Most complete games in the post-season
Posted by Andy on October 21, 2007
Post-season complete games have become a very rare bird lately. There have been just 10 since 2002, with Josh Beckett owning 3 of those.
Oh my, how times have changed. Here are the leaders for most complete games in individual post-seasons:
Year Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+----+-----+-------------------------+ Deacon Phillippe 1903 5 Ind. Games Bill Dinneen 1903 4 Ind. Games Cy Young 1903 3 Ind. Games Hippo Vaughn 1918 3 Ind. Games Luis Tiant 1975 3 Ind. Games Curt Schilling 2001 3 Ind. Games Bobo Newsom 1940 3 Ind. Games Art Nehf 1921 3 Ind. Games George Mullin 1909 3 Ind. Games Carl Mays 1921 3 Ind. Games Christy Mathewson 1905 3 Ind. Games Christy Mathewson 1912 3 Ind. Games Mickey Lolich 1968 3 Ind. Games Walter Johnson 1925 3 Ind. Games Waite Hoyt 1921 3 Ind. Games Orel Hershiser 1988 3 Ind. Games Bob Gibson 1967 3 Ind. Games Bob Gibson 1968 3 Ind. Games Stan Coveleski 1920 3 Ind. Games Jack Coombs 1910 3 Ind. Games Lew Burdette 1957 3 Ind. Games Chief Bender 1911 3 Ind. Games
So, that 1903 World Series was quite a doozie, with the top 3 entries all hailing from that single post-season series. A check of the page for the 1903 World Series reveals that in the 8 games (it was best of 9 back then,) the two teams combined to use only 8 pitchers, with Phillippe, Dinneen, and some guy named Cy Young combining for 113 innings pitched among them, as well as 12 complete games.
Such a performance is pretty much unfathomable today, and it certainly makes Schilling's 2001 performance and Hershiser's 1988 performance quite impressive. By the way, in case you want it, the full list of single-season post-season CG leaders is right here.
As for most post-season CGs in a career, we have the following:
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Christy Mathewson 10 Ind. Games Chief Bender 9 Ind. Games Red Ruffing 8 Ind. Games Bob Gibson 8 Ind. Games Whitey Ford 7 Ind. Games Eddie Plank 6 Ind. Games Jim Palmer 6 Ind. Games Art Nehf 6 Ind. Games George Mullin 6 Ind. Games Dave McNally 6 Ind. Games Waite Hoyt 6 Ind. Games Allie Reynolds 5 Ind. Games Deacon Phillippe 5 Ind. Games Jack Morris 5 Ind. Games Carl Mays 5 Ind. Games Walter Johnson 5 Ind. Games George Earnshaw 5 Ind. Games Bill Donovan 5 Ind. Games Joe Bush 5 Ind. Games Mordecai Brown 5 Ind. Games Curt Schilling 4 Ind. Games Schoolboy Rowe 4 Ind. Games Herb Pennock 4 Ind. Games Sandy Koufax 4 Ind. Games Catfish Hunter 4 Ind. Games Carl Hubbell 4 Ind. Games Orel Hershiser 4 Ind. Games Lefty Grove 4 Ind. Games Burleigh Grimes 4 Ind. Games Lefty Gomez 4 Ind. Games Bill Dinneen 4 Ind. Games Mike Cuellar 4 Ind. Games Stan Coveleski 4 Ind. Games Jack Coombs 4 Ind. Games Eddie Cicotte 4 Ind. Games Lew Burdette 4 Ind. Games Tommy Bridges 4 Ind. Games Pete Alexander 4 Ind. Games
It's a nice mix of recent and distant, and I find it hard to imagine anyone ever matching Mathewson's 10 post-season CGs. The only guys on this list to have pitched at all as recently as 1990 are Schilling, Hershisher, and Jack Morris.