Having now won a World Series, is Justin Verlander guaranteed to make the Hall of Fame?
Guaranteed? No, in either an absolute sense or one of merely strong confidence. No one is guaranteed the Hall. The voting writers are a mercurial lot, many prone to petty vendettas for imagined reasons.Moving on from that, while it is a nice achievement that Verlander has enjoyed a championship, know that World Series titles play an insignificant role in Hall elections. Winning is — pay attention and do get this right for the rest of your lives — a TEAM ACCOMPLISHMENT. Some players serve a stronger role than others, but it is the team that wins games, berths, postseason series, the trophy.Those players who are honored by election to the Hall’s rolls got there because they were great players, and if a title or two came their way, that may have added some polish to their resumes, but was never the necessary final plank.There is one exception to this: primary Yankees players who do NOT win a title get penalized, because expectations for the franchise are set so high. And here, the posterboy is Don Mattingly. Squint enough and Donnie could look like Hall material, but a lifelong Yankee without a title? That’s a level of historical failure which makes voters blanch. If he DID have a ring, that might (might!) have vaulted him in; but no ring, no plaque.
Who would be in your starting pitching rotation of MLB pitchers be if - you could only choose 1 pitcher from each decade 50s through this decade? The extra pitchers chosen could be in the bullpen for relief.
Thanks for the A2A Harry:This is a great question which requires a little work to answer.For the 1950’s I immediately thought of Warren Spahn. This is primarily because of the stories my Dad told about him since he was a Braves fan. But I wanted to see if that was statistically a good pick so I am attaching a link to a Bleacher Report article that covers the pitchers of the 1950’s exceptionally well.MLBs 10 Best Starting Pitchers of the 1950s: Ford, Roberts, Spahn?1960’s:I went with Bob Gibson who was a dominant power pitcher. Again, I have some familial bias since my uncle was a Cardinals fan but Gibson had in excess of 250 wins which is chronicled in another Bleacher Report article. They have Gibson behind Marichal for the top spot and who am I to argue…I was born in ‘68!MLBs 10 Best Starting Pitchers of the 1960s: Gibson, Koufax, Marichal?1970’s:Tom Seaver. I don’t have a Bleacher Report ranking on this one but I don’t think there’s a ton of argument to be had. He had 311 wins, the bulk of which came in the 70’s. He also had over 3,600 strikeouts…amazing stuff. I’m attaching a posting of all his stats.Tom Seaver Stats | Baseball-Reference.com1980’s:Roger Clemens…begrudgingly for obvious reasons. Also, this decade is up for much debate. Back to Bleacher Report for comparisons!The 20 Best Starting Pitchers of the '80s1990’s:Greg Maddux. Some great choices for this one but I think The Professor was the best of the decade.The 30 Best Starting Pitchers of the '90s2000–2009:Randy JOHNSON. This was a no-brainer for me. Total domination.10 Best Starting Pitchers of the 2000's2010–2018:Justin Verlander…but not by much. Difficult choice. I almost went with Kershaw and I wouldn’t argue with anyone who did. Certainly Scherzer is in the conversation.I hope this helps….you made me work!
Is the curve ball becoming obsolete in MLB baseball with the increased use of the cutter and slider?
The one-sentence answer is: No; cutter and slider use has come at the expense of the fastball, not the curveball.Now, the details:Fangraphs has pitch usage data as far back as 2002. Let’s have a look at what the numbers say. (Note to people reading this after the 2018 season completes; the regular season is still a week away from finishing as I write this so the final numbers may be slightly different)In 2002, 11.2% of all pitches thrown were curveballs.From 2003 to 2005, curveball usage dropped to 8.5%.Since then, it has climbed more or less steadily; in 2018, it was 10.4%.The total number of pitches has gone up a little bit, from 698,000 in 2002 to 721,000 in 2017.Now, keep in mind that these numbers can be greatly influenced by just a few major league starting pitchers. Bauer, Nola, Godley, Morton and Quintana are some well-known pitchers who have thrown a lot of curveballs (25+%) across a lot of innings (160+) in 2018.Meanwhile, you’ve got Keuchel, Urena, Gausman, Severino and Freeland who have all thrown exactly zero curveballs across 160+ innings. But those guys are the exceptions, at least for starters. Out of 62 major league starters in 2018, 35 of them threw curveballs more than 10.4% of the time. That’s more than half. Only 10 major league starting pitchers with 160+ innings didn’t throw a curveball.Looking at the 2002 numbers, we’ve got 52 out of 85 pitchers with 160+ innings who have thrown more than the league average number of curveballs. Some notable curveball throwers from that time: Mussina, Halladay, AJ Burnett, Matt Morris, and of course Mark Buehrle. Of those 85 starters, 18 of them threw no curveballs at all. This includes big-innings guys like Big Unit, Al Leiter, Ryan Dempster, Tim Hudson and Roger Clemens.So…. sounds like things are more or less the same. Some big-name pitchers live or die on their curve, some never use it.Last thing: There were no identifiable cutters thrown in MLB until 2004. That number has grown to about 5.5%. Use of the slider has gone up from 13.6% in 2002 to 17% in 2018. Fastball use dropped from 64.4% in 2002 to 55% in 2018.
Will there ever be a 30-game winner in the major leagues again?
Very, very doubtful.As everyone else has stated, there are fewer starts than compared to the Denny McClain era when he won 31 in 1968.Also remember that 1968 was the era of the pitcher. In 1967, umps called a hitter-friendly zone. They over-titled the following year when Gibby posted his crazy 1.12 ERA. That lead to a lowering of the mound the following year.But the other reason is that we live in the 100-pitch era too. Owners have a lot invested in their prized pitchers. To allow them to go deep every game pitching 120, 130, and 140 pitches is way too risky.Nothing is impossible, but I believe we’ve seen our last 30-game winner. Or should that be our parents?