Who had the greatest pitching season of all time?

Question

Give year and stats

Answer 1

Charley Radbourn, 1884

59-12, 678 innings, 441 strikeouts,73 complete games, 1.38 ERA, 0.83 WHIP

For something more recent, Pedro Martinez in 1999
23-4 213 innings, 313 strikeouts, 2.07 ERA, 0.92 WHIP
0r Pedro in 2000
18-6, 217 innings, 284 strikeouts, 1.74 ERA, .073 WHIP

Answer 2

I If you just want to know how many wins in a season then it was Charley Radbourn in 1884 with 59 wins-12 losses.
He was Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1939. His career stats are listed below. If you want any more information go to
www.baseball-reference.com about any great stats about
baseball players.

Year Ag Tm Lg W L G GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER HR BB SO HBP WP BFP IBB BK ERA *lgERA *ERA+ WHIP
+--------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+------+----+----+----+---+----+----+---+---+-----+---+---+-----+-----+----+-----+
1881 26 PRO NL 25 11 41 36 34 3 4 0 325.3 309 162 88 1 64 117 17 1380 0 2.43 2.66 109 1.147
1882 27 PRO NL 33 20 55 52 51 6 3 0 474.0 429 215 110 6 51 201 23 1948 0 2.09 2.80 134 1.013
1883 28 PRO NL 48 25 76 68 66 4 8 1 632.3 563 275 144 7 56 315 36 2540 0 2.05 3.07 150 0.979
1884 29 PRO NL 59 12 75 73 73 11 2 1 678.7 528 216 104 18 98 441 0 34 2672 0 1.38 2.83 205 0.922
1885 30 PRO NL 28 21 49 49 49 2 0 0 445.7 423 209 109 4 83 154 0 34 1841 0 2.20 2.65 120 1.135
1886 31 BSN NL 27 31 58 58 57 3 0 0 509.3 521 300 170 18 111 218 0 22 2162 0 3.00 3.19 106 1.241
1887 32 BSN NL 24 23 50 50 48 1 0 0 425.0 505 305 215 20 133 87 14 20 1915 0 4.55 4.05 89 1.501
1888 33 BSN NL 7 16 24 24 24 1 0 0 207.0 187 110 66 8 45 64 8 8 852 0 2.87 2.83 99 1.121
1889 34 BSN NL 20 11 33 31 28 1 2 0 277.0 282 151 113 14 72 99 8 4 1163 0 3.67 4.18 114 1.278
1890 35 BOS PL 27 12 41 38 36 1 3 0 343.0 352 183 126 8 100 80 11 11 1486 0 3.31 4.40 133 1.318
1891 36 CIN NL 11 13 26 24 23 2 2 0 218.0 236 149 103 13 62 54 13 8 951 0 4.25 3.38 79 1.367
+--------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+------+----+----+----+---+----+----+---+---+-----+---+---+-----+-----+----+-----+
11 Yr WL% .613 309 195 528 503 489 35 24 2 4535.3 4335 2275 1348 117 875 1830 54 217 18910 0 2.67 3.21 120 1.149
+--------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+------+----+----+----+---+----+----+---+---+-----+---+---+-----+-----+----+-----+

I hope everyone can follow the stats...

Answer 3

Walter Johnson, 1913: 36-7, 11 shutouts, 243 K, 1.14 ERA, 259 adjERA, 0.780 WHIP.

Or Pedro Martinez, 2000: 18-6, 284 K, 1.74, 285 adjERA (second highest ever), 0.737 WHIP (!!!!! -- major league record).

Or Pedro, 1999. 23-4, 313 K, 2.07, 245 adjERA, 0.923 WHIP.

Some will insist this one belongs --
Bob Gibson, 1968: 22-9, 13 shutouts, 268 K, 1.12, 258 adjERA, 0.853 WHIP.

Highest adjERA ever --
Tim Keefe, 1880: 6-6, 43 K, 0.86, 294 adjERA, 0.838
--but Keefe pitched only 105 innings in 12 games, so that was a shortened season for him.

Finally, this one always get mentioned --
Charley "Hoss" Radbourne, 1884: 59-12, 11 shutouts, 441 K, 1.38, 205 adjERA, 0.922 WHIP.

I'd go with either Johnson or Pedro's 2000 campaign. Just unreal performance. If one must see 20+ wins, Johnson.

Answer 4

Bob Gibson's 1968 is generally considered the best single season. It is better than any of Pedro's seasons because of how Pedro pitches. When Gibson put together his year, he won 15 in a row. He came an unearned run shy of holding the record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched. He pitched 13 shutouts, had 28 complete games and pitched over 300 innings. He holds the modern era record for ERA in a single season.

Pedro did his by being strictly limited to @ 100 pitches per game. He pitches in an era of free and ill-advised swinging, resulting in absurd K totals for both hitter and pitcher. Pedro is one of the better pitchers FOR THIS ERA. However, if he were to pitch in the Gibson era, or in the Walter Johnson era, he might be completely different.

For on thing, his strategy of pitching would have to be different. Because the hitters of old were better hitters from the standpoint of doing more things as a hitter than just swing and see how far you can hit it, Pedro couldn't just rear back and throw. He would have to be more learned in situational pitching.

Answer 5

The best years i've ever seen were

Sandy Koufax in 1963 and 1965
Bob Gibson in 1968
Steve Carlton in 1972
Dwight Gooden 1985
Orel Hersheiser in 1988
Greg Maddux in 1995
Pedro Martinez in 1999
Randy Johnson in 1999 and 2001

And of those my winner is:
Bob Gibson
Year: 1968
Team: STL
Wins: 22
Loses: 9
ERA: 1.12
Games: 34
Starts: 34
Complete Games: 28
Shutouts: 13
Saves: 0
Innings Pitched: 305.0
Hits: 198
Runs: 49
ER: 38
HBP: 7
BB: 62
SO: 268

The Earned Runs, Complete Games, and Shutouts are mind-blowing. Also, batters feared him yet he only plunked 7 guys all season.

Answer 6

Pedro in 1999 was
23-4 with a 2.07 ERA and 313 strikeouts

In 2000 he had a1.74 ERA, the AL's lowest since 1978 with a .74 WHIP the best ever, breaking Walter Johnson's dead ball era record. Martinez's record was 18-6, but in his 6 losses, Martinez had a 2.44 ERA and an 0.79 WHIP, while averaging 8 innings per start. Martinez's ERA in his losing games was less than the leading ERA total in the lower-scoring National League (Kevin Brown's 2.58). Andy Pettitte outdueled him twice. Martinez's other four losses were each by one run. Martinez's first loss of the year was a 1-0 complete game in which he had 17 strikeouts and 1 walk. In his six losses, Martinez had 60 strikeouts, 8 walks, and 30 hits allowed in 48 innings.


He was better in 2000 but finished 2nd in MVP ballot in 1999(pitcher finishing 2nd!)

Answer 7

Doc Gooden 1985 New York Mets

Answer 8

Tough question. I lean towards Steve Carlton - 1972.

The Phillies won only 59 games that year.
Carlton won 27 of them (45.5%).
His ERA was 1.97
He started 41 games
He threw 346.3 innings
He struck out 310 batters
He only gave up 76 runs in 41 starts (1.85 per start).

Seems like he could have won 35 games easily on a good team...

Answer 9

McLain for the Tigers in '68. Most wins in a season(modern era) No question

Answer 10

My top two would be:

Sandy Koufax, 1963: 25-5, 1.88 ERA, 306K
Lefty Grove, 1931: 31-4, 2.06 ERA, 175 K