Losing Winners
Posted by Raphy on October 1, 2009
Joseph, a reader, was wondering if there was a pitcher aside from Nolan Ryan in 1987 to win 2 legs of the pitching triple crown and still have a losing record. We can't use PI to definitively answer this question, but we can certainly look at some pretty amazing seasons by pitchers with losing records. Here are all the pitchers since 1901 to post an ERA+ of at least 125 with at least 200 strikeouts and still have a losing record.
Cnt Player **ERA+** W-L% SO Year Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO GF W L SV IP H R ER BB ERA HR BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Pit Str +----+-----------------+--------+-----+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+--+---+--+--+--+--+-----+---+---+---+---+------+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+ 1 Ed Walsh 189 .474 258 1910 29 CHW AL 45 36 33 7 7 18 20 5 369.2 242 90 52 61 1.27 5 1386 4 2 6 0 1st in the league ERA; 2nd in SO 2 Ben Sheets 162 .462 264 2004 25 MIL NL 34 34 5 0 0 12 14 0 237 201 85 71 32 2.70 25 937 891 57 4 1 4 6 4 10 15 5 1 1 8 .226 .255 .383 .638 66 3579 2441 3rd in ERA; 2nd in SO 3 Cy Young 148 .486 210 1905 38 BOS AL 38 33 31 4 5 18 19 0 320.2 248 99 65 30 1.82 3 1238 10 0 6 0 3rd in ERA; 2nd in SO 4 Jim Bunning 143 .440 201 1960 28 DET AL 36 34 10 3 1 11 14 0 252 217 92 78 64 2.79 20 1024 923 43 4 7 11 23 6 17 11 12 0 0 2 .235 .291 .355 .646 76 2nd in ERA; 1st in SO 5 Nolan Ryan 142 .333 270 1987 40 HOU NL 34 34 0 0 0 8 16 0 211.2 154 75 65 87 2.76 14 873 771 23 3 2 4 9 1 6 45 7 0 2 10 .200 .284 .292 .576 60 1st in ERA; 1st in SO 6 Roger Clemens 139 .435 257 1996 33 BOS AL 34 34 6 2 0 10 13 0 242.2 216 106 98 106 3.63 19 1032 911 39 7 2 4 4 7 17 30 13 4 1 8 .237 .317 .358 .675 70 7th in ERA; 1st in SO 7 Melido Perez 138 .448 218 1992 26 NYY AL 33 33 10 1 0 13 16 0 247.2 212 94 79 93 2.87 16 1013 901 33 3 5 5 6 8 19 18 18 9 0 13 .235 .308 .332 .640 79 6th in ERA; 2nd in SO 8 Gaylord Perry 128 .469 230 1967 28 SFG NL 39 37 18 3 2 15 17 1 293 231 98 85 84 2.61 20 1178 1077 28 5 17 4 11 2 28 10 8 1 1 13 .214 .273 .305 .578 71 5th in ERA; 3rd in SO 9 Floyd Bannister 125 .480 209 1982 27 SEA AL 35 35 5 3 0 12 13 0 247 225 112 94 77 3.43 32 1022 927 45 3 0 3 10 5 17 18 12 2 0 6 .243 .301 .401 .702 88 8th in ERA; 1st in SO 10 Bert Blyleven 125 .448 219 1976 25 TOT AL 36 36 18 6 0 13 16 0 297.2 283 106 95 81 2.87 14 1225 1108 33 10 6 12 18 6 35 34 11 0 2 7 .255 .312 .341 .653 89 9th in ERA; 3rd in SO 11 Mike Mussina 125 .423 210 2000 31 BAL AL 34 34 6 1 0 11 15 0 237.2 236 105 100 46 3.79 28 987 924 47 3 0 3 8 6 19 16 3 0 0 3 .255 .291 .404 .695 78 3644 2419 3rd in ERA; 3rd in SO
At least among these pitchers, Ryan was the only won to win 2/3 of the triple crown.
October 2nd, 2009 at 1:09 am
In 1925, Lefty Grove led the AL in ERA and strikeouts, and was 13-13. I looked at the years 1901 through 1945, and that was as close as anyone came.
October 2nd, 2009 at 11:20 am
On a related toppic, what has the worst winning percentage been for a league leader in wins?
is there a way to find this on PI?
October 2nd, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Phil Niekro led the NL in wins in 1979, with 21. He also led in losses, with 20, for a .512 mark. I don't know whether anyone has done worse.
October 2nd, 2009 at 6:23 pm
In 1881, rookie pitcher Grasshopper Jim Whitney led the NL with 31 wins. But he lost 33, putting him at .484 for the year.