In their prime, who would win a pitching matchup between Nolan Ryan and Steve Carlton?Why?

Answer 1

That would be tough. I figger it would be a 1-0 game. Ryan had a lot of those scorelines. I'm sure Carlton would come out on top because the 'Stros didn't hit behind Ryan. I once saw Ryan take a no-hitter into the 9th. Schmidt broke it up with a double. The 'Stros bullpen blew it in extra innings. He pitched nine innings with one hit and a couple walks with a no-decision. That's typical of his time with Houston. Ryan also became the first player ever one year to lead the league in ERA and strikeouts and NOT win the Cy Young. I think his ERA was around 2.15 and had almost double losses to wins. He deserved the award because he was the best pitcher that year, but the idiots that vote on that award only look at wins and losses. Wins and losses don't make the pitcher, ERA does.

*edit* Ryan's lifetime ERA was under 3.20. I don't call that "very high". Sure he walked a lot of batters but his strikeouts overcame that for the most part.

Answer 2

Carlton, easy.

I laugh at the moron who says Ryan would win because he had more strikeouts and was a better all-around pitcher. Gee, since more strikeouts makes one pitcher better than the other, does that mean that Aaron Harang is a better pitcher than John Smoltz because he struck out five more batters last season? So Ryan, struck out more batters, big deal!! He also walked 204 in 1977, 202 in 1974, 183 in 1976,162 in 1973, 157 in 1972, and 148 in 1978. He was also an "amazing" 32 games over .500 for his career!! Very, very overrated pitcher.

Carlton on the other hand, struck out over 4000 batters, and was 85 games over .500, and would have been much better if he had not played 4 years too long which raised his career ERA, and lowered his winning percentage.

Also, the Angels made little attempt to re-sign Ryan after the 1979 season when he went 22-20. The Angels' GM said "Now we are going to have to go out and get a couple of 11-10 pitchers". That should tell you all you need to know.

Ryan stayed around longer, but the question was who would win in their prime, and the answer is Steve Carlton.

Answer 3

Nolan Ryan threw the no-hitters and had a ton of strikeouts,but he also averaged 2 games per year over .500 for his entire career and had a higher than average ERA.Also ,for all the talk about what a great pitcher he was,he won exactly ZERO Cy Young awards.Nolan Ryan also pitched in the postseason 5 times,so he wasn't always on bad teams like some would have you believe.
Steve Carlton won 27 games for the 1972 Phillies team that lost 100 games.Carlton also struck out his share of hitters,but he also won games,unlike Ryan.Carlton was arguably the best left-hander of his generation and would have won any matchup with Ryan.The only knock on Carlton(and Ryan,for that matter)is that he hung around too long.
If you think strikeouts and no-hitters are the mark of a great pitcher;then you wouldn't even think of Greg Maddux.He just gets the ground ball outs and wins games.4 Cy Youngs,320-some wins,Gold Gloves galore.Nolan Ryan isn't even in the same mention with pitchers like that.

Answer 4

Steve Carlton was a much better pitcher than Ryan. Carlton would mop the floor against Ryan 7 out of 10 times. He knew how to win games, he had control over his pitches. He even won 27 games in 1972 for a team that only won 59 games. Ryan, for all his speed, was always a 500 pitcher until late in his career when he started to learn to control his curve and learn how to pitch. Carlton was one of the great pitchers of all time. Ryan was only a thrower, a great one, but only a thrower.

Answer 5

Sorry boys and girls, but this one isn't even close. Ryan had 7 no hitters and 3 billion K's, but in his prime Steve Carlton was one of the best ever, and certainly better than Ryan.

Carlton's prime: 1967 - 1984. 18 years
Ryan's prime: 1972 - 1991, 20 years

Won - Loss
Carlton 310 - 204, .603
Ryan 285 - 240, .543

WHIP
Carlton 4,124 Hits + 1,527 Walks = 5,701 / 4,707 Innings = 1.21
Ryan 3,362 Hits + 2,342 Walks =- 5,704 / 4,649 Innings = 1.23

ERA
Carlton 1,590 Earned Runs over 5,701 Innings = 3.04 ERA
Ryan 1607 Earned Runs over 5,704 Innings = 3.11 ERA

Complete Games
Carlton 249 (in 18 seasons)
Ryan 207 (in 20 seasons)

How about this? In 1972, Carlton won 27 games for a pathetic Phillies team that went 49 and 97. It was that way for much of his career in Philly.

Ryan is a wonder, a marverlous pitcher who accomplished great things. But in overall effectiveness, he is most certainly a notch below Steve Carlton.

Answer 6

OK...I saw them both pitch multiple times in their prime. While Ryan was dominating and had the whole strikeouts thing going, Carlton was a better "pitcher". Nolan was more of a "thrower". When Nolan was "on" he was impossible to beat. However, when he was "off" he couldn't get out of his own way. Steve could pitch his way out of any jam, even without his best stuff.

Answer 7

I loved watching both of them pitch. Two totally different styles.I would have to give the nod to lefty though just because of his ability to locate pitches and work his way out of tough situations.Could you imagine having the power and intimidation factor of a Nolan Ryan and the pure pitching skill of Steve Carlton combined into one pitcher. He would be a world beater. Or maybe he would be Bob Gibson?

Answer 8

Carlton was a better pitcher. For all his no-hitters and strikeouts, Ryan lost nearly 50% of his games. He walked a lot of batters and lost a lot of games. When he was "ON" he was unhittable but when he wasn't, he refused to change and could be beaten often.

In 1972, Carlton won 27 games for one of the worst teams in history - a team that only won 59 games total. If you took that Carlton and put him on a good team, he might never lose a game.

Someone once said that you can tell how good Carton was because although there were scores of left handed pitchers in baseball, when you said "Lefty", everyone knew who you were talking about.

Answer 9

I loved watching Nolan Ryan, ever since he hit his stride in the early 1970's. But he was not as good of an all-around pitcher as was Steve Carlton. If I had one game to win, and those were my choices, Carlton wins my vote.

Answer 10

Those of us old enough to have watched both of them in their prime would probably remember that Carlton played on a good team (Phillies) and Ryan's teams (most with Astros in his prime) weren't that great most years. I'd think that Carlton, who had better control than almost anyone in history, would win. Ryan walked too many people, and his ERA was always very high.