Radbourn. If somebody in the near future wins more than 59 in a season, I'd feel pretty confident that Cy Young's career number would be in jeopardy. The best season someone can realistically have in today's game would get him about half way to Radbourn, but it's possible there's some kid out there today who will, within a generation, be universally recognized as the greatest pitcher in MLB history. If that kid ends up pitching for 20 or more healthy seasons and has the good fortune to play for teams with very good offense, he'd get pretty close to 511. It's a long-shot definitely, but with the way we play the game now, not nearly as much of a long-shot as winning more than 59 in a single season.
Think of it this way. Which MLB pitcher has the best shot to win 60 games this season? I don't know the name, but it would almost certainly have to be a middle reliever for some team that has weak starting pitching and a ferociously good offense. (A starting pitcher, even one who literally pitched a perfect game every 5 days, couldn't get anywhere close.) Now think about how unlikely it is that a middle reliever in that situation, even a very good one, would even win 10 games. Then think about how rare it is for a great pitcher to be used as a middle reliever. So yeah, Radbourn.
|