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For Starters
2005-08-15 17:37
by Mike Carminati

As RBJ pointed out, the Yankees have used 14 starting pitchers this year. Should they make the playoffs, they would be one of a handful of teams to reach the postseason or claim a title outright who had that many starters in season. The most was 15 for the 1989 Giants (though that pales to the all-time high of 24 by the 1915 A's). Unfortunately for the Yanks, they might be a better bet to reach 15 starters than the playoffs this year.

The Giants that year actually had what appears to be a decent rotation—four men with ERAs under 3.50 and at least 10 wins—but tried out plenty of men in the last two rotation spots. Here are all their starters that year:

PitcherGSWL IP ERA
Rick Reuschel32178 208.3 2.94
Don Robinson321211 197.0 3.43
Scott Garrelts29145 193.3 2.28
Mike LaCoss181010 150.3 3.17
Kelly Downs1548 82.7 4.79
Atlee Hammaker966 76.7 3.76
Mike Krukow843 43.0 3.98
Bob Knepper632 52.0 3.46
Trevor Wilson423 39.3 4.35
Dave Dravecky220 13.0 3.46
Dennis Cook210 15.0 1.80
Russ Swan202 6.7 10.80
Jeff Brantley171 97.3 4.07
Joe Price111 14.0 5.79
Terry Mulholland100 11.0 4.09

Here are the playoff/title teams with the most starting pitchers:

TeamYr# Starters
San Francisco Giants198915
Houston Astros200114
St. Louis Cardinals200214
St. Louis Cardinals193014
Brooklyn Dodgers195214
New York Yankees195114
New York Yankees194714
New York Yankees195214
Chicago White Sox200014
New York Giants192214
Cleveland Indians199714
Brooklyn Dodgers194713
Pittsburgh Pirates199013
Boston Red Sox199513
San Francisco Giants200313
Boston Red Sox199913
Chicago Cubs194513
Brooklyn Dodgers194113
Philadelphia Athletics191313
Chicago White Sox191913
Philadelphia Athletics190213
New York Giants192313
New York Giants192413
Cincinnati Reds199513
New York Yankees195313

Of course, at the opposite end of the spectrum there are a number of nineteenth century teams and the 1966 Dodgers, who used just 5 starters, three of which are in the Hall of Fame (Koufax, Drysdale, Sutton, Claude Osteen, and Joe Moeller):

TeamYr# Starters
Boston Red Stockings18721
Providence Grays18792
Chicago White Stockings18822
Chicago White Stockings18762
Boston Red Caps18772
Boston Red Caps18782
Philadelphia Athletics18712
Boston Red Stockings18732
Boston Red Stockings18742
St. Louis Browns18853
Chicago White Stockings18813
Boston Red Stockings18753
Boston Beaneaters18833
Cincinnati Red Stockings18823
New York Metropolitans18843
Chicago White Stockings18863
Chicago White Stockings18804
Brooklyn Bridegrooms18895
Boston Pilgrims19045
Los Angeles Dodgers19665
Philadelphia Athletics18835
Boston Reds18905
Boston Beaneaters18975
Comments
2005-08-16 09:52:59
1.   rbj
Thank you Mike!
(no wonder why I keep coming back to this site)
Very interesting that the 2001 Astros, 2002 Cards, 2000 White Sox and 1997 Indians also used 14 starters. Does give hope for us Yankee fans, but I'm more inclined to agree with you that starter #15 is more likely.

I think the '66 Dodgers is the most remarkable, they're really the only "modern" team in amongst the real old schoolers.

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