The Moose Meter
Via Peter Abraham:
I was on the borderline [regarding Mussina and Cooperstown] until a few months ago until a conversation with Johnny Damon convinced me. Johnny brought up the point that Mussina spent his entire career in the American League East and faced eight teams that won the World Series (Blue Jays 1992-93, Yankees ‘96, 1998-2000, Red Sox 2004, ‘07).
This is an interesting point. So, how did Mike Mussina do against those teams? Here’s the data:
vs. 1992 Blue Jays: 3 GS, 1-1 W/L, 19.6 IP and an ERA of 4.58
vs. 1993 Blue Jays: Never Faced The Jays That Season
vs. 1996 Yankees: 3 GS, 0-3 W/L, 15.6 IP and an ERA of 6.32
vs. 1998 Yankees: 2 GS, 0-1 W/L, 13.3 IP and an ERA of 4.72
vs. 1999 Yankees: 3 GS, 2-0 W/L, 18.6 IP and an ERA of 0.96
vs. 2000 Yankees: 1 GS, 1-0 W/L, 6.3 IP and an ERA of 1.42
vs. 2004 Red Sox: 3 GS, 1-1 W/L, 18.0 IP and an ERA of 3.50
vs. 2007 Red Sox: 2 GS, 0-1 W/L, 11.6 IP and an ERA of 9.26
So, does this make a good case for Moose, a bad one, or is it no case at all?
The key is the aggregated AL East offensive competition is greater than in any other division. Too small a sample size on these stats, though interesting. How’d he do against the division?
[...] Was Watching: Making a case for the Moose / River Ave. Blues: Yanks offer C.C. enough? [...]
5-7 with 5 ND, and a 4.35 ERA in 103 1/3 innings vs. 7 different championship teams?
Checking the pitching splits against these 7 teams (he didn’t pitch vs. the 1993 Jays) in their title seasons, the totals are (Mussina’s game removed): 5700 earned runs allowed, 10078 1/3 innings pitched, for a combined ERA against by all other MLB pitchers of 5.09
That’s pretty good, I’d think. 3/4 of a run better, per game, than the average MLB pitcher. Not quite dominant, but pretty darn good, actually. It’s somewhat shaded by the fact that for most of his career, Mussina pitched for pretty good teams, with probably better-than-average offensive support, bullpen support and defensive support.
Well, maybe not so good defensive support from the Yanks the last couple of seasons, but still pretty darn good.
(Parenthetical note to festus: In Mussina’s career of 18 seasons, the American League East has not been that dominant, as a whole. 7680 wins, 7533 losses, .505 WPCT, for an avg record of 81.70-80.14 per team-season. There were an awful lot of bad Baltimore, Tampa Bay, and other cellar-dwellars from 1991-2008, including the 1991 Yanks. Mussina’s career splits vs. the AL East: 81-53 with 45 ND, 468 earned runs in 1156 2/3 innings, for an ERA of 3.64, compared to his lifetime ERA of 3.68.)
Oh, and thanks to Baseball Reference for the stats and splits. Have I ever mentioned how much I love that site?
(Note: I do not work for the site, nor do I sponsor there. I did personally sponsor Alberto Gonzalez’ page there last year, because somebody had to, but no longer.)