable of commodities... a legit ace in C. C. Sabathia. He's an innings eater (and a Subway sandwich eater) and can take the ball over and over again (remember his tour de force complete game marathon for Milwaukee at the end of the 2008 season?)

And there is no danger of the Yankees running him into the ground like the Brewers did that season. He's thrown 6 innings since September 28th.

He's ready to throw game 1. And the Yankees should line up their rotation to get Sabathia throwing as often as he can against Texas. Have him throw Game 1, Game 4 and OF COURSE Game 7.

I thought that was a no brainer. He is Sinatra in this scenario.

And evidently the Yankees have other plans.

They intend to go with a 4 man rotation... and start A. J. Burnett.
Yes, the same guy who pitched for them in the regular season.
The same guy with a 5.25 ERA.
The same guy who essentially pitched himself out of the playoff picture.

Girardi will start him Game 4.

He is Steve Lawrence in this analogy.

And what about Game 7? The potential do or die game for the pennant... the one where the Rangers will inevitably throw Cliff Lee...

They intend to give the ball to Phil Hughes.

A nice pitcher. A good pitcher. A pitcher who has been up and down recently.

He's Wayne Newton.
Wayne Newton isn't bad... but he's no Sinatra.

And the Yankees are putting themselves into a potentially bad situation with their pitching staff in the ALCS.

They have the clear advantage in game one between Sabathia and C.J.Wilson.
The Yankees also have the edge in game two between Phil Hughes and Colby Lewis, but it isn't a sure thing.

Then their proposed Game 3 has Andy Pettite against Cliff Lee. OVERWHELMING advantage to Texas.

Then A. J. Burnett will throw Game 4.
Does it even matter who Texas is pitching? They have the advantage in Game 4 as well.

In other words the Yankees have set up their pitching staff to give Texas obvious advantages in Games 3, 4 and 7.

All because they don't want to use Sabathia 3 times. If they did use him 3 times, the Yankees would have the clear advantage in Games 1 and 4 and set up an ace versus ace Game 7.

The Yankees should throw Sabathia in those 3 games.
If they MUST throw Burnett, why not use him in Game 3 against Cliff Lee? Consolidate the pitching match ups that favor the Rangers into one game.

Have Pettite go Game 2 with Hughes coming out of the pen.
Have Hughes start game 5 and Pettite start game 6 on regular rest.

This is not a second guess. I am writing this on Wednesday and the series starts on Friday.

I am clearly NOT rooting for the Yankees to win. I would love to see this rotation explode in their face.

It just strikes me odd... they aren't putting their best team on the field.
They aren't booking Sinatra.
Ah well... I guess Girardi is saying "I'll do it my way!"

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2010 AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK YANKEES

The Rangers are still looking for their first home playoff win in their history... and after being 5 outs from sweeping their way into the ALCS, they are forced to play a winner take all game and either get eliminated or win but not have Cliff Lee ready for games 1 or 2 of the ALCS.

Is there ANYONE who thinks the Rangers could actually beat the Yankees?

And if the Rays win, they'll be throwing someone other than David Price in game 1.

Meanwhile the Yankees will be rested, ready and have Sabathia ready for game 1 and probably Games 4 and 7.

At this point can ANYONE honestly say that the Yankees won't win one, if not BOTH games on the road and storm back to the ALCS?

Yankee haters... our nightmare is coming true.

YES... you can be a .500 winner and deserve the Cy Young Award

I heard the panel on MLB last night talk about the American League Cy Young Award today and they unanimously picked C. C. Sabathia, mainly based on his 20 wins.

John Hart said that Felix Hernandez had the great numbers but his win total wasn't enough.

I don't claim to know more about baseball than John Hart nor the panel.
That being said, that is "smearing feces on the wall crazy."

And yesterday's game is a case in point.
Hernandez let up one run in the first inning... the 50th home run of the season by Jose Bautista.
That was the only blemish. He pitched a complete game, retiring 13 in a row at one point. He let up only one other hit besides the Bautista homer, walked 4 and faced 28 batters in 8 innings for the complete game.

He got the loss. So in John Hart's mind, 8 innings, 1 run and 2 hits is a performance that shows he is NOT worthy of a Cy Young.

Let me put it into clearer terms.

Here are the categories where Hernandez finishes ahead of Sabathia
(and he leads the league in the bold categories:)

ERA
INNINGS PITCHED
STRIKE OUTS
BATTERS FACED
ADJUSTED PITCHING RUNS
BASE OUT RUNS
SAVED SITUATION WINS SAVED
COMPLETE GAMES
COMPLETE GAME SHUTOUTS
WALKS AND HITS PER INNINGS PITCHED
BATTING AVERAGE AGAINST
STRIKEOUT PER 9 INNINGS
STRIKEOUT TO WALK RATIO
FEWEST HOME RUNS PER 9 INNINGS
ADJUSTED ERA +

Here are the categories where Sabathia finishes ahead of Hernandez
(and he leads the league in the bold categories:)

WINS
WIN LOSS PERCENTAGE

And that's it.

I don't even know what half of those stats mean for Hernandez... all I know he has pitched better all season. Was he supposed to throw more innings? Let up fewer runs? Strike out more batters? Nobody did ANY of those better than Hernandez!

I am not disrespecting Sabathia who is having a wonderful season. And I understand he has a role of the horse of the Yankee staff and has to shoulder the innings burden of a shaky rotation.

But keep in mind that 10 of his 20 wins have been against Baltimore, Seattle and Kansas City.

Nor am I putting down David Price who should finish in the top 3 in the Cy Young vote with Sabathia and Hernandez.

But both of them have All Stars in their line up and bullpen. I covered in an earlier post that with a team this bad, 12 wins IS an accomplishment!

And guess what? He is 3-0 against the Yankees.

In Hernandez's 12 losses, his team has scored a GRAND TOTAL of 14 runs.

Nice support.

I can go through Hernandez's line up that he had today... the fact that the number 3 hitter is a .236 batter and the clean up hitter is below the Mendoza line... but keep this in mind.

In a one run game they pinch hit for the #5 hitter.

Would the Yankees say "It's late in a close game. Send in someone to bat for Robinson Cano"?

Nope.

He's the Cy Young winner.
The numbers don't lie.

If not, then just automatically award the Cy Young to the guy with the most wins.

Is there an East Coast Bias in Awards voting?

I've been supporting Felix Hernandez as the Cy Young winner even though I think voters will vote for C. C. Sabathia and his 20 wins (even though King Felix has him beat in every other category.)

But some people, including the good folks at Emerald City Diamond Gems, think that the fact that Sabathia plays in New York will tip the scales his way.

I've heard this before... the votes ALWAYS slant towards New York and Boston and to a degree Philadelphia... and stars in the west tend to get ignored come award time.

This is a terrific theory. It sounds correct.
And it is repeated each year by some writer in the west as if it is a fact.

Here's the problem with that theory:
It's not true.

Let's take a large sample of recent awards...

The Joe Torre era in New York.
1996-2007. A 12 year span where the Yankees dominated media coverage, made the playoffs all 12 seasons, won 6 pennants and 4 World Series titles and seemed to have every star in the galaxy.

How many MVPs do you think they had in those 12 years?

2. Both by Alex Rodriguez in years the Yankees did NOT even win the Division Series. (2005 and 2007.)

Do you know what team had as many MVPs as the Yankees during the Torre years?
The Mariners.

In fact what division do you think DOMINATED the AL MVP category during the Joe Torre Yankee years?

I'll give you a hint... none of the teams played in the Eastern Time Zone.

That would be the AL West, winning 9 straight MVPs from 1996 to 2004.

In those 12 Torre Yankee years, the Texas Rangers won 4 MVPs (Juan Gonzalez in 1996 and 1998, Pudge Rodriguez in 1999 and Alex Rodriguez in 2003.)

The Mariners won a pair (Ken Griffey Jr. in 1997 and Ichiro Suzuki in 2001).

The A's also won a pair (Jason Giambi in 2000 and Miguel Tejada in 2002.)

And the Angels won one (Vlad Guerrero in 2004.)

In fact it is interesting when you break those awards down how the East Coast bias did NOT work.

When the great shortstop era was played out in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it wasn't New York's Derek Jeter nor Boston's Nomar Garciaparra who won an MVP despite putting up the best numbers of their careers.

A-Rod won his with Texas and Miguel Tejada, arguably the least known of the big shortstops of that era, won his.

And there have been two instances in the past few years where players from the Minnesota Twins, not exactly a media hub for anyone except Ted Baxter, won close MVPs votes over Derek Jeter.

I am going out on a limb to say that Derek Jeter gets more media attention than Justin Morneau or Joe Mauer.

Let's take a look at the Cy Young voting since the divisions expanded from 4 to 6 (1994 to present.)

With all the great Yankee pitching over the years, how many Cy Youngs do you think have gone the Yankees way?

Out of 16 Cy Youngs handed out, a grand total of one was given to a Yankee in that time.
Roger Clemens in 2001.

Actually Clemens Cy Young was the only Yankee Cy Young since Ron Guidry's dominating 1978 season.

Yup. The Yankees went through the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s with a grand total of ONE Cy Young Award.

Compare that to Kansas City, who has had 2 Cy Youngs since 1994...
Minnesota has 2...
Cleveland has 2...



Which team has won the most Cy Young Awards in the AL since 1994?

That would be the Toronto Blue Jays with 4...

1 for Pat Hentgen... 1 for Doc Halladay... 2 for Clemens.

And remember Hentgen beat out the Yankees ace Andy Pettitte and Clemens beat out David Wells when he was lights out for the World Champs in 1998?


Now of course there IS an East Bias in coverage.
I wrote about that earlier.

And there's a reason for that... the most popular teams are on the East Coast and there are more transplanted New Englanders, New Yorkers and Philadelphians than there are transplants from California and Arizona.

I'm a case in point. I live in California and am a rabid Red Sox fan... even though I haven't lived in Massachusetts since Ronald Reagan was President.

Oh yeah, also the teams in the Northeast have won the last 3 World Series.

But that is media coverage... not awards bias.

So yes... Sabathia could indeed win the Cy Young for an irrational reason.
But that reason is numerical (20 wins) NOT geographical.

Felix Hernandez's win total is reason FOR his Cy Young Candidacy

I've been making the case for Felix Hernandez to win the Cy Young Award for about a month now and I have been alone.

Yes he leads the league in a lot of statistics that I don't completely understand...

Win Probability Added... Situational Wins... Base Out Wins Saved... Adjusted Pitching Wins... I am still learning how to quantify them. But King Felix leads all of those categories, which is impressive.

But this isn't just twisting some obscure numbers to make a point (a la the greatness of Colby Rasmus.)

He also leads the league in all sorts of categories that traditional voters drool over.

ERA? He's the best.
Strikeouts? He's the best.
Games started? He's the best.
Innings pitched? He's the best.

Not to mention being third in complete games and having the third lowest Walks and Hits per nine inning ratio.

Sounds like a Cy Young front runner to me!

But then people bring up his win total.
"Can we REALLY have a Cy Young winner who only has 12 wins?"

And my response to that is simple.
12 wins? Are you kidding me? He should win the Cy Young BECAUSE he got 12 wins with this God Awful Mariners team!

Now I don't consider wins to be a worthless stat (that IS the objective of the pitcher... to win the game) but it can also be an amazingly misleading stat.

Mitch Williams blew the lead in two beautiful pitched games by Curt Schilling in the 1993 NLCS... and Williams got the win for both games. A casual glance would see Williams having a 2-0 record in the series and Schilling's record being 0-0 and Williams would look like the dominating pitcher.

Harvey Haddix threw 12 perfect innings in a game in 1959, let up a run in the 13th and got the loss. I am going to go out on a limb and say he pitched well enough to get the win in that game.

So Sabathia and the other front runners (David Price, Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester) all play for teams that will win 90 some odd games.

Hernandez's team has ALREADY lost 91 games.
They have only 56 wins all season.

12 by Hernandez.
Yup, that means there have been only 44 wins by the Mariners that WEREN'T Felix Hernandez.

And guess what? He plays for a team that said "We have a solution for the #4 hole! MILTON BRADLEY!"

While Sabathia's team and Price's team flip flop for the title "Best Team in Baseball" Hernandez has to go out each night and say "I hope Franklin Gutierrez and Michael Saunders can drive in a few runs and David Aardsma can hold the lead."

12 wins?
That's only 7 fewer than Sabathia, who has a team that can bring Lance Berkman and Curtis Granderson off the bench in some games. And has Rivera closing games.

That's only 6 fewer than Price who has the likes of Crawford, Longoria and Pena driving in runs and Soriano closing games.

12 wins is a REMARKABLE total when you look at the hand he was dealt!

Here's something to think about...
Hernandez's 12 wins represents roughly 21% of the Mariners wins for the year.

What would be 21% of the Yankees' 89 wins so far?

19 wins... the same total that Sabathia has.

So Hernandez IS winning at the same clip as CC Sabathia... he just has a worse supporting cast.

Cy Young inspite of 12 wins?
Try BECAUSE of 12 wins.

Man, Price and C. C. sure LOOKED like Cy Young contenders tonight

I've been singing the praises of Felix Hernandez to win the Cy Young Award since August.
And Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports agrees with me.

And I know I am not supposed to be seduced by David Price's and C. C. Sabathia's win loss total.

But holy cats they looked like a pair of aces tonight.

8 innings, no runs 9 strikeouts for Sabathia?
8 innings, no runs, 3 hits 2 walks for Price?

In a game for first place?

That's what you want in an ace.
I guess it is appropriate that neither will get a win.

It's a big series! (Or is it?)

On the surface, the Rays vs. the Yankees looks like a clash of Titans. The two best teams in baseball going head to head... whoever wins tonight will be in first place by themselves with the best record in the bigs.

Each team is throwing their Cy Young candidate. Sabathia vs. Price.

Each team is coming off of recent losses where their bullpen coughed it up and will be looking to right the ship.

This is an EPIC showdown... right?

I'm not sure. It will be fun, no doubt, but what is on the line?

Neither team is going home for October... at least not without an epic collapse. And even WITH an epic collapse, it will take a big winning streak from the Sox to take advantage of it. (Red or White, it doesn't matter.)

So basically this is a battle for pride of winning the Division.

Remember how or the Braves beat the Mets for the 2000 Division?

Or the A's beat the Angels for 2002 Division?

Or the Diamondbacks beat the Giants for their 2002 Division?

Or the Braves beat the Marlins for the 2003 Division?

Or the Red Sox beat the Yankees for the 2004 Division?

Or the Astros beat the Cardinals for the 2005 Division?

Or the Twins beat the Tigers for the 2006 Division?

Or the Diamondbacks beat the Rockies for the 2007 Division?

OF COURSE YOU DON'T!

Because the team that lost the Division in each of those years won the pennant. Which would you rather see? A Division Title or a World Series appearance?

Maybe this is a series to determine momentum going into the playoffs and get the match up you want.

I remember in 2002, the New York papers showed a special standings following how the A's and Yankees compared. The Yankees were the 4 time defending A.L. Champs. The A's were a dynamic team that won 20 straight at one point.

It was clear that the ALCS was going to be an Oakland/New York showdown.

The two teams had met in the Division Series the previous two years and they were both 5 game thrillers.

Giambi defected to New York but the A's were somehow stronger.

The A's/Yankees ALCS was shaping up to be one of the great match ups... and the question in the regular season was which team was going to have home field advantage.

The Yankees finished the season with one fewer loss than the A's and captured home field for the clash. The Division Series that year were a mere formality. (The Yankees were playing the anonymous Wild Card Angels and the A's took on the "Happy to be there after being threatened with contraction the year before" Twins).

Do you remember what happened in the ALCS that year?

Neither the A's nor the Yankees made it out of the first round... and the Angels and Twins played for the AL Pennant.

All the posturing was for naught.

So have fun watching the series this week.

It should be fun... but this match up won't be meaningful until it is played NEXT month.

Most 20 game winners in 90 years? It’s possible

In 2006, when 16 wins was good enough to lead the National League, it seemed like the 20 game winner was going the way of the Dodo and the Liberal Republican.

But win #20 is making a comeback in 2010... or at least it COULD be.

Now, of course, I know the win total isn't the end all and be all of a pitcher's greatness.
I've been advocating Felix Hernandez to win the Cy Young Award even though his only has a 10-10 record.

And in my plea to put Bert Blyleven in the Hall of Fame I criticized the emphasis on wins when evaluating his career.

That being said, "20 Game Winner" still has a nice ring to it.

It is kind of like "Oscar Winning Director." Now is Ron Howard, who won the Oscar, a better director than Alfred Hitchcock, who never won it? Of course not. But it still looks and sounds cool.

And with September now starting, there are a few legit candidates to win 20 and a few long shots.

And if they ALL come through, then we will see the most 20 game winners since 1920.

With about 30 games left, each of these pitchers will get about 5 or 6 more starts. Some will have to run the table... which is unlikely, but you never know...

Let's break it down and see who is close.


2 More Wins - Currently at 18 wins... would be STUNNED if he falls short.

C. C. Sabathia







3 More Wins - Currently at 17 wins... One more good streak and you've got it.

Ubaldo Jimenez





Adam Wainwright





4 More Wins - Currently at 16 wins... Keep pitching well and hope the bullpen doesn't blow one or two.

Roy Halladay





Phil Hughes






5 More Wins - Currently at 15 wins... May be a reach, but a dazzling September could send them into the Cy Young stratosphere. NOTHING can go wrong.

Clay Buchholz





Tim Hudson





Carl Pavano





David Price





6 More Wins - Currently at 14... OK, damn near impossible. But if they go on a winning streak and maybe the manager gives them an extra start down the stretch... maybe?

Ricky Nolasco





Bronson Arroyo





Justin Verlander





C. J. Wilson





Trevor Cahill





Ervin Santana





Chris Carpenter





Jon Lester





That is 17 potential 20 game winners (some MUCH more likely than others.)

Now there were no 20 game winners last year.
Since the leagues expanded to 3 divisions in 1994, most teams have 5 man rotations, pitch counts and bullpen specialization that cuts down on the big win totals.

Going backwards from last year, here are the number of 20 game winners for each year back to 1994.


2009 – 0
2008 – 4 (Cliff Lee, Brandon Webb, Mike Mussina, Roy Halladay)
2007 – 1 (Josh Beckett)
2006 – 0
2005 – 4 (Dontrelle Willis, Bartolo Colon, Chris Carpenter, Roy Oswalt)
2004 – 3 (Curt Schilling, Roy Oswalt, Johan Santana)
2003 – 5 (Roy Halladay, Russ Ortiz, Esteban Loaiza, Andy Pettitte, Jamie Moyer)
2002 – 6 (Randy Johnson, Barry Zito, Curt Schilling, Derek Lowe, Pedro Martinez, Bartolo Colon)
2001 – 7 (Curt Schilling, Matt Morris, Mark Mulder, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Jamie Moyer, Jon Lieber)
2000 – 4 (Tom Glavine, Tim Hudson, David Wells, Darryl Kile)
1999 – 3 (Pedro Martinez, Mike Hampton, Jose Lima)
1998 – 4 (Roger Clemens, David Cone, Rick Helling, Tom Glavine)
1997 – 4 (Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Denny Neagle, Brad Radke)
1996 – 3 (John Smoltz, Andy Pettitte, Pat Hentgen)
1995 – 0
1994 – 0


1994 and 1995 were shortened seasons due to the labor strife (although Greg Maddux and Mike Mussina won 19 in '95... all the more impressive that it was a 144 game season.)

But there were some seasons with quite a few 20 game winners... topping out at 7 in 2001.

Going back even further, here are the last time there were higher numbers of 20 game winners in a season.

Last time with 8 twenty game winners– 1978
(Ron Guidry, Mike Caldwell, Jim Palmer, Gaylord Perry, Dennis Leonard, Ed Figueroa, Ross Grimsley, Dennis Eckersley)

Last time with 9 twenty game winners – 1977
(Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, Jim Palmer, Rick Reuschel, Bob Forsch, John Candelaria, Tommy John, Dave Goltz, Dennis Leonard)

Last time with 11 twenty game winners– 1974
(Catfish Hunter, Fergie Jenkins, Nolan Ryan, Luis Tiant, Mike Cuellar, Steve Busby, Jim Kaat, Gaylord Perry, Andy Messersmith, Wilber Wood, Phil Niekro)

Last time with 13 twenty game winners– 1973
(Ron Bryant, Wilber Wood, Joe Coleman, Jim Palmer, Catfish Hunter, Ken Holtzman, Nolan Ryan, Bill Singer, Paul Splittorff, Bert Blyleven, Vida Blue, Luis Tiant, Jim Colborn)

Last time with 14 twenty game winners– 1971
(Mickey Lolich, Vida Blue, Fergie Jenkins, Wilbur Wood, Catfish Hunter, Dave McNally, Andy Messersmith, Jom Palmer, Steve Carlton, Pat Dobson, Al Downing, Joe Coleman, Tom Seaver, Mike Cuellar)

Last time with 15 twenty game winners– 1969
(Tom Seaver, Denny McLain, Mike Cuellar, Phil Niekro, Juan Marichal, Fergie Jenkins, Dave Boswell, Mel Stottlemyre, Larry Dierker, Claude Osteen, Bill Singer, Jim Perry, Bill Hands, Dave McNally, Bob Gibson)

Last time with 17 twenty game winners– 1920
(Grover Cleveland Alexander, Wilbur Cooper, Burleigh Grimes, Art Nehf, Fred Toney, Jesse Barnes, Spittin’ Bill Doak, Jim Bagby, Carl Mays, Stan Coveleski, Red Faber, Lefty Williams, Eddie Cicotte, Dickey Kerr, Ray Caldwell, Bob Shawkey, Urban Shocker)

You read those names right... two of the condemned 1919 Black Sox were on the list the last time there were 17 twenty game winners!

1920, back when Babe Ruth was a NEW acquisition for the Yankees.

Now are all 17 going to come through.
Probably not... but with pitching taking center stage again, I wouldn't mind seeing a few 20 game winners, even if it isn't the barometer of greatness it used to be.