October 22, 2014

Signature Significance

In his 1980s Abstracts, Bill James talked about “signature significance”. I remember it in terms of discussing a game by a young Roger Clemens in which he walked none and struck out 15. That combination of power and control was extremely rare. Only great pitchers ever accomplished a feat like that. Clemens would go on to be one of the great pitchers of all time, and twice would strike out 20 in a game without issuing a walk.

FanGraphs may have found another example in Madison Bumgarner‘s 2014 post season.

Last night was Bumgarner’s fifth start of the 2014 postseason; he has pitched at least seven innings in all five of them, totaling 38.2 innings overall. In doing so, Bumgarner became just the seventh pitcher in baseball history to have five starts of seven innings or more in a single postseason. Let’s see how he stacks up against the other six who have done it.

There’s a reason you don’t see any mediocre hurlers on the list above, and the fact that they were able to consistently complete seven innings weeds out pitchers who weren’t dominating when they were given the ball. Bumgarner has placed himself in some seriously elite company.

In a couple of decades, if Bumgarner makes the Hall of Fame ballot, this post-season should loom large in the discussion.

1 thought on “Signature Significance

  1. pft

    Baseball history? The current playoff format gives pitchers more starts in the playoffs, and its only been in place since 1995 with an additional start for WC teams from 2013.

    Very few SP’ers made 5 or more starts before 1995. In fact the most you could get before the LCS was 3.

    Also, 2014 is the worst (or best for a pitcher) offensive year in a history that started in 1995, making Bumgarners job that much easier.

    ReplyReply

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