Last year he had the largest margin between his ERA > and that of the second place pitcher in history - and he had it by a lot. > He also had the largest margin between his ERA and that of the league > average. Again, by a lot.
But aside from the impossibility of comparing athletes in different eras what does this mean. Think about it.The ERA for the league is higher. There is in fact almost no upper limit to the ERA a pitcher or the league can have. But there is a lower limit. No one can have an ERA of less than 0. So Gibson and Kofax may not have been seperated from the other pitchers statistically by that much but they could have been as dominant or more dominant. Bluntly, Gautam I think this is hogwash. The people who can judge. Players and managers and commentators who have seen all pitchers over the past 40 years do not make the same claim. They acknowledge Pedro's greatness but they talk about Kofax and Gibson with awe. The only people who could know are those who have watched all of these guys pitch with an expertise that us fans cannot understand. > Pedro's last two seasons are the two best by any > >. > I am willing to > say with a fair degree of certainty - without looking it up - that the > Mariners have a winning record against the Yankees this season. The season is irrelevant. It is what you have done in th post season. The Yankees have been special in the post season. This Mariner team has yet to show that they can be. Finally, > note the influence of the unbalanced schedule. Gautam - The regular season has only one purpose. Get to the playoffs as healthy as possible. As I have said before it is all in the end game. The only thing that is important is how far you will go in the playoffs. Stats are useful for trying to figure out how to put together a team that can win but they are not how we judge team sport success. To be the best you must win it all. > Note that I'm not saying the Yankees won't win. A 5 or 7 game series is > just a flip of the coin. The worst team in baseball could take a 7 game > series from the best. Are you serious? When has this happened? You love your stats so much - how often have wild cards won the series in or any other major championship. Surely you cannot believe that what the Yanks have done to the rest of baseball over the past five years is luck. If that is the way you look at the world remind me not to let you do anything meaningful for me. I'm just saying that the A's and Mariners are better > teams, and will _probably_ win. You have it backwards. If they win they will provide evidence that they are better teams. If they do it twice or three times or 4 times in the next 5 years they will prove they are better teams. > > Gautam
