It's Kind Of Crazy That We Will Never See Another 300 Game Winner In Major League Baseball

While you were sleeping last night we got a classic Clayton Kershaw performance, but if you were in the Tri-State Area of Jersey, you 100% heard Frank screaming about it. Kershaw really did turn back the clock with his 7 inning, 3 hit, 0 walk, 0 ER, 9 K outing vs the Mets, he looked incredible. A vintage performance by the future Hall of Famer. It also happened to be Kershaw's 200th career win, a huge milestone. But I'm old school and remember a handful of pitchers getting to 300 wins, it's become very clear that we will NEVER see another 300 game winner again in our lifetime. 

Wins for starting pitchers aren't what they used to be, the stat has kind of fallen by the wayside because of how managers manage the game, how they use their bullpen and set up matchups, and it's also just really fucking hard to get 300 wins. It takes a lot of things that all have to go right. You have to stay healthy for a LONG time, like 15 years of no injuries. Have to play on a relatively good team to rack up the Ws. And also, you just have to be really good. And even if you stay healthy and play a long time, that is still 20 wins a year for 15 seasons. Insane to think that is possible now. 

All those factors go into pitchers careers and it's because clear that if we see guys like Justin Verlander (244 wins), Zack Greinke (223 wins), Max Scherzer (203 wins) not getting to 300 no one will. You look at the list of guys who have recently done it, it's a Mount Rushmore of pitchers we saw as kids. It's Greg Maddux (355) Roger Clemens (354), Tom Glavine (305), and Randy Johnson (303). After that the list is who I said above, Verlander leads all active players and is still 56 away. Could he get there? Sure, but with his injury history and age I don't feel great about it. I feel pretty confident we won't see anyone get to 300 ever again. 

Years ago we'd have thought Verlander, Scherzer, and guys like Chris Sale would get there easy. No question, just keep putting put the Ws. It's just so much easier said than done. The injuries and regression seem to hit everyone and there is nothing you can do about it. We also used to see these guys go 7-8 innings every night and maybe a bullpen guy to close it out. Now with how bullpens are managed and used you usually have your starter go 5 and then followed by 2-3 relievers. You'd think that helps them in the long run to manage innings but in reality it just gives the bullpen more chances to blow a lead and take away the win from the staters. Like I mentioned before, wins by starters used to be the thing in baseball, now it doesn't seem like it's that big of a stat. 

IF there is one guy with a chance it has to be Gerrit Cole, right? Has been healthy for basically his whole career, is only 32, and plays on a team that you would think would be set up for success for the rest of his career. He's got a ton of years left on his deal so he's going to get the chance to get there, but he's only at 134 wins in 271 starts. So he needs 166 more wins to get there. Not including this year he averages 13 wins a season over his career. Now that is including the covid year where he only made 12 starts, but his career includes years of 20 wins, 19, 15, 16, and 13. Those numbers just won't cut it. Say Cole pitches until he's 40, so 8 more seasons. He's going to need to average 20.75 wins per season to land on 300 exactly. That just doesn't seem possible. Maybe he can string a few 20 win seasons along but that is a lot to ask. I guess Verlander has a decent shot too, but again he's getting up there and who knows how long he pitches. Maybe if he can get to 285 he will hang over for an another year or 2 to get it but who knows. 

It just doesn't seem like something we will ever see in baseball. You'll see more 500 HR guys, you'll see more 3,000 hit guys, you'll see 3,000 Ks, but you won't ever see a 300 winner again in our lifetime. No one out there is on a pace to do it, even the young guys. You'd assume a guy like deGrom but he only has 84 wins!!! The injuries kill any chance you really have at the number, it's crazy because we saw the workhorses of the 90s and early 2000s get there and they likely will be the last ones into the club. 200 wins is a great accomplishment, it's really good. It's just time we recognize 200 wins as the new 300 wins.