Two Guys Sports
Bruce BostwickBrandon Webb Making History
May 17th 2008 03:33
Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks Ace
Brandon Webb won his ninth consecutive game on Thursday against the Colorado Rockies. This is the second longest consecutive wins streak to start a season in Major League Baseball history.
Webb has actually won his last eleven starts, dating back to last season, as well as his last thirteen straight decisions. In 2006, he started the season by winning his first eight decisions and went on to win the Cy Young Award. He is now just the fourth pitcher in history to start a season by winning his first eight decision in two different seasons. Boo Ferriss did it in the 1940s, Eddie Lopat did it in the 1950s, and Roger Clemens did it by starting 14-0 in 1986, 11-0 in 1997, and 9-0 in 2004.
The question we’d like to answer in this article is: How did these pitchers finish their seasons that started off so well?
Billy Pierce, who started off 8-0 in 1962, rounded out his season with eight more wins, six losses, and one save (16-6, which tied for 10th in the NL). He finished with just 162.3 innings pitched despite having seven complete games -- two of which were shutouts. He also went 1-1 in the post-season. It turned out to be the aging pitcher's last season with more than three wins.
In 1981, a young 20-year-old burst onto the pitching scene. His season started with eight straight victories, but not just any eight victories. These eight were all complete games, five of which were shutouts. He also averaged eight strikeouts per game over the streak. He only had five more wins to go with seven losses over the rest of the season. This youngster was Fernando Valenzuela. By the end of the season he had eleven complete games, eight shutouts, 180 strikeouts (the previous three stats led the NL), and a 2.48 ERA. He also went 3-1 with two complete games in the post-season to help his Dodgers win the World Series. He took home a couple of trophies for that 1981 season: the NL Cy Young Award and NL Rookie of the Year Award, as well as being named The Sporting News NL Pitcher of the Year and Major League Player of the Year.
Dave Stewart former Oakland Athletics pitcher
Next up is Dave Stewart of the Oakland Athletics. In 1988, he started off with eight straight wins, and by the end of the season he amassed 21 wins with just 12 losses. Amazingly, that win total was only good enough for second in the American League because Frank Viola of the Twins had 24 wins. In fact, Stewart only held the lead in one statistical category -- complete games. His 14 tied Roger Clemens for first. He helped his A's win 104 games that year and was 1-1 in the post-season as they made the World Series but lost to the Dodgers.
In his final year in Montreal, Pedro Martinez started off with eight straight wins. He then finished the season with nine more wins and seven losses. He led the NL with an ERA of 1.90 and 13 complete games. His 305 strikeouts were only good enough for second, though. Curt Schilling had 319 Ks that year. He also won his first Cy Young Award that season. Luckily for Pedro, it was a contract year. In the off-season he inked a deal with the Red Sox that made him the sixth highest-paid player in the Majors.
Jon Garland is the most recent to start off with eight straight wins for a season. He did it in 2005. His streak included two complete game shutouts. After those first eight games, he went .500 for the rest of the season at 10-10. He managed to only have four no-decisions that year, a rather low number in this day and age of relief pitching taking over the end of games. He only led the league in one category -- shutouts, with three. Garland also got a win in the ALCS against the Angels and a no-decision in the World Series against the Astros.
Andy Hawkins, after winning his first ten starts, split the rest of his decisions in 1985. He finished with a record of 18-8, a win total that tied for 6th in the NL. He threw 5 complete games, two of which were shutouts. In 228.7 innings pitched, he amassed just 69 strikeouts and had an ERA of 3.15.
ESPN has reported that three others have started with nine consecutive wins in a season. These three are not found on most lists. I suspect it is because it is so hard to find game-by-game stats for lesser-known players from their era. Who am I not to trust the research staff at Sportscenter, though? These three players are George Uhle, Atley Donald, and Sal Maglie.
In 1929, George Uhle of the Tigers started with nine wins, but the rest of his season wasn't so good. He won just six more games that year while losing eleven. One astounding stat by today's standards: 23 of his 30 starts were complete games. All in all, it was an unremarkable season for Uhle.
Atley Donald's 9-0 start came in 1939 as a member of the New York Yankees. He started just 20 games that year, but after that great start, he finished with just four more wins with three losses. Maybe the reason these guys aren't on most lists is because their seasons were not all that spectacular by comparison.
Finally, Sal Maglie had his 9-0 start in 1952 as a member of the New York Giants. The rest of his season, he was 9-8 and also had one save. He was selected to the All-Star game but did not play. In a time when rivalries really mattered, Maglie played for all three New York teams (Giants, Yankees, and Dodgers).
| Consecutive Games Won to Start a Season | |||||
| Wins | Player | Year | Team | Full Season Record | |
| 10 | Andy Hawkins | 1985 | San Diego Padres | 18-8 | |
| 9 | Brandon Webb | 2008 | Arizona Diamondbacks | ?? | |
| 9 | Sal Maglie | 1952 | New York Giants | 18-8 | |
| 9 | Atley Donald | 1939 | New York Yankees | 13-3 | |
| 9 | George Uhle | 1929 | Detroit Tigers | 15-11 | |
| 8 | Jon Garland | 2005 | Chicago White Sox | 18-10 | |
| 8 | Pedro Martinez | 1997 | Montreal Expos | 17-7 | |
| 8 | Dave Stewart | 1988 | Oakland Athletics | 21-12 | |
| 8 | Fernando Valenzuela | 1981 | Los Angeles Dodgers | 13-7 | |
| 8 | Billy Pierce | 1962 | San Francisco Giants | 16-6 | |
We can see that starting the season so well can go either way.
Fernando is probably the pitcher that set the bar for how your season can go when you start so well. He did of course have the advantage of being the new phenom on the block when he did it, and it helps that his eight straight were all complete games. Even though he only won five more that year it has to be considered the standard on how to finish off a great start.
Carl Hubbell, pitching great
How will Brandon Webb finish off the second best start to a season by a pitcher? Looking at the D-Backs upcoming schedule, Webb should pitch next in an away game against the also hot Florida Marlins, followed by a start in Atlanta. If he can get past Hanley Ramirez and Chipper Jones with wins in both, he has a stretch during which it might be easy to win a few more with probable starts against the Nationals, Pirates, Mets, and then some interleague play against the Athletics and Twins. Now I am not saying any of these teams are pushovers or sure things, but I think Webb is hotter than the Marlins and Braves and will go to 11-0. To go a step further, if he can get to 11-0, I think he can go as far as 16-0 before not winning (either a no decision or a loss) against the Fish the next time around. At 16-0, he would be just three wins away from tying Rube Marquard's record of 19 straight wins in a single season, which he set in 1912. It will also make 18 straight decisions that Webb would have won, just six wins away from Carl Hubbell's record of 24 straight decisions (in multiple seasons).
If you get a chance to see Webb pitch this season, take it! I think you will be watching history. My predictions: 16-0 before getting a no decision or loss, setting the new standard for the start of a season, and a final record of 27-2. This would be the most wins in the Majors since Bob Welch had 27 in 1990, and the most in the National League since Steve Carlton also had 27 in 1972. Needless to say, he will win the Cy Young Award for a second time this season. I also think he will become the first pitcher to win the Most Valuable Player award since Dennis Eckersley won it in 1992, and the first National League pitcher to win the award since Bob Gibson won it in 1968.
Finally: How many games do you think Brandon Webb will win before getting his first no decision or loss this season?
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