Greinke posted an absurdly-low 1.66 ERA that is the lowest in a qualified season since Greg Maddux's 1.63 in 1995. The righty tossed 222.2 innings this season, and no one's registered an ERA that low in as many innings since Dwight Gooden in 1985 (1.53). Greinke's Baseball-Reference Wins Above Replacement was 9.3, the highest mark since 2009, when Greinke himself had 10.4 for the Royals. It's the highest in the National League since Randy Johnson's 10.9 in 2002.
deGrom followed up his 2014 Rookie of the Year season with another stellar campaign. His 4.7 WAR ranked tenth in the majors. Combining Greinke's 9.3 and deGrom's 4.7 gives tonight's pairing a total of 14.0, good for the fifth-highest mark among 99 winner-take-all playoff games.
| Year | Game | SP | Tm | bWAR | SP | Tm | bWAR | Avg WAR | Result |
| 1985 | WS Gm 7 | John Tudor | STL | 8.1 | Bret Saberhagen | at KC | 7.3 | 7.70 | 11-0 KC |
| 1945 | WS Gm 7 | Hal Newhouser | DET | 11.2 | Hank Borowy | at CHC | 4.1 | 7.65 | 9-3 DET |
| 2001 | WS Gm 7 | Curt Schilling | at ARZ | 8.8 | Roger Clemens | NYY | 5.6 | 7.20 | 3-2 ARZ |
| 1985 | ALCS Gm 7 | Bret Saberhagen | KC | 7.3 | Dave Stieb | at TOR | 6.8 | 7.05 | 6-2 KC |
| 2015 | NLDS Gm 5 | Zack Greinke | at LAD | 9.3 | Jacob deGrom | NYM | 4.7 | 7.00 | ? |
| 1973 | NLCS Gm 5 | Tom Seaver | at NYM | 10.6 | Jack Billingham | CIN | 3.1 | 6.85 | 7-2 NYM |
| 2003 | ALDS Gm 5 | Pedro Martinez | BOS | 8.0 | Barry Zito | at OAK | 5.3 | 6.65 | 4-3 BOS |
| 2015 | NL WC | Jake Arrieta | CHC | 8.6 | Gerrit Cole | at PIT | 4.5 | 6.55 | 4-0 CHC |
| 2001 | NLDS Gm 5 | Curt Schilling | at ARZ | 8.8 | Matt Morris | STL | 4.1 | 6.45 | 2-1 ARZ |
| 2011 | NLDS Gm 5 | Roy Halladay | at PHI | 8.9 | Chris Carpenter | STL | 3.5 | 6.20 | 1-0 STL |
Is the total or average WAR the best way of measuring it? Inspired by Greinke and Clayton Kershaw, Dan Szymborski recently ranked the best teammate pitching duos by WAR, but instead used the geometric mean "in order to find the duos that weren't just great, but were really a dual effort." By this measure, Greinke/deGrom still ranks fifth. The rest of the top ten changes slightly, including downgrades to matchups with one pitcher carrying most of the load, such as Newhouser/Borowy, Seaver/Billingham and Halladay/Carpenter.
| Year | Game | SP | Tm | bWAR | SP | Tm | bWAR | Gmean WAR | Result |
| 1985 | WS Gm 7 | John Tudor | STL | 8.1 | Bret Saberhagen | at KC | 7.3 | 7.69 | 11-0 KC |
| 1985 | ALCS Gm 7 | Bret Saberhagen | KC | 7.3 | Dave Stieb | at TOR | 6.8 | 7.05 | 6-2 KC |
| 2001 | WS Gm 7 | Curt Schilling | at ARZ | 8.8 | Roger Clemens | NYY | 5.6 | 7.02 | 3-2 ARZ |
| 1945 | WS Gm 7 | Hal Newhouser | DET | 11.2 | Hank Borowy | at CHC | 4.1 | 6.78 | 9-3 DET |
| 2015 | NLDS Gm 5 | Zack Greinke | at LAD | 9.3 | Jacob deGrom | NYM | 4.7 | 6.61 | ? |
| 2003 | ALDS Gm 5 | Pedro Martinez | BOS | 8.0 | Barry Zito | at OAK | 5.3 | 6.51 | 4-3 BOS |
| 2015 | NL WC | Jake Arrieta | CHC | 8.6 | Gerrit Cole | at PIT | 4.5 | 6.22 | 4-0 CHC |
| 2001 | NLDS Gm 5 | Curt Schilling | at ARZ | 8.8 | Matt Morris | STL | 4.1 | 6.01 | 2-1 ARZ |
| 1973 | NLCS Gm 5 | Tom Seaver | at NYM | 10.6 | Jack Billingham | CIN | 3.1 | 5.73 | 7-2 NYM |
| 2003 | ALCS Gm 7 | Pedro Martinez | BOS | 8.0 | Roger Clemens | at NYY | 4.1 | 5.73 | 6-5 NYY |
Which sudden-death playoff pairing had the lowest WAR? It's a tie between Game Seven of the 1957 World Series (Lew Burdette of the Braves, 1.2 and Don Larsen of the Yankees, -0.2) and Game Six of the 2006 NLCS (Jeff Suppan of the Cardinals, 1.2 and Oliver Perez of the Mets, -0.2).
Yes, those are sub-replacement seasons from Larsen and Perez. They are two of the eight pitchers to put up a negative WAR and pitch in a sudden-death game that postseason, and surprisingly, they haven't fared well.
| Year 1973 |
Game ALCS Gm 5 |
Pitcher Doyle Alexander |
Tm BAL |
bWAR -0.1 |
Result L, 3.2 IP, 3 R (2 ER) |
| 2001 | ALDS Gm 5 | Chuck Finley | CLE | -0.1 | L, 4.1 IP, 2 R |
| 1957 | WS Gm 7 | Don Larsen | at NYY | -0.2 | L, 2.1 IP, 3 R (2 ER) |
| 2006 | NLCS Gm 7 | Oliver Perez | at NYM | -0.2 | ND, 6 IP, 1 R |
| 2004 | ALCS Gm 7 | Derek Lowe | BOS | -0.7 | W, 6 IP, 1 R |
| 1972 | NLCS Gm 5 | Don Gullett | at CIN | -0.8 | ND, 3 IP, 3 R |
| 1947 | WS Gm 7 | Hal Gregg | BKN | -1.6 | L, 3.2 IP, 3 R |
| 2004 | NLDS Gm 5 | Jaret Wright | at ATL | -1.7 | L, 5.1 IP, 4 R |
Below is the full list of all 99 winner-take-all postseason games. They're ranked by average starting pitcher WAR, the geometric mean starting pitcher WAR, chronological order and individual pitching WAR.
Adam Wainwright Al Leiter Alex Cobb Andy Benes Andy Pettitte Atlee Hammaker Babe Adams Barry Zito Bartolo Colon Bill Donovan Bill Lee Blue Moon Odom Bob Gibson Bob Turley Bobo Newsom Brad Radke Bret Saberhagen Bruce Hurst Bruce Kison Burleigh Grimes Catfish Hunter CC Sabathia Charles Nagy Chris Carpenter Christy Mathewson Chuck Finley Cliff Lee Cole Hamels Collin McHugh Curly Ogden Curt Schilling Daisuke Matsuzaka Dallas Keuchel Danny Cox Danny Salazar Dave Ferriss Dave Stieb David Cone David Price Dennis Leonard Derek Lowe Dizzy Dean Don Gullett Don Larsen Don Newcombe Donovan Osborne Doug Drabek Doug Fister Doyle Alexander Ed Figueroa Eddie Lopat Edinson Volquez Elden Auker Eric Show Fernando Valenzuela Francisco Liriano Frank Viola George Earnshaw Gerrit Cole Gil Heredia Gio Gonzalez Hal Gregg Hal Newhouser Hank Borowy Hugh Bedient Ian Kennedy Ivan Nova Jack Billingham Jack Morris Jack Sanford Jacob deGrom Jake Arrieta Jake Westbrook James Shields Jamie Moyer Jaret Wright Jarrod Parker Jason Hammel Jeff Suppan Jeremy Guthrie Jerry Reuss Jesse Haines Jim Bibby Jim Kaat Jim Lonborg Joaquin Andujar Joe Black Joe Magrane Joe Saunders John Candelaria John Lackey John Smiley John Smoltz John Tudor Johnny Cueto Johnny Kucks Johnny Podres Jon Lester Jon Matlack Justin Verlander Ken Holtzman Kerry Wood Kevin Brown Kevin Millwood Kris Medlen Kyle Lohse Lew Burdette Livan Hernandez Madison Bumgarner Marcus Stroman Mark Mulder Mark Redman Marty Bystrom Masahiro Tanaka Mat Latos Matt Cain Matt Garza Matt Harrison Matt Morris Mel Stottlemyre Mickey Lolich Mike Cuellar Mike Hampton Mike Mussina Moose Haas Murry Dickson Nolan Ryan Oliver Perez Orel Hershiser Paul Derringer Paul Splittorff Pedro Martinez Pete Vuckovich Ralph Terry Ray Burriss Rick Sutcliffe Roger Clemens Ron Darling Ron Guidry Roy Halladay Roy Oswalt Russ Ortiz Sandy Koufax Scott McGregor Sonny Gray Spec Shea Steve Blass Steve Carlton Steve Rogers Tim Hudson Tom Glavine Tom Seaver Tommy Byrne Vern Law Vic Aldridge Virgil Barnes Waite Hoyt Walter Johnson Woodie Fryman Yovani Gallardo Yu Darvish Zack Greinke
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