Of MLB's undefeated starting pitchers, who's the "best" -- defined as "most likely to end up with a Cy Young Award"?
Cliff Lee (6-0) | 10 (5.41%) |
Daisuke Matsuzaka (5-0) | 9 (4.86%) |
Ervin Santana (6-0) | 4 (2.16%) |
Joe Saunders (6-0) | 3 (1.62%) |
Ben Sheets (4-0) | 4 (2.16%) |
Brandon Webb (8-0) | 155 (83.78%) |
185 votes | 6 featured comments
There is a whole passel of relievers at 3-0 or 2-0, but they are not included here.
I almost posted this as just a Lee v. Webb thread -- I personally think they are the only two legitimately dominant undefeateds -- but decided to expand it a bit so went with the poll.
Defined as "most likely to end up with a Cy Young Award" it is definitely Webb, who is a perennial Cy Young contender even when he doesn't start the year by winning 8 straight. Now that he has all those wins ... I mean he could end up winning 27 games or something, which would mean that even if Santana gets hot in the 2nd half, finishes 21-6 with a 213 ERA+, Webb will still win the award, if you know what I mean.
But as for 'best,' the answer is Lee, clearly. Has there ever been a better April (hmm ... can we find this out)? 39Ks against 2BBs is particularly impressive. Nothing fluky about that.
But as for 'best,' the answer is Lee, clearly. Has there ever been a better April (hmm ... can we find this out)? 39Ks against 2BBs is particularly impressive. Nothing fluky about that.
Doesn't Webb already have a Cy Young award? I would think that would either disqualify him, or guarantee that he will end up with one
(or did you mean this year?)
(or did you mean this year?)
I'm with mathesond on Webb, taking advantage of Mick's inadvertent ambiguity. The probability that Webb will end up with a Cy, given that he already has one, is exactly 1. Nobody listed here (or not listed here) can beat that.
Prediction: The punchless Blue Jays run over Cliff Lee on Monday.
This makes me think of this poll from 2 years ago. Yup, W-L can be very bad way to evaluate a pitcher, even with a sample size of over 600 innings.