From the Mound to Memory: The Best Team Pitching Performances in the World Series

With the 2021 MLB Postseason underway, it is time to focus on the most important aspect of a baseball roster: the starting rotation.  Yes, lineups are still important, but no team can win the World Series without reliable pitching.  For every 2B Bill Mazeroski walk-off there is a SP Jack Morris ten-inning shutout to win Game 7.  Managers today hook their starters earlier and earlier in playoff games, but in a short series they also turn to starting pitchers in relief.  In Wednesday’s NL Wild Card Game, the Los Angeles Dodgers showed how important shutdown pitching is, but they needed a parade of relievers to outlast the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-1.  With all this in mind, here are some of the most memorable team pitching performances in the playoffs.

1963 LA Dodgers

It would be a stretch to call the Dodgers in the 50’s and 60’s a dynasty, but they were pretty close to one.  In an era of New York Yankees dominance, the Dodgers won the World Series in 1955 and 1959, the former being just a year before the end of 2B Jackie Robinson’s career and their time in Brooklyn.  In the new decade, the Dodgers rode a legendary duo and a solid #3 to convincing championships in 1963 and 1965.

In 1963, the Dodgers easily swept the Yankees, allowing just four total runs in four games.  At the height of his baseball prowess, SP Sandy Koufax pitched two complete games with 23 strikeouts and only three runs allowed.  Fellow Hall of Famer SP Don Drysdale pitched a complete game shutout only giving up three hits in the process.  And “Hall of Very Good” member SP Johnny Podres had the weak start of the bunch, only going 8.1 innings.

Unsurprisingly, the trio had an outsized influence on the series.  By championship win probability added, a stat that measures how likely a team wins the World Series based on a certain player’s contributions, these three were easily the most important.  Drysdale added 15%, while Koufax and Podres added over 12% each.  No position player on the Dodgers had more than 6%.  Koufax won the MVP award that season and the first of his three Cy Youngs.

1969 New York Mets

The Miracle Mets, despite winning 100 games, were heavy underdogs against a stacked Baltimore Orioles team.  1969 was the first of three consecutive seasons where the Birds won 100-plus games and made the World Series each time, winning it all in 1970.  But the Mets took them down in five games to claim the young franchise’s first title.

The Mets were led by SP Tom Seaver, who won the first of three Cy Youngs that year and finished second in MVP voting.  In the World Series, he pitched well but not his best, with a 3.00 ERA in fifteen innings.  He took split decisions in his two starts, including a complete game win in ten innings.  The man behind him was SP Jerry Koosman, a notable pitcher in a similar vein to Podres and a better resume.  Koosman won games two and five, including a complete game.  He allowed four runs in 17.2 innings.

Who was the main reliever on the Mets at the time?  Oh, a 22-year-old by the name of Nolan Ryan.  The HOF flamethrower earned a save in Game 3 at the beginning of a lengthy and impressive career.  He was a starter for much of that year, but only moved to the rotation full time in 1972 with the California Angels.

1995 Atlanta Braves

When the Braves took down Cleveland in Game 6 to win the 1995 World Series, announcer Bob Costas said “the team of the 90’s has its championship”.  That quote did not hold up after the Yankees won four of the next five titles, but it made sense at the time.  Behind a trio of Hall of Famers in the rotation, the Braves were consistently great and were in the middle of winning ten straight NL East titles.

The Braves repeatedly reached the postseason behind SP’s Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz.  Smoltz gave up four runs in his only start and was hooked in the third inning, but his buddies on the mound made up for it.  Maddux, the best of the three, won his two starts with a 2.25 ERA in 16 innings, including a complete game.  He won the last of four straight Cy Youngs in ‘95. Glavine was even better that series, with a 1.29 ERA, good enough to win both of his starts.  In the decisive Game 6, Glavine pitched eight shutout innings to win World Series MVP.  His cWPA was a whopping 29%, one of the highest all time.

2001 Arizona Diamondbacks

The most memorable moment of the 2001 World Series is OF Luis Gonzalez walking off on CP Mariano Rivera in Game 7, but the D-Backs only got to that point because of an amazing pitching duo.  SP’s Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling won co-MVP awards for the series because of their heavy workload and shutdown efforts.

Johnson made two starts but won three games, famously pitching in relief in Game 7 after starting Game 6.  He pitched to a 1.04 ERA, with just two runs in 17.1 innings.  He added 31% to the Diamondbacks’ chances of winning, even higher than Glavine.  Johnson won his fourth Cy Young that season, and the third of four in a row.

Schilling made three starts but only got one win and two tough no-decisions.  He gave up four runs in 21.1 innings, equaling a 1.69 ERA.  You might remember his postseason heroics in 2004, also against the Yankees.

2019 Washington Nationals

By far the most recent team on this list, the 2019 Nats will still be remembered for their three dynamic starters many decades from now.  With a weak bullpen, the Nationals rode SP’s Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, and Patrick Corbin as much as they could to a well-earned title.  They upset the Houston Astros in seven games, with the road team winning all seven.

Future-HOFer Scherzer pitched through two grueling starts, when he was clearly out of gas and lacking his usual stuff.  He had a good 3.60 ERA and gave his team the chance to win.  Potential HOFer Strasburg was better, with a 2.51 ERA and the same runs allowed but in four more innings.  He took home WS MVP and a big payday that winter.  Corbin only started one game that series but made two crucial relief appearances, also holding a 3.60 ERA.  By pitching in more games, Corbin had the highest cWPA with 22.18%, followed by Strasburg at 19.73% and Scherzer with 6.03%.

 

Will we see a rotation go the limit this year and push their team to a championship?  I say yes, as SP’s Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Freddy Peralta, and the Milwaukee Brewers are my pick to win the 2021 World Series.