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The Bi-Complete Game
2005-08-18 21:37
by Mike Carminati

Bob Timmermann mentioned the other day that "Sunday's Dodgers-Mets game was a dual complete game for Brad Penny and Ramon Martinez" when I took a look at the D-Rays' inability to complete a single game the entire season. That started me thinking about pitchers duels in general and double complete games (or as I prefer to call them, Bi-Complete Games or Bi-CG, for short) specifically.

Given that the number of complete games per season have been dropping steadily for decades, has the Bi-CG disappeared?

Well, investigating that question is complicated. Baseball does not record when both pitchers have thrown a complete game. All right, it does, but as a complete game for each pitcher. There's no way to tell that both accomplished the feat, not unless one looks up every box score and verifies it.

I thought it might be possible to predict the number of Bi-CGs from the statistics we have. I took the total number of complete game divided it by total games and squared the whole lot in an attempt to capture the probability that any given season for the given league would end in both pitches tossing a complete game. Then I took the probability and multiplied it by the number of actual games in the league.

Here are the figures for the last ten years (2005 data through last night):

YrLgGSCGBi-CG ProbExp Bi-CG
1996AL22661630.52%5.86
1996NL22681270.31%3.56
1997NL22681430.40%4.51
1997AL22641230.30%3.34
1998AL22681410.39%4.38
1998NL25961610.38%4.99
1999NL25911280.24%3.16
1999AL22651080.23%2.57
2000NL25931270.24%3.11
2000AL22651070.22%2.53
2001AL22661030.21%2.34
2001NL2592960.14%1.78
2002AL22641150.26%2.92
2002NL2588990.15%1.89
2003AL22701100.23%2.67
2003NL2590990.15%1.89
2004AL2266790.12%1.38
2004NL2590710.08%0.97
2005AL1660690.17%1.43
2005NL1904720.14%1.36

That's quite a change, from about nine or ten in 1996 to about two last year. Also, this year in the NL, one would expect just one bi-CG but from Bob we already know that there was at least one.

Here are the averages per decade.

DecadeAvg Exp Bi-Cg Per Season
1870s 191.83
1880s 406.05
1890s 530.50
1900s 376.06
1910s 196.77
1920s 152.39
1930s 122.78
1940s 113.44
1950s 70.53
1960s 51.32
1970s 65.69
1980s 26.17
1990s 6.34
2000s 2.02
Overall Avg 157.52

That's quite a constant evolution over decades. So, the next time you hear Joe Morgan complaining about how you never see a pitchers duel today, keep in mind that the same could have been said by old timers in the days of the Big Red Machine.

Comments
2005-08-18 22:29:22
1.   Eric Enders
I must say, I'm impressed that Ramon Martinez could pitch a complete game after such a long layoff. ;)
2005-08-19 05:41:50
2.   Mike Carminati
Oops, I think he meant Tippy.
2005-08-19 11:49:01
3.   Bob Timmermann
I double-checked and Mike correctly copied my mistake.

Rats!

2005-08-19 12:40:14
4.   Cliff Corcoran
Randy Johnson and Roy Halladay pitched matching CGs back on April 29, 2-0 Yankee loss, the only runs coming on a two-run Hinske homer late in the game. Great game, tough Yankee loss.

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