• B/S Facebook

    • Follow Us On Twitter

      • Pocket Aces Part Two: The 80's thru 2006

        In Pocket Aces, we took a look at the current dynamic duos of MLB. It turns out to be more than just a trend. There has been notable duos all throughout the history of American's Pastime. This Article will look at the 90's and how dynamic duos helped teams have success over this time. Let's break down some of the best duos between 1980 up to last year.

        Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, 1993-1999 Atlanta Braves:

        Greg Maddux is the most consistent pitcher of any era ever. During the mid to late 90's, however, He teamed up with Tom Glavine to have the most productive duo in the National League. Injuries kept me from have John Smoltz in the argument and Neagle wasn't around enough to make a case for him either. The two combined to have 240 wins and five Cy Young awards (Maddux 4 straight, Glavine 1) over this seven year period. The shame about these two was they couldn't win mulitple World Series.

        Dave Stewart and Bob Welch, 1988-1990 Oakland A's:

        Dave Stewart best three years combined with Bob Welch formed a solid duo. Stewart won 64 games during this stretch. Welch won 61 games over the time frame. Like Maddux and Glavine in the above paragraph, The A's couldn't get over the hump either, only winning one world series in 1989. They went 1-3 in the 1990 Cy Young Race, with Welch beating out Stewart.

        Ron Darling and Dwight Gooden, 1984-1988 New York Mets:

        Both pitchers came up around the same time and set the league on fire from 84-88. They also only won one World Series title in 1986. The unique thing about these two was the fact neither had a season where they lost 10 games or more. They had contrasting styles on the way they pitched as well, Darling would just get outs and kept the ball in play. Gooden would mow everyone down and make them look stupid with his stuff. They fell of the face of the earth after the '88 season.

        Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens, HGH and all, 2000-2003 New York Yankees:

        Sure this will be tainted by the HGH scandal. You can't deny the fact that they put together solid years during this time. Their pure numbers lack compared to the previous three duos. When it came to the postseason, they were the ATM. They made it to the WS in 3 of the 4 years, winning 1.

        Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, 2001-2002 Arizona Diamondbacks:

        They started the current find two aces and pray for rain in the early part of the decade. You can count on 20-plus wins, 290+ strike outs, and a high 2 to a low 3 ERA. They won the WS title in 2001 over the Yanks with Pettitte and Clemens. It's a damn shame that they didn't hook up when they were in their prime. Probably would have been similar to Maddux-Glavine.



        The duos were not nearly as abundant as the pitching today. While it remains to see if any of the current duo's can keep the sustained success like some of the guys listed above. It will be interesting to see how history will play out compared to other pitchers that paved the way for them. You're sure to find guys that had one season where they were phenomenal (i.e. Beckett-Willis 2003 Marlins, Burkett-Swift for the Giants, Oswalt-Clemens, Martinez-Fassero for the 94 Expos to name a few). Less likely though, the chances for them to be good for a long time seems slim.
        This article was originally published in forum thread: Pocket Aces Part Two: The 80's thru 2006 started by Porter99 View original post