As Major League Baseball announced its 2009 Cy Young Award winners this week – Zack Greinke in the American League, Tim Lincecum in the National League – it marks the second time this decade that neither Cy Young Award winner won as many as 20 games during the season.
In fact, for the second time in this decade, and only the fifth time overall, major league baseball produced not even one 20-game winner.
Does the decline in 20-game winners mean that today’s major league pitchers aren’t what they used to be? “Absolutely,”
“There has definitely been a decline in overall pitching effectiveness since the 1960s,” says Dr. Carroll Conklin (aka Hardball Bob), whose 1960sBaseball.com Web site celebrates the 1960s as baseball’s “real” golden age. “Major league ERAs have risen steadily since the 1960s, while starts and innings pitched have declined.”
“Since the end of the 1970s, the drop in the number of 20-game winners has been especially dramatic,” Conklin explains. “Less is expected of today’s starting pitchers than was true in the 1960s and earlier. And it shows in their stats.”
According to Conklin, the 1960s produced 73 20-game winners in both major leagues. The peak year during that decade was 1969, when 15 pitchers won 20 or more games. “That's more 20-game winners than the National League has produced in the last 10 years combined,” Conklin adds.
This year and the 2006 season are the only ones since 1920 to fail to produce a 20-game winner in a full season. The only other seasons without a 20-game winner were strike-shortened seasons.
Dr. Conklin details the decline in MLB 20-game winners at http://www.1960sbaseball.com/
