1-0 Games Abounded in 2010
Posted by Raphy on October 5, 2010
One of the more exciting results of the decrease in run scoring this season was the remarkable number of 1-0 games that were played. Overall, there were 62 1-0 shutouts, thrown by 23 different teams , with the Padres, Phillies and Dodgers leading the way with six apiece. 25 different teams were defeated in those 1-0 games, with the Nationals, Giants and Reds victimized the most with 5 losses apiece. Only the Tigers did not participate in any 1-0 games in 2010.
Those 62 1-0 games tied for the 11th most in a season since 1901. Of course, the various expansions of teams and seasons have given us a much larger sample of games than in the past; but even as a percentage of games played, the 2.6% of the games that were 1-0 were the most since 1992 and the 5th highest since 1977. The highest percentage (1901-2010) occurred in 1908 with the 80 1-0 shutouts representing 6.43% of the total games. Here are the seasons with the highest percentages since 1977.
| Rk | Year | Games | 1-0 W | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1992 | 2106 | 58 | 0.0275404 |
| 2 | 1989 | 2106 | 57 | 0.0270655 |
| 3 | 1988 | 2100 | 56 | 0.0266667 |
| 4 | 1991 | 2104 | 55 | 0.0261407 |
| 5 | 2010 | 2430 | 62 | 0.0255144 |
| 6 | 1978 | 2102 | 51 | 0.0242626 |
| 7 | 1980 | 2105 | 47 | 0.0223278 |
| 8 | 1986 | 2103 | 46 | 0.0218735 |
| 9 | 1985 | 2103 | 44 | 0.0209225 |
| 10 | 1990 | 2105 | 43 | 0.0204276 |
October 5th, 2010 at 8:56 pm
How many of these were complete games as opposed to 1908 or even 1992 or 1978?
October 5th, 2010 at 10:08 pm
Speaking of 1-0 games in baseball history, in 1964 Dean Chance of the L.A. Angels (with an 82-80 record), who had a record of 20-9 with a major league-leading 1.65 E.R.A. and won the Cy Young Award (then one award covering both A.L. and N.L.), won five 1-0 games among his 11 shoutouts (also leading the majors). I wonder what pitcher, if not Dean Chance, won the most 1-0 games in a single season.
October 5th, 2010 at 10:09 pm
Oh, by the way, Dean Chance in 1964 had 15 complete games.
October 5th, 2010 at 11:46 pm
Dean Chance is in a tie with Reb Russell, 1913; Walter Johnson, 1913 and again in 1919; Joe Bush, 1918; and Carl Hubbell, 1933, all of whom won 5 1-0 games in the given season.
October 6th, 2010 at 12:13 am
I know of at least two pitchers who lost five 1-0 games in a single season: George McQuillan, Phillies, 1908; and Ferguson Jenkins, Cubs, 1968.
October 6th, 2010 at 6:58 am
That record is in the same book, but I'm here now, and it's there. I'll look it up next time I'm there and report back (if no one beats me to it).
October 6th, 2010 at 8:30 am
It's interesting that 7 of the 8 seasons from 1985-1992 are in the top 10. I don't think of that period as being especially dominated by the pitchers.
October 6th, 2010 at 8:37 am
#7 with the mysterious 1987 being the only one missing. Does anyone have a good reason for the offensive explosion of 87?
October 6th, 2010 at 8:47 am
Iirc, 1987 was a very hot year in the midwest. It was a year when there was a drought.
October 6th, 2010 at 9:06 am
Looking at shutouts in general:
There were 329 shutouts this year, more than any year since 1972 (357). As a percentage of games played, shutouts comprised 6.8% of all games in 2010, 9.6% in 1972. The 2010 shutout pct. of 6.8% was on a par with that of 1992 (7.1%), the last year of the pre-PED era.
Shutouts were up 20.5% from 2009 to 2010, and up 70.5% since 1999.
To give some scoring context to all this, here are the MLB R/G averages for selected seasons:
-- 2010, 4.38
-- 2009, 4.61
-- 2006, 4.86
-- 2005, 4.59
-- 2000, 5.14 (highest average in this era; 50% higher than 1968))
-- 1994, 4.92
-- 1993, 4.60
-- 1992, 4.12
-- 1988, 4.14
-- 1987, 4.72
-- 1986, 4.41
-- 1982, 4.30
-- 1981, 4.00
-- 1980, 4.29
-- 1978, 4.10
-- 1977, 4.47 (expansion year)
-- 1976, 3.99 (most recent year below 4)
-- 1973, 4.21 (first year with DH; AL avg. 4.28, NL 4.15)
-- 1972, 3.69 (last year before DH; AL avg. 3.47, NL 3.91)
-- 1971, 3.89
-- 1970, 4.34
-- 1969, 4.07 (expansion; mounds lowered, etc. in response to '69)
-- 1968, 3.42
If I have a point, it's this: I'm as fascinated as anyone by the decline in scoring this year, but it's too soon to draw any conclusions about why it's happened. Yes, it's been the lowest-scoring year since 1992. Yet the scoring gap between this year and last (less than 1/4 of a run), or between this year and a couple others in the PED era, is not statistically significant by itself; it's well within the range of normal yearly fluctuation. Look at the decline from 1970-71 -- almost half a run. What caused that?
I don't dismiss the possibility that PED use has declined substantially. But neither would I dismiss the seemingly crackpot theory that the rise in pitching prowess was more psychological than physical, on two fronts: (1) pitchers who *believed* that hitters were mostly off the juice would tend to be more confident, leading to better results; and (2) fans and media started calling 2010 "the year of the pitcher" as early as May, perhaps creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Or maybe none of the above is the primary cause; and maybe there *is* no primary cause. We'll know a lot more in a few years.
October 6th, 2010 at 9:25 am
@8, @9,
1987 was ridiculous. I did a search for all players with 400+ PA and .900 OPS for years 1982 to 1992 (after the 1981 strike and before 1993 expansion).
1982-1986, 1988-1992 varied from 7 to 13 players matching the criteria.
1987 (right in the middle of the time period checked) had 26 players (even more than the 1993 expansion year which had 21).
Boy it would be nice to know what happened that year (other than Andre Dawson, Mark McGwire and Jorge Bell going nuts).
October 6th, 2010 at 9:53 am
Roger Clemens lost five 1-0 games in 2005 (no CGs, of course), including three in a row in April when he gave up 0 R over 21 IP. His team was shutout 9 times when he pitched, which I think I remember seeing was the most since Jenkins in '68.
October 6th, 2010 at 11:53 am
Even more strange was that Felix Hernandez lost 37 of those 1-0 games this year.
October 6th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Here's a good article at Hardball Times about changes in home run rates. The conclusion was that it looks like it was the ball.
October 7th, 2010 at 12:39 am
Most 1-0 games lost, season: 5, by Bill Donovan (1903), George McQuillan (1908), Jack Warhop (1914), Roger Craig (1963), Jim Bunning (1967), and Ferguson Jenkins (1968). Of Warhop's five 1-0 losses, three were to the Washington Senators, making him the only pitcher ever to lose three 1-0 games to the same team in one season.
In 1908, when McQuillan lost five 1-0 games, he also won two 1-0 games.