Date: January 20th, 2025 1:54 PM Author: Startling crackhouse
Ryan was the quintessenial Boomer though…hung around forever, got into fights, challenged hitters instead of nibbling (hence his high K numbers). I’m kind of surprised they never threw him a bone or gave him a sort of “lifetime achievement” Cy Young.
Date: January 20th, 2025 2:16 PM Author: Geriatric parlour
He gave up a lot of walks, and played for a lot of bad teams. But his strikeouts and no hitters records will probably stand forever. A 180 pitcher and probably would've won a CY or two if he played for a big market team for most of his career
Date: January 20th, 2025 2:21 PM Author: razzmatazz twinkling uncleanness
1973 was maybe his best shot at a Cy Young. Ryan had a higher WAR than Jim Palmer, who won the Cy Young that year. However, there were 3 other guys (Blyleven, Hiller and Perry) with a higher WAR than either one of them.
1977 was similar. Ryan had a higher WAR than CYA winner Sparky Lyle (a reliever), but Frank Tanana (who got no first-place votes at all) had a higher WAR than both of them.
can make a great argument for '87. led starters in hits allowed, got the walks under control, led the league in era, blew out all the competition in strikeouts. win-loss record kinda fucked him. finished t-5 and the award went to a closer.
you can just go by war which is agnostic to that. but kinda weird that he led the league in fip but was only 5th in war. the war calculation is way too wonky to intuit.
Date: January 20th, 2025 9:19 PM Author: dull angry death wish newt
great pitcher but honestly he never had a season where he clearly deserved it. As dude said above, with his crappy w/l record he was particularly ill equipped to win the CY in the era he pitched in. His ERA wasn't that good either. It looks low by modern standards but his career ERA+ is only 112, so 12% better than league average. Tom Seaver's was 127.