My choices for the
BBA:
1.
Zach Greinke, Royals
2.16 ERA - lowest in the AL since Pedro's 1.74 in 2000
203 ERA+ - 32nd best season of all-time
2.42 FiP (Fielding Independent Pitching) - lowest in AL
1.073 WHIP - lowest in AL
Per 9 IP: 2nd fewest hits, 5th fewest BB, 1st fewest HR, 3rd most K
33 starts - 1 fewer than Felix/CC; 2 fewer than Verlander
5th in IP - 0.2 fewer than CC
6 complete games; 3 shutouts
In his nine no-decisions, Greinke had a 2.35 ERA -- still good enough to top the American League. And it was a better ERA than every starting pitcher in MLB except for Chris Carpenter (2.24). Greinke's ERA in his losses was still better than the AL average (4.75).
GS ERA IP H R ER BB K WHIP
In Wins 16 1.00 117.1 82 14 13 21 122 0.878
In Losses 8 4.62 50.2 56 32 26 13 59 1.362
In ND 9 2.35 61.1 57 18 16 17 61 1.207
The Royals scored an average of 3.78 runs in Greinke's starts. He had three runs of support or fewer in 19 of his 33 starts.
According to ESPN's Dave Campbell, if CC Sabathia had received the same run support as Greinke, he would have finished the year with a 10-11 record. Greinke's W-L with CC's backing? 24-3.
Top 6 ERA Leaders
Starts With X Runs (Earned & Unearned) Allowed
0 1 2 3 4 5+ 2R or Fewer
Greinke 8 10 5 3 4 3 23 of 33 70%
Hernandez 7 8 6 4 2 7 21 of 34 62%
Halladay 5 6 6 5 4 6 17 of 32 53%
Sabathia 5 9 3 5 3 9 17 of 34 50%
Lester 6 7 4 6 2 7 17 of 32 53%
Verlander 6 6 4 6 4 9 16 of 35 46%
Rany Jazayerli
says that Greinke also pitched in front of the team with the worst defensive efficiency. At the end of August, he wrote:
It's not hyperbole to suggest that, with an even average defense behind him, Greinke's ERA could be in the 1's right now.
Greinke began the season by not allowing an earned run in his first 29.2 innings. After 10 starts, his ERA was only 0.84. It crept above 1.00 for the first time on May 31. That reminded me of Pedro in
2000, when after 12 starts, his ERA was 0.99, though it had been over 1.00 before that. (Jazayerli wrote about Zach/Pedro
back in May.)
John Dewan's
Total Runs metric has Grienke as the American League MVP. Drive Line Mechanics
seems to
agree.
Joe Posnanski
loves Greinke.
2.
Roy Halladay, Blue Jays
3.
Felix Hernandez, Mariners
