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MLBTR Poll: The Starter Of The Decade

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In case you missed it, I named my all-decade lineup for 2010-19 earlier this week. Pitchers were omitted from that piece, but now we’ll dedicate this post to the most successful hurlers from 2010-19, and I’ll leave it up to you select the best one from the previous decade. Realistically, there are only a few pitchers capable of emerging victorious in this poll, but it’s still worthwhile to run down the top 10 from several important categories (minimum 1,000 innings). Playoff performance isn’t listed, but if that factors heavily into your judgment of pitchers, it could affect your choice. Special thanks to FanGraphs for the below data…

ERA:

FIP:

fWAR:

RA-9 WAR:

Strikeouts per nine:

  • 1. Yu Darvish/Chris Sale: 11.12
  • 2. Max Scherzer: 10.69
  • 3. Stephen Strasburg: 10.6
  • 4. Jacob deGrom: 10.25
  • 5. Gerrit Cole: 10.06
  • 6. Chris Archer: 9.84
  • 7. Clayton Kershaw: 9.83
  • 8. Corey Kluber: 9.8
  • 9. Trevor Bauer: 9.51
  • 10. Carlos Carrasco/Justin Verlander: 9.5

Walks per nine:

Cy Young Awards:

Innings:

  • 1. Justin Verlander: 2,142
  • 2. Max Scherzer: 2,063 2/3
  • 3. Clayton Kershaw: 1,995
  • 4. Zack Greinke: 1,984
  • 5. Jon Lester: 1,979 2/3
  • 6. Cole Hamels: 1,955
  • 7. David Price: 1,877 2/3
  • 8. Rick Porcello: 1,860 1/3
  • 9. James Shields: 1,840
  • 10. Madison Bumgarner: 1,836

Wins:

  • 1. Max Scherzer: 161
  • 2. Justin Verlander: 160
  • 3. Clayton Kershaw: 156
  • 4. Zack Greinke: 155
  • 5. Jon Lester: 148
  • 6. David Price: 139
  • 7. Rick Porcello: 135
  • 8. Gio Gonzalez: 122
  • 9. Madison Bumgarner: 119
  • 10. Adam Wainwright: 116

(Poll link for app users)

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Comments

  1. Kershaw is leading the most categories and was probably the most dominant, but Bartolo might just be leading the most important one. Tough choice for me.

    1

      • Robin williams what year is it Jumanji gif

        4

        • Statistically, the best pitcher over the past decade HAS to be whoever has allowed the fewest walks per 9 innings pitched. Let’s see… That would be… Bartolo Colon, by a wide margin in fact. Okay. That’s settled. The best pitcher of the past decade is very clearly Bartolo Colon by a noticeable amount. I’m glad we have proven that scientifically so everyone has to agree.

        • Saying one statistical category should determine the best pitcher is pretty elementary. Using your logic, we should ignore a pitcher that gets hit consistently, has a high ERA, etc. etc. just because they aren’t walking batters at a high rate. Just because a pitcher isn’t walking batters doesn’t mean he’s good. Those batters could be racking up hit after hit, thus the reason for low walks.

      • Tried to vote for Scherzer Burt could not connect. Anyone else have issues?

        2

      • Kershaw should have at least 200 wins. The amount of times he gave up only a run or two and ended up with a no decision is a travesty!

        2

        • Substitute the named Jacob degrom and you could say the same thing. Even more so.

          2

        • 200 wins in 6 seasons? That’s winning practically every start.

          1

        • Should have and actually did are two different things. One physically happened on our Earth. The other is an opinion of what might have happened if all the planets aligned and everything worked out as a projection thought. Personally I am going with actual results that occurred, but feel free to consult your crystal ball to see if you want to agree.

          Not to mention the fact that opposing pitchers for Kershaw were also pitching in Dodger Stadium, so they didn’t give up many runs either. No one ever knocks Kershaw for his splits, but they are pretty big too. He’s still really good on the road too don’t get me wrong, but his ERA at home makes him look like the best pitcher ever instead of one of the top 5 of his generation, which is probably more likely.

        • They might be “big” splits but only twice has his ERA been higher than 3 on the road. Colorado is a thing and actually AZ is a pretty hitter friendly park.

        • Even more so? I have a Mets tattoo…

          You’re fn insane. I love DeGrom but there’s nothing “more so” about him in this talk.

        • Jacob deGrom feels your pain there. He gave a Cy Young performance every night in 2018 & got just 10 wins.

          Clayton Kershaw,Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer & Verlander are hands down the best 4 pitchers of the past decade. The true debate is who is #5??

      • Scherzer number one. The players that won the most are just about in the proper order of the rankings. I’d take Gio out though as there are others that had more impact. Verlander belongs near top as number two. A now washed up Lester also deserves a place on the top 10 list. MadBum also deserves to be up a few spots from 9.

        • Yes. Wins are all that matter for a pitcher. 1970 called, they want their statistician back.

        • I thought wins won world series’. my fault. its decided by new age obscure formulas.

      • …and a World Series title, while Kershaw had none, has a history of being iffy in the playoffs and pitches in a pitching-dominated park and division. The exception of course being Colorado.

        Not saying Kershaw is a bad pitcher, but lets be real, he’s had MORE opportunities to win a title in L.A. and hasn’t, compared to Scherzer, who has!

        • “And a title”

          Is this the NBA?

          How about the NFL with a QB?

          Mike Trout is one of the best players ever and won’t win anything. Baseball is a team sport that isn’t greatly influenced by one player.

    • Where’s all these top pitching prospects the Cardinals keep drafting and developing? The only Cardinal barely on this list is a guy they traded for 14 years ago.

    • Walks per 9 IP is not even close to being the most important category. You could pitch 100 IP without ever walking someone,as impressive as that would be, it wouldnt even Matter if you still managed to give up a bunch of runs along the way.

      BB/9 is a good stat. Its wonderful to have the control to not issue walks. However, if Hitters are just hitting the ball & knocking in runs instead of walking then it isn’t productive for your team at all.

      Never in my life have I heard a Manager say “We gave up 2 more runs than they did today (and lost the game)…but Thank Goodness we walked a few less guys than they did.”

  2. If you don’t say Kershaw, you’re gonna need to rethink your life decisions

    10

    • Kershaw sucks balls.

      October loser.

      Curt Schilling’s ball sweat is worth two orders of magnitude more than Kershaw’s best October performance whatever that was.

      2

      • Schilling is a washed up loser who can’t even hold a job. Kershaw builds schools in Africa but hey October right.

        7

        • Building houses is great stuff, and I love Kershaw as a person. I hear he’s a wonderful man, but that has nothing to do with this poll.

          Anyway, am I way out of line thinking Madison Bumgarner here?

          Probably his pedestrian performance during the regular season leaves him off the top three.. or even top 10 LOL.

          But I think being Michael Jordan-like in the World Series carries a lot of weight.

          5

        • Does building schools in Africa have anything to do with MLB starter of the decade? I don’t see that on the back of a baseball card.

          2

        • …by the dumbest commenter BY FAR on here. and Themed is not even close to this idiot.

        • Also he’s misspelled mystery even though there’s nothing mysterious about them. Do Russian bots care about baseball or is society getting dumber?

      • Lay off the alt right fanaticism. I voted for Kershaw. I wish they did this for the entire all decade team that way there would be a mix of opinions. Anyone can post a list but would want to see what the readers collaborate on.

        1

        • Keyshawn is winning by a wide margin so you’re not alone. My opinion, one could choose Kershaw or Scherzer and not be wrong, in the “eye test,” postseason performance test, or statistically. They are both superior-level pitchers and nobody is dumb for choosing one over the other. The Bartolo Colon comment by StandUpGuy was, hopefully, sarcasm, but all the other arguments are valid. Scherzer is my personal favorite but one cannot ignore Kershaw’s numbers, and be legitimately involved in the conversation.

    • Couldn’t possibly disagree more. If baseball were a game purely of numbers, we could simulate the season and the playoffs and not bother playing the games. Verlander started the decade as the MVP and Cy Young winner. He’s 1 of 2 players to win the ROY, Cy Young and MVP. He had multiple top 5 finishes. He has rings. He has a playoff resume and his stats are not far off from Kershaw.

      Have to consider guys like Verlander and Scherzer from a durability standpoint as well.

      There’s a lot more then the best ERA to consider here. Way too many people took Kershaw. Hindsight is 20-20 (pun intended) but looking back if you’d have rather had Kershaw on your team then Verlander, you probably want to roll the tape. Verlander wins in my book, but I’d list it:

      1) Verlander
      2) Scherzer
      3) Kershaw

      1

      • Verlander has a pretty horrible World Series record this decade. Scherzer has barely been in playoffs.

        • barely been in the playoffs? He only missed 3 years in the decade.

        • Kershaw actually has a better World Series record than verlander

          3

  3. Why isn’t Bartolo Calone an option he’s he the best pitcher this decade if not all of baseball history

    2

  4. Can the starter of the decade also be the biggest choker of the decade? What a paradox.

    2

    • Enjoy the L. Unbelievable pitcher but his numbers doesn’t say best one there

    • Before this year Scherzer has lost some win or go home games.

      3

  6. They should include post season stats. I kind of wonder if the choice to leave them out was because of Kershaw.

    • Disagree completely. It’s not degroms fault the mets don’t make the playoffs. So why should him not pitching much in playoffs be a factor against him?

      1

    • Scherzer 7-5 postseason w a ring and 1-0 in WS.

      Kershaw 9-11 postseason wo a ring and 1-2 in WS

      Verlander 14-11 postseason w a ring and 0-6 in WS, yikes!

    • I like this list. I would flip Max with Justin and then have the same otherwise

      1

      • Really the top three I wouldn’t have any argument with in any order. They’re clearly the top 3 arms. The 4 and 5 spots were harder to narrow down between those two and guys like Price, Bumgarner, deGrom, etc. deGrom has probably had the most success out of them, but gave the nod to the guys that have played the whole decade.

        1

  8. Roy Halladay only won 1 Cy Young? Come on, man. Unless you mean one per league, of course.

      • For sure 701.5 innings of 3.25 ball with a whip of 1.119, 620 Strike Outs a FIP of 3.17 and a 55-29 w/l record but only 4 seasons in the decade

        1

  9. Pretty easy. Don’t let recent performances cloud over all decade of domination

    2

  10. Big Sexy Bartolo!

    Oh wait, I think his best numbers came in the 1990’s !

    • I love degrom and he deserves any recognition but literally every other player that can be mentioned has at least 3-4 extra years on him. That could 6-800 extra innings, 10-18 extra wins. Hes the best in game right now but he doesn’t have those extra years. He will dominate moving forward regardless

      1

  13. Rick Porcello was a lot higher on that list than I would have ever guessed. I guess I was wrong for thinking of him as basically a one year wonder.

    2

  15. I just looked up Chris Sale’s record, because I was surprised to see he never won a Cy Young; the thing that jumped out at me is, after 10 years, 45 bWAR, and 7 top-6 CYA finishes, next year will be the first time he makes over $15 million per season. Baseball’s compensation system can be pretty messed up.

    2

    • I voted “Other” on this one because, his 2019 aside, I’d have wanted Sale as my #1 over the decade. You laid out the argument pretty nicely with all his Cy finishes. Plus he’s a lefty.

    • Its not reflective of baseball’s compensation system. Its because he signed a team friendly deal with the White Sox early in his career. He would have made way more going through arbitration.

      • Yeah, but guys sign team-friendly extensions because they are woefully underpaid for 3-4 years at the start of their careers and worry they may never get a big payday as a free agent. Albies and Acuna are prime examples. If you don’t sign an extension, you worry about being a guy like Matt Harvey or Grady Sizemore who gets hurt before FA and never recovers. Teams offering cheap extensions can afford to assume the risk of a player declining; whereas, a player who declines an extension risks never getting paid much- potentially even being non-tendered during their arb years if they are hurt or decline.

  16. tie 1 and 2. max and verlander. then Kershaw. he was great but not when it mattered.

  18. Kershaw without any question. Also, Johnny Cueto is pretty underrated when it comes to this thing though, I never see him anywhere near the top 10 but he was amazing in Cincy and also had a great year with SF.

    2

    • “One great year” may sound good, but he’s entering the fifth year of his contract.

      • This comment produced the first genuine smile I’ve had reading these comments in quite some time. Cheers, and long live the king.

  20. I’d have to say degrom more than anyone. 2 Cy Youngs and RoY is pretty nutty.

    • Pitching only 6 of those years hurts him here a bit. Best of the last 3 years to be sure, but not of the decade

      1

    • You find 2 CYs to be better than 3? You find RoY to be better than MVP? Ok then…

      1

  21. Kershaw’s stats are artificially inflated from playing in Dodger Stadium. I’d take Verlander over him easily.

  23. Everything isn’t stats. Kershaw is a great pitcher, but when you really need a win Scherzer is the guy you’d want. It’s all about winning the World Series. Kershaw can’t even get his team IN the World Series. Too bad really, at least for Dodger fans.

    • “Kershaw can’t even get his team in the World Series”….. He won game 5 for the pennant in 17 and closed out 18.

      1

  24. too bad there wont be a “decade” of 2015 to 2025 because DeGrom will/would definitely be tops for that, he is a decade straddler

    1

  25. Kershaw without a doubt…. BUT if I had to give someone the ball in Game 7 of the WS? I think I go MadBum.

    2

  26. What’s sad about this is that Kershaw was about to shake off his playoff failure label in ’17, and then the cheating Astros showed up. SHAME!

    1

  27. You should only vote for Kershaw if you think it’s the pitcher’s job to get outs and prevent runs.

    Other than that, feel free to pick any of the others.

    5

    • You should only vote for Kershaw if you’re willing to entirely discount his complete inability to pitch in meaningful post-season games.

      1

    • What if I want wins?

      Definitely don’t pick Kershaw because the guys in The Dugout lose their spirit knowing they’ve got to score seven or eight runs to win a playoff game when he pitches. So yeah you’re right. Don’t pick Kershaw if you want wins.

      1

  28. clearly Kersh is better overall, but his inability to pitch in the postseason really kills my perspective of him.

    4

    • I agree, but it doesn’t knock him down to me. It’s really just him not pitching well in a single month of a season. Without him, LA doesn’t even get to the postseason nearly as much.

      Mike Trout is looked at at the best player, but he doesn’t even play in the postseason, which is far worse than playing worse than normal and no one knocks him for that.

      Postseason performance is just overrated in general simply because there are more eyes watching those games.

  29. Fun question — I’m going to give it to Scherzer.. Kershaws regular season stats are insane, but the big blemish on his record is what he does in the post season. Usually post season sample sizes are so tiny it’s tough to make opinions but all three of these guys have over 100 innings. Those games are the biggest of someones career, and since we’re talking BEST of the 3 or 4 best starters in the decade I’m going to put post season number’s in the equation.

    Max, 3 CYs, 2 WS, 1 win, 3.4 ERA in post season.
    Verlander, 2 CY’s, 3 WS, 1 win 3.4 ERA in post season
    Kershaw, 3 CY’s (5 ERA titles(!)) but 4.4 ERA and more losses than wins in post season with zero championships.

    To me it’s Scherzer with Verlander next. Clayton’s god-like and we’re talking about one of the best of all time – but the October stats puts him below those other two.

    1

    • Verlander has that MVP from 2011. Don’t forget about that.

      • Kershaw has that MVP from 2014, so they kinda cancel each other out.

        Even though neither one of them should have gotten the award. But that’s a fight for another day.

    • So are you also saying Mike Trout is not the best player of the decade because he only played in 3 games in the playoffs? Not being there is far worse than performing poorly in my opinion.

  31. If the goal is to win the World Series then Bumgarner is the only choice. Put kershaw against Bum in a 1 game playoff game and dodger fans will be throwing up in their boots before the game starts bc they know the inevitable is coming.

    2

    • As a Dodger fan, I wouldn’t be the least bit worried, because the Dodgers have hit Bumgarner way better than the Giants have hit Kershaw throughout the decade. Unfortunately, they never faced each other in the playoffs in the ’10s, so we’ll never really know for sure, but I’m certainly not “throwing up in [my] boots”.

      1

  32. Even as a Giants fan I can’t deny for a number of years Kershaw was an absolute monster…in the regular season anyways.

  33. I think that in terms of overall decade performance, Scherzer has got it. But I also believe that Bumgarner might just be the pitcher of the decade. Post season aside, he’s still top ten in most categories, and when it comes to big game performance nobody is better. He is not nearly as consistent or great as Scherz or Ker but Bum is the man of the decade.

    1

  34. My pick is Bumgarner, one of the greatest post season pitchers in history. He pitched teams that didn’t have a lot of talent to 3 World Championships. He didn’t choke in the playoffs like Kershaw.

    2

  35. Anyone who picked Kershaw obviously has zero care for post season performance. He’s great in the regular season, sure, but how can you say he’s the best when he turns into the worst pitcher in the playoffs?

    1

    • Verlander and Scherzer have had postseason struggles too. Its all too small of a sample size anyway. Are Ryan Vogelsong and Barry Zito better than Kershaw lmao

  36. This is a two horse race: Verlander & Scherzer are the only legitimate contendors. DeGrom can’t match them on longevity and Kershaw looks like an A-ball pitcher that got called up WAY too early in 90% of his post-season games.

    1

    • Look up Verlanders World Series stats instead of buying ESPN narratives

      2

      • Verlander has been an absolute monster in the ALDS and ALCS against the best offenses in the AL. Meanwhile, Kershaw gets lit up by weak offenses like ARI and STL. And instead of facing DH’s like David Ortiz, Nelson Cruz, and Carlos Santana, like Verlander has to, Kershaw has the advantage of throwing to a pitcher hitting .100 once every nine batters.

        • Kershaw has had some good moments in the LDS/LCS but hey pick and choose what you want to remember

  37. I voted for Kershaw. I think some (not all) of his postseason problems have to be attributed to his managers. It’s not just Roberts leaving him in for the 8th last year either. If Mattingly would have pulled Kersh after the 6th inning in 2014 and 2015 his postseason ERA would be more than half a point lower at 3.87 which is still not great, but a lot better than the 4.43 he’s at now. Other than HR/9, his peripherals in the postseason don’t seem that far off from his regular season numbers–but he has given up a ton of homers in the playoffs, unfortunately.

    2

    • It is about performance in the playoffs. Everybody has excuses. The greatest players perform under pressure and don’t run out of gas in the playoffs. Kershaw is no Sandy Koufax.

      • Ok, I didn’t say he was Koufax. How about this since Kershaw is so terrible in the playoffs:

        Career Postseason FIP:
        Kershaw – 3.88
        Verlander – 3.75
        Scherzer – 3.49
        Bumgarner – 3.11

        And, since you brought it up:
        Koufax – 1..41

        All the rhetoric about Kershaw being terrible in the playoffs is not backed up by the actual stats. Yes, these other guys are marginally better than him in the playoffs, but the fact is, most pitchers are not as good in the playoffs because they’re playing better lineups on average. And if Bumgarner had made it to the playoffs more often, I would argue his numbers would likely have come down to earth by now.

        1

        • More often? Didn’t the “Gints” win 3 World Series out of 10 years?

        • And let’s not forget the mound height Koufax pitched on… Can’t breathe a word about Koufax and Gibson without talking mound height. That was HUGE.

          1

        • Bumgarner has been to the playoffs only 4 times in 10 seasons of play and has only played in 2 playoff games in the last 5 seasons. Kershaw, on the other hand, has pitched in 21 postseason games in the last 5 seasons (more than Bumgarner has pitched over his entire career).

          What I’m arguing is that Bum’s numbers would not be as good if he would have made it to the playoffs more often. He hasn’t pitched a single postseason game since he crashed his dirtbike a few years ago. He’s not that great anymore, but his postseason stats likely benefit from the fact that his only postseason appearances were a long time ago.

          1

        • 2010, 2012, and 2014 are in this decade however. That’s 3-0 for MadBum. Also, isn’t Kershaw the guy who blew the series in game 5 when he had a chance to be the “man” and finally close out a series.

          1

  38. There’s no way its anyone but Kershaw unless you’re being biased by a “what have you done for me lately” mentality… Kershaw is no longer the “Best” pitcher in baseball… but from 2011-2017(ish) there was really no question. He had ERAs below 2.00 in several of those seasons and was just flat out dominant for most of the decade. Sure now others are starting to catch up as he declines and they get better. But as far as who was the best – past tense – it clearly was Kershaw.

    2

    • Yeah Kershaw won a bunch of meaningless games… So what? Dude sucks when it matters.

      1

    • I agree. My initial reaction was to vote Scherzer because of that recency bias, but came around to Kershaw.

  39. Kershaw can’t pitch under pressure, he shouldn’t even be on the list. Stats are meaningless next to results. For that reason, Madison Bumgarner is by far the pitcher of the decade, and it’s not even close. The while point of baseball is to win a world series. Dominating meaningless games and not winning rings doesn’t make the best pitcher.

    1

    • If Kershaw got to face a slap hitting Royals team in the WS or Bumgarner had to face the cheating 100 win Astros or 108 win Red Sox things would be different. This is top pitchers of the decade and I hate to break it to you but the guy who leada in ERA, FIP, WAR and pitched the whole decade gets considered.

      1

      • Everybody has excuses. The goal is to win World Championships and not choke and run out of gas in the playoffs,. The Dodgers have not won a World Championship in 30 years. Kershaw if no Sandy Koufax.

      • That slap hitting ran roughshod over other opponents such as Lester and a team with Trout on it, the best player of this decade. Even the vaunted Mets rotation was no match. But Bumgarner completely shut them down that series. He was untouchable that series and the most feared pitcher of this decade until some of the injuries. Kershaw was great but has been very uneven in the postseason where in any sport it matters most.

    • How can we tell how good Bumgarner is in the playoffs when he so rarely gets there recently? I mean, yeah he was good 5 years ago, but he was good in the regular season back then too.

      1

    • dodgie? ‘The whole point . .’ People who say what is usually are not listened to.
      You poor poor thing.

  40. Kershaw is the greatest pitcher of all time and it’s not even close.

    1

    • Kershaw doesn’t even make my top 50 of all-time. Dude has some nice regular season stats when he’s healthy, but his complete inability to pitch in a meaningfull game puts him way down my list. Not only would I rather have Scherzer or Verlander, I would rather have Jack Morris, Roger Clemens, or Andy Pettite.

      • In 2017, his only bad WS game was the one in Houston when they were cheating. Yeah, he got rocked by Boston in 2018, but so did everyone else they faced including guys like Cole and Severino. Are you saying game 1 of the 2017 WS isn’t meaningful? He pitched 7 innings with 11 ks and only 1 ER.
        And Clemens pitched plenty of awful postseason games too.

  41. Bumgarner…three World Series titles. Shut outs in 2010, 2012 and, of course, the Bunyan-esque performance in 2014. Wouldn’t any of the pitchers listed traded their careers for MadBum’s? Of course they would…

    2

    • zooney? They would not trade because then they would have to be him. Oof.

  42. BB/9 is the most encompassing stat when trying to measure pitchers. Bartolo hands down

  43. This is tough but Kershaw should win, at least for the longevity, degrom is only recent and leake hasn’t been dominant sine he was in Cincinnati eons ago, bumgarten could get a nod but the injuries and eons ago of sf winning the ws takes into frame.

    1

    • Leake? He wasn’t even dominant when he was in Cincy. I think you meant Cueto.

  44. Hands down Kershaw Regular Season and Postseason ,The one and only Madbum

    1

    • But the poll was for one best overall pitcher. And Kershaw won with 65% of the vote.

      1

      • NOT “overall” pitcher.

        “Starter of the decade.” Myself, I look at end results.

        Congratulations to Clayton Kershaw he was amazing. Seriously phenomenal pitcher. But my vote is Madison Bumgarner. I’m a bottom line guy. World Series is the goal. But I’m a Red Sox fan too LOL. (4 in 15)

  45. No reason to write this but wanted to show some love to Jon Lester. Had a very good decade, definitely in the Top 10 for starting pitchers and strong postseason numbers.

  46. Why does it matter to identify a single “best” pitcher when there are so many dimensions along which SPs matter. Are they in competition with each other for a roster spot?

    Silliness is silly.

  48. Kershaw is one of the biggest choke pitchers in the playoffs of all time. It happens too often to be a small sample. The goal is to win World Championships.

    1

  49. Kershaw won the poll running away at 65%. No contest. Best pitcher of the decade.

    1

      • There was only one poll question. Best overall pitcher. Period.

        • NO.

          Nothing “overall” about it. Best starter of the decade. But Kershaw won the poll and I don’t have a problem with it.. he was phenomenal. Deserves all the credit he gets.

  50. who won the WS MVP in 2018? Steve Pearce. What does that tell you about postseason heroics?

    1

    • It tells us that they’re important. Massive. Huge. One guy stepping up or two guys can carry a team to the World Series championship. A team can only be so lucky for that to happen.

  51. There is no way Kershaw should be leading by this much. Playoff performance should matter here and he comes up short for me in that category. I got Scherzer first with the fact his numbers are close to regular season stats Kershaw put up and he has a ring that he contributed heavily to get. Bumgarner is second for me with the three World Series rings and his playoff performances, especially against the Royals.

    1

    • So I guess Steve Pearce is player of the decade.

      look, Kershaw won best overall pitcher by an enormous margin. No point arguing.

      • That’s because people are salivating over regular season numbers. In any sport, the postseason is what determines a player’s legacy. His narrative in that regard is not good.

        1

      • Mo… you can’t tell the difference between lightning in a bottle for 1 series (Pearce) and being a hugely important starting pitcher for 10 years? Madison Bumgarner is on a few of those top 10 of the decade lists in the article. He’s not on all of them but he’s on a few of them. Steve Pearce is not the right a analogy to make. Come on.

        Then when you figure he put the team on his back and won a World Series not once, not twice, which would be awesome, but three times in the last decade. That’s huge.

        1

  52. Schrezer. Kershaw is a stud but goes all Greg Maddox when it really counts.

  53. I voted for other… I pick Ebby Calvin “Nuke” LaLoosh. He plays the game the right way. He takes it one game at a time, he knows the game is simple… you throw the ball you catch the ball and you hit the ball, Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains,,Think about that for a while. :)

  55. Bumgarner because of the 3 World Series runs, especially 2014 games 1,5 and 7

    1

  56. It’s Kershaw. He simply dominated every single year this decade. And if you want to talk postseason, he may have 2 rings if Dave Roberts wasn’t in the dugout and who knows what could’ve been in 2017. Also, Scherzer and verlander have had their share of October woes. 1. Kershaw 2.Scherzer 3. Verlander

    • ^”…he may have 2 rings if he didn’t take the mound in October…” There, fixed it.

      2

  57. 1. Kershaw
    2. Max
    3. Verlander

    Yes Kershaw has post season woes but he also pitched 7 great innings game on of the WS and came out of the bullpen in Game 7 after Yu to throw I believe 4 scoreless. Plus closing out the Nats on the road after Jansen threw like 3 innings. My critique of the postseason Kershaw comments is this: Mike Trout is 1-10 in the post season but he’s the the best player of the decade and he made the post season 1 time. Kershaw made the postseason 7 times this decade and had ups and down, one is the best player of the decade and the other people are trying to say he wasn’t the best pitcher. It’s weird to punish someone for post season failure when they happen to be there all the time and one gets rewarded because he hasn’t had the chance to fail. Just my thoughts.

    • The reason Trout gets a pass now is because the baseball world understands that the Angels have wasted Trout’s career through bad roster moves every year. He hasn’t truly had much of an opportunity to showcase what he can do good or bad. Kershaw, on the other hand, has had many opportunities with really good Dodgers teams that were loaded to help deliver a ring as the #1 option on the depth chart and has failed to deliver so far. Having a FIP more than a run higher in the postseason isn’t cutting it for pitcher of the decade.

  58. It’s all up to opinion between the top two.

    If I wanted to go pay to see a pitcher throw one in his prime, I would have seen Kershaw.

    If I was the owner of a championship team that was going to sign an ace to lead my team to a World Series, I’d choose Scherzer.

    • I only voted to see who finished second behind Kershaw. The top pitcher of the decade isn’t even close, unless you started following baseball in 2018. Kershaw leads/ties in five of the nine categories, and is a top ten in all of them. Verlander vs. Scherzer for second place was the real contest.

  59. I’m a rangers fan through and through. Watching yu dazzle was something…I’m also from West county mo, max, you the man, sorry about your bro. It’s max or Justin objectively. Vote how you want. Buehler and Flaherty are next

  60. I see a lot of pointless arguing. If the question was who do you want on the mound game seven the answer is Bumgarner. Case closed. That wasn’t the question, however.

  61. From 2014-2019, I think you can make the argument deGrom was the best SP..that being said for the entire past decade I’d say 1) Kershaw &
    2) Scherzer.

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