Major League Baseball’s postseason has seen its fair share of dominating starting pitching throughout its existence, but who’s the best?
Boy, Wednesday night’s Wild Card showdown of Noah Syndergaard and Madison Bumgarner was nothing less than a classic duel.
Thor was brilliant by dealing seven shutout innings, striking out 10, surrendering just two hits and three walks, on 108 pitches but was outlasted by one of the best postseason performers the game has to offer.
Bumgarner, who has not allowed a single run in 23-innings pitched of do-or-die baseball, shut down the Mets and sent his San Francisco Giants to the National League Division Series.
So, that duel justifiably sparked the question: who is the greatest starting pitcher in postseason history?
Does Bumgarner truly compare to Bob Gibson or Sandy Koufax or other legendary pitchers the game has to offer? Elite Sports NY attempted to answer that puzzling question.
Without further adieu, here are the best starting pitchers in postseason history.
Honorable Mentions:
Waite Hoyt: 12 G (11 GS), 6-4, 1.83 ERA, 83.2 IP, 49 K’s
Hoyt was a machine in the 1921 World Series for the New York Yankees. Over three games against New York Giants, the future Hall Of Famer (inducted in 1969) tossed 27 innings of scoreless innings and played a significant role for the Yankees’ team that won consecutive titles in 1927-28.
Andy Pettitte: 44 G (44 GS) 19-11, 3.81 ERA, 276.2, 183 K’s
Shocked Pettitte didn’t crack our list? Don’t be. Sure, his notable 19 postseason wins are the most in history, but his categorization of a “big time” playoff performer is influenced by 44 starts (easily the most). The southpaw does have memorable outings — like Game 5 of the 1996 World Series in which he outdueled John Smoltz — but in 10 out of the 32 series he performed in, his ERA was over 5.00 and most remember his choke in Game 5 of the 2000 AL Division Series more than his “dominance.”
Other notables: Tom Glavine (14-16, 3.30 ERA), Red Ruffing (7-2, 2.63), Jim Palmer (8-3, 2.61)
10. Art Nehf
12 G (9 GS), 4-4, 2.16 ERA, 79 IP, 6 CG, 2 SHO
Nehf’s numbers don’t pop out and slap you, but his 1921 World Series performance was unprecedented, even two years removed from the “Dead Ball Era” in baseball.
Facing the Yankees, Nehf pitched Game 2, Game 5, and even Game 8 (back when the series was decided in nine games). The best part was, he managed a 1.38 ERA and managed to toss a complete game in each.
Overall, he racked up 26 innings in a week and slammed the door with a four-hit shutout in Game 8 against Babe Ruth’s Yanks to clinch the series for the New York Giants.
In his 12 career playoff outings, Nehf held his opponents to a .187/.273/.240 slash line and threw a complete game in six of his nine starts (67%).
9. Orel Hershiser
22 G (18 GS) 8-3, 2.59 ERA, 132.0 IP, 10.4 K/9
Hershiser is mostly known for his 1988 postseason performance in which he took home both the NLCS and World Series MVP Awards.
Just three days after his last start and two days after recording a save, the righty shut out the Mets in Game 7 of the NLCS but wasn’t quite finished.
In the World Series against the Oakland Athletics, Hershiser tossed two complete games (one shutout) while allowing just two earned runs. Overall, he tossed 42.2 innings in just 19 days and permitted only seven runs to score without surrendering a home run.
Though he was known for his dominance in Los Angeles, Hershiser also found success with Cleveland by going 5-1 in the 1995 playoffs including yet another MVP performance in the ALCS.
8. Whitey Ford
22 GS, 10-8, 2.71 ERA, 146 IP, 7 CG
Ford, an all-time Yankees’ great, earned his Hall Of Fame induction in 1974 primarily thanks to his ability to rise to the occasion in the postseason.
Ford’s greatest performance came in Game 1 of the 1961 World Series, where he tossed a two-hit shutout with six strikeouts against the Cincinnati Reds.
What was more impressive, however, was the fact that it marked his third straight complete game shutout in World Series play dating back to Game 3 and 6 of the 1960 series.
Going through Ford’s postseason game log, you’ll notice that although he never pitched in a Game 7, on three occasions he earned a win to send the series to a “do or die” game.
7. George Earnshaw
8 GS, 4-3, 1.58 ERA, 62.2 IP, 5 CG
There is, perhaps, no better World Series performance than when Earnshaw took the mound in the 1930 World Series for the Philadelphia Athletics.
Facing the St. Louis Cardinals, the righty went 3-0 in three starts in seven days including two complete games and a two-hit seven-inning performance in Game 5.
Owning a 0.72 ERA in the series, Earnshaw wasn’t done there as the following year he pitched another gem against the Cardinals in Game 4 of the 1931 Fall Classic.
In shutout fashion, Earnshaw evened the series up by tossing with a two-hit, one-walk, eight-strikeout shutout in front of a crowd of 32,295.
6. Curt Schilling
19 GS, 11-2, 2.23 ERA, 133.1 IP, 120 K’s
Schilling is one of the best postseason starters in the 21st century.
In 2001, the right-hander maintained a 1.12 ERA in six games (48.1 innings) while striking out 56 batters compared to just six walks. Schilling took home the World Series MVP honors by holding the Yankees to just four runs in 21.1 innings of work.
Sure, that might be the best we’ve seen from him, but Schilling will forever be known for his bloody sock in the 2004 ALCS.
In Game 6, Schilling’s sock was saturated with blood from the opened stitches used from surgery on his ankle, but he nevertheless surrendered just one run to the Yankees in seven solid innings, giving up just four hits while striking out four.
5. Sandy Koufax
8 G (7 GS), 4-3, 0.95, 57 IP, 9.6 K/9
The two-time World Series MVP may not have had a surplus of opportunities to command the postseason, but he made the most of his 57 innings of experience.
Koufax is most commemorated for his performance in the 1965 Fall Classic in which he gave up just one earned run across three starts against the Minnesota Twins.
In Game 5, the lefty struck out 10 en route to a complete game shutout and got the call once again when the Twins forced a Game 7 back at Metropolitan Stadium.
With all the momentum in favor of Minnesota, Koufax, on three days rest, pieced together a complete game shutout while striking out 10.
In three starts that series, he managed a 0.38 ERA and an opponents batting average of .160 while striking out 29 batters in 24 innings.
4. John Smoltz
41 G (27 GS), 15-4, 209 IP, 199 K’s, 4 SV
Yes, this a list of the best starting pitchers in postseason play, but Smoltz served as both a productive starter and reliever during his Hall Of Fame career.
For starters, Smoltz’s most memorable game was Game 7 of the 1991 NLCS in which he tossed a six-hit shutout with eight strikeouts against the Twins. He would get the call in Game 7 of that season’s World Series and lose at no fault of his own (7.1 IP, 0 ER, 4 K’S).
In the 1996 playoffs, he dialed it up against the Dodgers, Cardinals, and Yankees by maintaining an overall ERA of 0.95 in 38 innings.
Smoltz’s only loss came in Game 5 of the 1996 World Series which, again, came at no blunder of his own. The righty went eight strong innings while striking out ten against New York but his one unearned run handed him his exclusive loss of that year’s playoffs.
In two of his four career postseason losses, Smoltz allowed zero earned runs. So, his numbers don’t even do him justice here.
Some could even claim that if the ball just rolled his way once in a while, he’d be an undefeated playoff pitcher.
3. Madison Bumgarner
15 G (13 GS), 8-3, 1.94 ERA, 97.1 IP, 83 K’s, 3 CG (3 SHO)
After yet another display of his ability to completely overpower a lineup under immense pressure, this guy is making a pressing case to top this list.
On Wednesday night, after tossing a complete game shutout against the New York Mets at Citi Field during the NL Wild Card Game, Bumgarner lowered his postseason ERA to 1.94, the lowest of any starter with at least 12 postseason starts.
Over his last eight postseason games on the road, he is 8-0 with a 0.50 ERA and his four career shutouts in the playoffs sits one shy of the record set by Christy Matheson.
And who could forget his legendary 2014 postseason?
In seven appearances the lefty went 6-1 with a 1.03 ERA including 45 strikeouts and even pitched in five shutout innings of relief in Game 7 of the World Series, beating the Kansas City Royals.
It’s hard to come to grips with it, sometimes, but Bumgarner is straight up making history and is one or two shutouts away from topping this distinguished list.
2. Christy Mathewson
11 GS, 5-5, 0.97 ERA, 101.2 IP, 10 CG (4 SHO)
If you read that stat line correctly, yes, Christy Mathewson went the distance in 10 out of 11 total starts in his postseason career.
That stretch of dominance commenced in 1905, where the Hall Of Fame right-hander pitched in Game 1, 3, and 5 of the World Series and did not, by any means, disappoint.
In those three starts, Mathewson threw three complete game shutouts while yielding just one walk in 27 innings of work in just five days. It would be his only World Series title, but his stellar postseason play didn’t stop.
Mathewson would go on to maintain a 1.33 ERA over his final eight starts and while he was only a winner in two of them (11 unearned runs were scored off him) he set — and still owns — the major league playoff record for complete games and shutouts.
1. Bob Gibson
9 GS, 7-2, 1.89 ERA, 81.0 IP, 8 CG (2 SHO), 92 K’s
Gibson brought home the World Series MVP honors in each of his first two trips to the Fall Classic and it wasn’t even fair.
In the 1964 series against the Yankees, Gibson went 2-1 with two complete games while striking out 31 batters in 27 innings of work.
He returned to the great stage in 1967 where he tossed three complete games — including a Game 7 win on two day’s rest —against the Boston Red Sox to fuel the Cardinals to three of their four total victories in the series.
As great as those accomplishments are, Gibson’s best was yet to come.
In Game 1 of the 1968 World Series, against the Detroit Tigers, the 1981 Hall Of Fame inductee struck out 17 batters which still, to this day, stands as a postseason record.
Overall, Gibson’s display was just unimaginable. Eight shutouts in nine total starts, the record for most K’s in a playoff game and takes the throne as ESNY’s best playoff pitcher in the history of major league baseball.
What do you think, fans? Was our list of the greatest starting pitchers to ever take the mound during postseason play accurate? Is there anything you would change? Let your voices be heard in the comments below.
Christian Kouroupakis covers the New York Yankees for ESNY. Interact with him and view his daily work by “liking” his facebook page and follow him on Twitter. All statistics are courtesy of Baseball Reference.com unless otherwise noted. Don’t hesitate to shoot him an email with any questions, criticisms, or concerns.