Tag Archives: Esmil Rogers

20-game winners: Will the drought continue for these teams?

Gaylord Perry

Image by Thomas Hawk via Flickr

Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a biweekly blog published every Wednesday and Sunday

Just under half of the major league teams (14 of the 30 teams) have not had a 20-game winning pitcher on their staff in this century. Two teams, Colorado and Tampa Bay, have never had a 20-game winner. Of those teams that have had a 20-game winner in their franchise’s history, two teams, San Diego and Washington (previously Montreal) have not had a 20-game winner since 1978.

Following are the teams that have the longest drought since their last 20-game winner.

Team                               Last 20-game winner year, pitcher

San Diego                                  1978-Gaylord Perry

Washington*                             1978-Ross Grimsley

Baltimore                                   1984-Mike Boddicker

Milwaukee                                 1986-Teddy Higuera

Cincinnati                                  1988-Danny Jackson

Kansas City                                1989-Bret Saberhagen

LA Dodgers                                1990-Ramon Martinez

NY Mets                                      1990-Frank Viola

Pittsburgh                                   1991-John Smiley

Detroit                                         1991-Bill Gullickson

Colorado                                     1993-Never had a 20-game winner

San Francisco                            1993-Bill Swift/John Burkett

Tampa Bay                                 1998-Never had a 20-game winner

Texas                                           1998-Rick Helling

* Previously Montreal

Note: With less than 60 games to go in the current season, it looks like most of the teams above will go another year without a 20-game winner. The Tigers, however, with Justin Verlander‘s 14 wins and going for number 15 today, have a good chance to give Detroit its first 20-game winner since Gullickson in 1991. Outside chances for this year include the Dodgers (Clayton Kershaw-12 wins), Brewers (Yovani Gallardo-12 wins) and Pirates (Kevin Correia-12 wins).

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