The Arms Race

Sports Illustrated has a photo gallery of the 15 best seasons by a pitcher since the expansion era began in 1961. they cop out without ranking them, but rather provide the pictures in chronological order, earliest to most recent. Argue among yourselves.

The best I have ever seen when he was in his prime?

On Starting Pitching: An Object Lesson

In recent years the Red Sox have enjoyed an embarrassment of riches that one never could have envisioned prior to 2003 or so: More starting pitchers entering most seasons than slots for those pitchers. But let recent bad news bring to mind one of my baseball mantras: There is no such thing as too much starting pitching. There is no such thing as too much starting pitching. Guys get injured, become ineffective, get injured, and sometimes get injured. Better to enter a season with seven legitimate starters and worry about how to find them innings than to worry about finding enough starters to fill those innings. The innings are going to be there. The starters are the X factor.