Sunday, September 13, 2009
Longest stretch without a 16-game winning pitcher
Posted by Chris JaffeHere's a random factoid for you: the Pirates haven't had a 16-game winner since 1991. They ain't bloody likely to get one this year, either. How does their 18 consecutive seasons without having a single stinking pitcher win 16 games stack up across history? Well, below are the longest stretches in MLB history where a franchise failed to produce 16 wins for one hurler:
18 PIT 1992-2009
12 TBR 1998-2009
11 PHI 1936-1946
11 MIL 1994-2004
10 BAL 2000-2009
9 PIT 1981-1989
9 WAS 1961-1969
There's an obvious era bias at work, which shouldn't be too surprising given the reduced workloads for modern pitchers. Those 1930s/40s Phillies sure did suck. The entire time FDR was president, they best showing was next-to-last in the NL. I find it amazing that the Rays won the pennant last year without any a 16-game winner.
Even still, the Pittsburgh stretch stands out in this crowd.
History instructor by day, statnerd by night, Chris Jaffe leads one of the most exciting double lives imaginable; with the exception of every other double life possible to imagine. Despite his lack of comic-book-hero-worthiness, Chris enjoys farting around with this stuff. His new book, Evaluating Baseball's Managers is available for order. Chris welcomes responses to his articles via e-mail. Oh, and now he's on twitter.