Pitcher A vs. Pitcher B

The two following pitchers have pitched a full season, and these are their final statistics. Which pitcher had the better year?

Pitcher A vs. Pitcher B:

W/L Record
Pitcher A: 18-4 (33 Games Started, 214.3 Innings Pitched)
Pitcher B: 16-14 (35 Games Started, 245.7 Innings Pitched)

ERA
Pitcher A: 2.98
Pitcher B: 2.60

Hits Allowed
Pitcher A: 169 (7.1 H/9)
Pitcher B: 177 (6.5 H/9)

Strikeouts
Pitcher A: 281 (9.2 K/9)
Pitcher B: 290 (10.6 K/9)

Base on Balls Allowed
Pitcher A: 79 (3.3 BB/9)
Pitcher B: 44 (1.6 BB/9)

K/BB
Pitcher A: 281/79 (3.56/9)
Pitcher B: 290/44 (6.59/1)

Homeruns Allowed
Pitcher A: 15 (.6 HR/9)
Pitcher B: 18 (.7 HR/9)

Opponents Batting Average
Pitcher A: .217
Pitcher B: .197

WHIP (Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched)
Pitcher A: 1.16
Pitcher B: 0.90


Unless one believes that W-L record means alot, it is 100%, completely obvious that pitcher B had the better season.

But, that one person(s) that does believe that a pitchers W-L record does mean alot is the committee that decides who wins the Cy Young award.

Since they believe that this statistic--which is a statistic that is not completely under the control of the pitcher himself, and therefore it is NOT fair indicator of a pitchers performance--is more important than the other presented statistics--which the pitcher DOES HAVE COMPLETE CONTROL OF--this committee gave the Cy Young award to Pitcher A, which happens to be the 2004 version of Houston Astros pitcher Roger Clemens.

Pitcher B is the 2004 version of Arizona Diamondback pitcher Randy Johnson, who clearly deserved the award, but was snubbed because his team could not score enough runs to prevent him from losing so many games. It is kind of surprising that he managed to win 16 games, on such a horrible team--Arizona's record in 2004 was 51-111.

Thank you for reading.

Frank Bundy III

If you have any questions, concerns, comments, or suggestions, please do not hesitate to email me at frnkbndy@yahoo.com.