Is Orel Hershiser's 1988 season the most dominant EVER for a pitcher???

Question

A Record Over 50 consecutive scoreless innings pitched,15 complete games, 8 shutouts, 267 innings pitched, 23 wins & averaged 8 innings per start, i cant think of another pitcher in my lifetime to be more dominant. Oh & he won the world series! You know of anyone who was better for 1 year in the last 20 yrs?

Answer 1

According to The Baseball Analysts Online, Hershiser's season wasn't even close, but a lot of it is opinion anyway. They offered a couple different sabermetric scorings to justify their findings at least.

Answer 2

Hershiser is a great choice, but I think it is a more recent Dodger, Eric Gagne in 2003.

I am not even a Dodgers fan and I remember when he came into the game, my team had no chance.

55 Saves

1.20 ERA (gave up 11 earned runs and 2 HR in 82.1 IP)

0.69 WHIP

.133 Batting average against

137 K's

Answer 3

Ron Guidry in 1978 for the NYY -- 25 and 3 with a sub 2 ERA.

Lead league in about every pitching category and the NYY won the Series in 6 over the Dodgers. -- so I went to 30 years

That was the wasy I remember it.  (Was it 77 or 78?)

Tom Seaver was 14-2 with a sub 2.25 ERA in the strike year of 1981 but somehow Valenzuela won the Cy Young.

Answer 4

Weren't paying attention to Pedro Martinez, were you, youngster?

Answer 5

In the last 20 years?  Maybe not...

But in the older days of baseball, guys won25-30 games and threw a ton of complete games.."Middle relief" was not even heard of back in the day....

However, for this era of baseball, Hershiser's season was dominant for sure...

Answer 6

i agree.

Answer 7

That Preformance Was Amazing. I Remember When By Grampoa Was Photographing  Kirk Gibson After The WS Gibson Stated" Orel Hershiser's Incredible Season Is The Reason We WQon, Not Me."

Answer 8

Orel Hershiser had the most dominant season in the last 20 years.

Jack

Answer 9

Not best ever. maybe last 20 years.

Bob Gibson 1968 St. Louis Cardinals.

W-L of 22-9, 1.12 ERA, 13 Shutouts, 268 SO.

Answer 10

It was a d**n good season and makes me proud to be a Dodger Fan

Answer 11

No it wasn't it was a great year though. Have you heard of Bob Welch? Yeah he had a better year he may not had the strikeouts, but he had more wins.  His record was 27-6 and only had two no decisions in 35 starts and a 2.95 ERA. Orel had 4 less wins and 2 more losses then Welch.

Barry Zito went 23-5 with a 2.75 ERA and 182 strikeouts so there's the same amount of wins but 3 less losses. Pedro Martinez went 23-4 with a 2.07 ERA and 313 strikeouts so there's the same amount of wins with 4 less losses. Randy Johnson went 24-5 with a 2.32 ERA so it was a little higher than Orel's 2.26 in that year, but 1 more win and 3 less losses and Johnson had 334 strikeouts that year he almost double the amount of strikeouts that Orel did.  

So was Orel's a great year there's no doubt about it. Was he the most dominant pitcher in the last 20 years for one season? No. He's up there but there are pitchers with more wins, more strikeouts, better ERA's, and even with the scoreless streak Orel had he still couldn't beat the ERA's. So, it's up there, but it's not the best.

Answer 12

Yes.

Answer 13

1892 Ty Cobb

ERA: 1.93

SO: 168

W/L: 36-11

SHO: 9

HR Allowed: 9

Thats Amazing

Answer 14

Not to take anything away from Orel, it was a season for the ages, but don't forget about Ron Guidry's 1978 season:

25-3

1.74 ERA

9 Shutouts

248 K

6.1 hits allowed per 9 innings pitched.

.193 BA against

He won the Cy Young and finished second in MVP voting.

He won a World Series.

Hard to argue that this too is one of the most amazing seasons by a starter in history.

Answer 15

that was an incredible year,but that was before the steriod erea . I think Pedro Martinez in 1997,1999,2000 were the best in the last 20 years

1997 stats with the expos 17- 8 record 1.90 era,13 cg and 4 shutouts in 241 inn. plus had 305 strike outs,

1999 stats with red soxs 23-4  2.07 era 5 cg and 1 shut out

2000 stats  18-6 record with 1.74 era  7cg  and 4 shutouts

remember in 1988 canseco led the league in hrs with 42and only 6 players hit more than 30 , in 1997 griffey hit 56 and 31 players had more than 30, in 1999  big mac hit 65 and 44 players over 30, in 2000 sosa had 50 and 46 players hit 30.

that is my case for greatest pitched season in the last 20 years.