Since its inception, the St. Louis Cardinals franchise has boasted some of the greatest players to ever take the mound. From the indomitable spirit of Bob Gibson to the longevity and charm of Adam Wainwright, countless pitchers from Cardinals history have had great success on the mound. However, to extend one’s dominance consistently over the course of an entire 162-game season is one of the most impressive feats in professional sports.
Let’s take a look at five Cardinals pitchers who have done just that.
The 5 Most Dominant Seasons by Cardinals Pitchers
5. Dizzy Dean – 1934
While Dizzy Dean‘s 1934 season doesn’t pop off the leaderboards like some of the others on this list, his league-leading 30 wins and 195 strikeouts carried him to the first and only MVP award of his career. That season, he started 33 games but appeared in 50, and posted a league-leading .811 win percentage.
While his 2.66 ERA was good for only 9th in the league, he also led the Cardinals to their third World Series championship, going 2-1 with a 1.73 ERA through his three starts.
4. Chris Carpenter – 2005
Chris Carpenter‘s 2005 season is one for the history books and the only one on this list from the 21st century. While the Cardinals have struggled to find a bonafide ace for more than a decade, Carpenter’s fiery performances have rendered him the best pitcher in many Cardinals fans’ recent memory.
After coming to St. Louis from the Toronto Blue Jays in free agency in 2003, Carpenter immediately made an impact. In only his second year with the team, he posted a 2.83 ERA and 213 strikeouts over 241 2/3 innings. His seven complete games led him to a 21-5 record and his first and only Cy Young Award.
#OTD 2005 – Chris Carpenter (21-5, 2.83) is selected by the BWAA as the NL Cy Young Award winner.
The right-hander becomes the first St Louis Cardinals pitcher to win the award since Bob Gibson in 1970. #STLCards pic.twitter.com/qSHQHsNhDP
— Augie Nash (@AugieNash) November 10, 2024
Although the Cardinals lost in the NLCS that year to the Houston Astros, Carpenter’s dominance on the mound would eventually lead the Cardinals to two World Series championships in 2006 and 2011.
3. John Tudor – 1985
One of only six pitchers since 1960 to post 10 complete game shutouts in a season, John Tudor accomplished mind-boggling feats during his 1985 campaign.
He posted a 21-8 record, throwing 14 total complete games and 275 innings over the course of the season. Coupled with his elite, league-leading 0.938 WHIP and low walk rate, Tudor’s 1985 season was one of the best in Cardinals history.
He finished second in Cy Young voting to a 20-year-old Dwight Gooden, whose 1.53 ERA remains the best since Bob Gibson’s 1968 campaign.
2. Silver King – 1888
While the Cardinals were still the St. Louis Browns, and members of the rowdy American Association, pitcher Silver King put up one of the most dominant single-season performances in baseball history.
Across 64 starts, King went 45-20, posting a franchise-record 14.7 WAR and a 1.63 ERA at only 20 years old. He threw 64 complete games and six shutouts, leading the league in both categories. While there was no Cy Young Award at the time, it is safe to assume that King would have won the award handily.
He only gave up six homers across the entire season and had a league-leading walk rate of 1.2 BB/9. While King’s performance came in the earliest part of Cardinals franchise history, his impressive statistics still remain atop multiple Cardinals all-time leaderboards.
1. Bob Gibson – 1968
The single-most dominant campaign from a Cardinals pitcher, and arguably the best in MLB history, came from the fiery arm of hurler Bob Gibson in 1968.
Already a four-time All-Star by 1968, it is safe to say that Gibson fully entered his prime with his performance in this season. It was the first of three years he led the league in WAR, earning 11.2 in that year. His frankly absurd 1.12 ERA and 0.853 WHIP remain Cardinals records, and his 13 shutouts are also the most in a single season in Cardinals history.
That year he led the league in WAR, ERA, K, FIP, WHIP, and H/9, leading him to win both the Cy Young Award and NL MVP.
In the World Series (the last year before the playoffs expanded to four teams), he went 2-1 with a 1.67 ERA as the Cardinals fell to the Detroit Tigers in seven games.
A 1981 inductee to the Hall of Fame, Gibson will go down as not only the best pitcher in Cardinals history, but perhaps the best to ever play the game, and his 1968 season perfectly encapsulates his career on the mound.
Photo Credit: © Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images
The post The 5 Most Dominant Seasons by Cardinals Pitchers appeared first on Last Word On Baseball.