The Most Dominant Post-Season Games Ever Pitched
Don Larsen doesn’t top the list (wait… Don Larsen doesn’t top the list?!?)
There are games by pitchers, and then there are games by pitchers.
You know the ones.
Jack Morris, Game 7.
Bob Gibson, 17 strikeouts.
Sandy Koufax (pick ‘em).
The jaw-dropping post-season epic. The overwhelming storm-surge of a start, delivered in crisp October air. The type of game that bolsters reputations and burnishes legends; the type of game that leaves us shaking our heads and muttering in disbelief; the type of game that has eluded some of the greatest stars of all-time (Kershaw, W. Johnson, Grove), while finding the lesser lights (Don Larsen, Mike Scott). The type of game that’s recounted and re-told on the banquet circuit for decades (or the contemporary equivalent, memorialized with a podcast). The type of game Gerrit Cole pitched earlier this month, when he ground up the Tampa Rays in game two of the ALDS (15K over 7+ innings).
That type of game.
Mathewson. Halladay. Verlander. Bumgarner.
They’ve had that game.
But who’s had the best of it?
Who’s pitched the greatest single game in post-season history?
Trying to rank such performances is probably a fool’s errand, but with the help of a fun little tool called Game Score, we’re going to try. For those who don’t know, Game Score (GSc) is a scale developed by Bill James to rate the quality of a pitcher’s start. In a nutshell: Every start begins with a baseline of 50. Points are added for positive events like strikeouts and completed innings; points are deducted for negative events like runs, hits, and walks allowed. A GSc between 50–60 roughly equates to a “quality” major league start; a GSc of 80 is exceptional; a GSc of 100 (or more) is historically good (there have only been 16 nine-inning games that rated a GSc of 100 or higher). It’s not really a stat with any practical application, but it’s a fun way to try and answer a question like “Who had the better 20-strikeout game — Kerry Wood or Randy Johnson?” (It was Wood). If you’re interested in more details on how GSc works, check out this article by Jeff Angus.
For the record, no pitcher has ever tallied a GSc of 100 or better in the post-season — but as you’ll see, several have come close. These are some of the greatest games ever pitched, under the brightest lights (well, figuratively speaking, as more than one of these gems was cut under the midday sun).
One last note about Game Score: GSc doesn’t take into account quality of opposition; GSc doesn’t differentiate between game one of the Division Series and game seven of the World Series; GSc doesn’t know who’s making plays behind you (or who’s not); GSc doesn’t factor in days of rest (or lack thereof). It doesn’t care if you’re pitching on a cold, damp night or under a climate-controlled dome. In other words, GSc doesn’t provide context — it simply measures events that happened during a game (we’ll get to this at the end).
The Most Dominant Post-Season Games Ever Pitched (according to Game Score)
6. [tie] Don Larsen, 1956 WS, Game Five: Perfection, 94 GSc
“27 up, 27 down.” Perfection, according to baseball nomenclature. So how does a perfect game, the only perfect game ever thrown in World Series play, the most famous game ever pitched, not top the list of greatest post-season pitching performances?
Strikeouts.
Or in this case, lack thereof. Larsen was superb, obviously. Better than superb. Perfect. But he “only” tallied seven strikeouts on this perfect day. Under the GSc formula, strikeouts are incredibly valuable. All other events being equal, the pitcher with the higher strikeout total will produce the higher GSc. Put another way: GSc doesn’t see much difference between no hits or one hit; no walks or one walk. It sees a big difference between seven strikeouts and, say, 14 strikeouts.
6. [tie] Roy Halladay, 2010 NLDS, Game One: 9IP/0H/0R/1BB/8K/94 GSc
Roy Halladay had his first cup of coffee in the majors in 1998. He was all of 21 years old, and had some learning to do. It took him four years of fits and starts, call-ups and send-downs, flashes of brilliance and periods of struggle, but by 2002 he had put it together. Over the next decade, he led all pitchers in WAR, wins, innings, complete games, shutouts, K/BB ratio, FIP; only Johan Santana, by the slimmest of margins, bettered Halladay’s ERA and ERA+.
By 2010, Roy Halladay had been in the big leagues for 13 years. He had established himself as the best pitcher in baseball. He had earned one Cy Young, and would add another to his collection. He authored a perfect game. He had done everything one could do from a pitcher’s mound, with one glaring omission: Doc Halladay had never appeared in a post-season game.
Finally, after 13 years and 320 career starts, Roy Halladay would get his chance. On October 1, 2010, he would start Game One of the 2010 NLDS.
Roy Halladay, in his first career post-season start, would throw the second no-hitter in post season history.
4. Tim Lincecum, 2010 NLDS, Game One: 9 IP/2H/0R/1BB/14K/96 GSc
One day after Roy Halladay fires a no-hitter in his first career post-season game, Tim Lincecum decides to show him up with a performance that rates even higher on the GSc scale (in his first post-season game). I know what you’re thinking: “Strikeouts. Again with the strikeouts.” No, strikeouts aren’t everything — but they are the best thing when it comes to run prevention. Strikeouts take luck and defense out of the equation, while no-hitters rely on luck and defense. So according to game score, Lincecum’s 14-strikeout, 2-hit effort grades out higher than Halladay’s 8-strikeout, no-hit effort.
Lincecum book-ended his wonderful 2010 (4–1) post-season by closing out the World Series with another sparkling effort (8IP/3H/1R/2BB/11K/80 GsC).
3. [tie] Babe Ruth, 1916 WS, Game Two: 14 IP/6H/1R/3BB/4K/97 GSc
Yep, he could pitch, too. After giving up an inside-the-park home run to Hy Meyers in the top of the first, the Big Fella settled down (and set Brooklyn down) for 14 innings. Ruth set a post-season record for endurance with his 14-inning masterpiece; his opponent that day, Brooklyn left-hander Sherry Smith, pitched the second longest game in post-season history, matching the Babe for 13.1 innings before finally surrendering a run-scoring, game-winning single to Boston’s Del Gainer in the bottom of the 14th inning.
Ruth is the only player to hit three home runs in a WS game twice — but this might be his greatest WS performance.
3. [tie] Dave McNally, 1969 ALCS, Game Two: 11 IP/3H/0R/5BB/11K/97 GSc
Baltimore’s McNally picked the right day to pitch the game of his life — and we mean that: It was, as measured by game score, the single best game of McNally’s career (his second-best game rates a 92 on the Bill James scale). McNally’s line wasn’t without the occasional blemish — he allowed eight baserunners on five walks and three hits — but he was sharp enough (and the defense behind him was tight enough) to utterly flummox the Twins over 11 wonderful innings. McNally needed every bit of skill, luck, and guile on this night, as his Minnesota counterpart Dave Boswell matched him inning-for-scoreless inning, finally surrendering the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the 10th. It remains one of the greatest post-season pitching duels of all-time: Baltimore 1, Minnesota 0.
1. Roger Clemens, 2000 ALCS, Game Four: 9IP/1 H/0 R/2BB/15K/98 GSc
The tone was set early, as Clemens brushed back Seattle’s all-world shortstop Alex Rodriguez on consecutive pitches in the bottom of the first inning. A rattled Rodriguez eventually walked, but that was about it for the Seattle offense on this night. There has perhaps never been a playoff game with such a sense of… inevitability about it: Clemens was a chainsaw, the Mariners lineup was a fallen, rotting tree. Save for a seventh-inning Al Martin line drive juuussst beyond the reach of a leaping Tino Martinez (no hops on that Tino), Clemens would have registered the only post-season GSc of 100 or better. He’d follow up his signature playoff performance eight days later with his second-best post-season start: An 8IP/2H/0R/0BB/9K/87 GSc masterpiece in Game Four of the WS.
Honorable Mention
· Bob Gibson’s 17K shutout of the Detroit Tigers in game one of the 1968 World Series receives a GSc of 93, good for tenth all-time. But that’s not why we’re mentioning Gibson. We’re mentioning Gibson because he reached game scores of 80 or higher a record six times in the post-season (all World Series games, to boot). No other pitcher has more than four.
· Jack Morris’ Game Seven epic rates an 84 on the GSc scale. Morris surrendered seven hits and two walks over his ten shutout innings, accounting for his (relatively) pedestrian score. What’s not noted in his score, of course, is that this was game seven of the World Series. Bonus points for context, no?
· Christy Mathewson famously pitched three shutouts — in five days — during the 1905 World Series. His GSc totals: 85, 86, 81. He’s the only pitcher to record three such games in one WS.
· Randy Johnson didn’t make out list of all-time games, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. The Big Unit opened the 2001 NLCS by dominating the Atlanta Braves (9IP/3H/0R/1BB/11K/91 GSc); twelve days later, he spun an identical line against the Yankees in game two of the World Series. He’s the only pitcher to record two post-season GSc of 90 or higher.
· Finally, we mention Jake Arrietta, who merits inclusion not just for the fine game (9IP/5H/0R/0BB/11K 88GSc) he pitched against the Pirates in the 2015 NL Wild Card game, but for the absolutely bone-chilling way he smothered the dreams of Pittsburgh fans prior to the game. There has never been a more cold-blooded prediction made good:
