Dickey Rises Above

RA Dickey this season finished 20-6 for a 74-88 team: 14 over .500 for a team that was 14 under. How unusual is that accomplishment? I ran through the past century looking for examples, focusing on pitchers who (1) won 15 or more games and (2) finished 5 or more games over .500 (3) for a team that was below .500 when they didn’t pitch. I came up with 73 75 examples; I’m sure there are more I missed, but I think I got the major ones. The chart below is ranked by multiplying the pitcher’s number of games above .500 by the team’s number of games below .500 the rest of the time (“x”); the “TOT” column adds the two:


UPDATED: Per comments, added Nolan Ryan’s 1973 and 1974.

Pitcher Year W L G Over W(T) L(T) G Under TOT x
Steve Carlton 1972 27 10 17 59 97 -55 72 935
Walter Johnson 1911 25 13 12 64 90 -38 50 456
Tim Lincecum 2008 18 5 13 72 90 -31 44 403
RA Dickey 2012 20 6 14 74 88 -28 42 392
Cliff Lee 2008 22 3 19 81 81 -19 38 361
Ray Scarborough 1948 15 8 7 56 97 -48 55 336
Roger Clemens 1997 21 7 14 76 86 -24 38 336
Bob Feller 1946 26 15 11 68 86 -29 40 319
Aaron Harang 2007 16 6 10 72 90 -28 38 280
Ted Lyons 1930 22 15 7 62 92 -37 44 259
Roy Face* 1959 18 1 17 78 76 -15 32 255
Pat Hentgen 1996 20 10 10 74 88 -24 34 240
Cy Young 1907 21 15 6 59 90 -37 43 222
Grover Alexander 1920 27 14 13 75 79 -17 30 221
Bobby Shantz 1952 24 7 17 79 75 -13 30 221
Walter Johnson 1910 25 17 8 66 85 -27 35 216
Grover Alexander 1914 27 15 12 74 80 -18 30 216
Roy Halladay 2002 19 7 12 78 84 -18 30 216
Al Leiter 2003 15 9 6 66 95 -35 41 210
Steve Trachsel 2003 16 10 6 66 95 -35 41 210
Clayton Kershaw 2011 21 5 16 82 79 -13 29 208
Walter Johnson 1919 20 14 6 56 84 -34 40 204
Brandon Webb 2008 22 7 15 82 80 -13 28 195
Nolan Ryan 1974 22 16 6 68 94 -32 38 192
Bob Feller 1941 25 13 12 75 79 -16 28 192
Johnny Marcum 1935 17 12 5 58 91 -38 43 190
Roger Clemens 1987 20 9 11 78 84 -17 28 187
Javier Vazquez 2007 15 8 7 72 90 -25 32 175
Tex Hughson 1944 18 5 13 77 77 -13 26 169
Steve Blass 1968 18 6 12 80 82 -14 26 168
Ted Lyons 1927 22 14 8 70 83 -21 29 168
Jerry Koosman 1968 19 12 7 73 89 -23 30 161
Roger Clemens 1992 18 11 7 73 89 -23 30 161
Gaylord Perry 1972 24 16 8 72 84 -20 28 160
Brandon Webb 2006 16 8 8 76 86 -18 26 144
Vean Gregg 1911 23 7 16 80 73 -9 25 144
Tom Seaver 1975 22 9 13 82 80 -11 24 143
Cy Young 1908 21 11 10 75 79 -14 24 140
Gaylord Perry 1978 21 6 15 84 78 -9 24 135
Pedro Martinez 1997 17 8 9 78 84 -15 24 135
Roy Halladay 2009 17 10 7 75 87 -19 26 133
Larry Jansen 1947 21 5 16 81 73 -8 24 128
Brad Penny 2007 16 4 12 82 80 -10 22 120
Bill Bernhard** 1902 17 5 12 69 67 -10 22 120
Bob Forsch 1977 20 7 13 83 79 -9 22 117
Robin Roberts 1954 23 15 8 74 79 -13 21 104
Jim Kaat 1975 20 14 6 75 86 -17 23 102
Rick Reuschel 1977 20 10 10 81 81 -10 20 100
Randy Johnson 1993 19 8 11 82 80 -9 20 99
Rip Sewell 1940 16 5 11 78 76 -9 20 99
General Crowder 1928 21 5 16 82 72 -6 22 96
Russ Ford*** 1914 21 6 15 80 71 -6 21 90
Walter Johnson 1913 36 7 29 90 64 -3 32 87
Walter Johnson 1917 23 16 7 74 79 -12 19 84
Felix Hernandez 2009 19 5 14 85 77 -6 20 84
Robin Roberts 1955 23 14 9 77 77 -9 18 81
Bryn Smith 1985 18 5 13 84 77 -6 19 78
Fergie Jenkins 1974 25 12 13 83 76 -6 19 78
Bob Tewksbury 1992 16 5 11 83 79 -7 18 77
Ted Lyons 1935 15 8 7 74 78 -11 18 77
Fergie Jenkins 1971 24 13 11 83 79 -7 18 77
Roy Halladay 2003 22 7 15 86 76 -5 20 75
Jim Kaat 1974 21 13 8 80 80 -8 16 64
Ted Lyons 1925 21 11 10 79 75 -6 16 60
Ramon Martinez 1990 20 6 14 86 76 -4 18 56
Bill Gullickson 1991 20 9 11 84 78 -5 16 55
Wade Miller 2002 15 4 11 84 78 -5 16 55
Rick Reuschel 1979 18 12 6 80 82 -8 14 48
Roy Halladay 2007 16 7 9 83 79 -5 14 45
Nolan Ryan 1973 21 16 5 79 83 -9 14 45
Roy Oswalt 2002 19 9 10 84 78 -4 14 40
Walter Johnson 1916 25 20 5 76 77 -6 11 30
Bob Feller 1947 20 11 9 80 74 -3 12 27
Pedro Martinez 2005 15 8 7 83 79 -3 10 21
Walter Johnson 1914 28 18 10 81 73 -2 12 20

* – Relief pitcher
** – Pitched with two teams, also was 1-0 with his other team.
*** – Federal League
As you can see, there’s a lot of modern pitchers here (the 5-man rotation and lots of no-decisions makes it easier for a team to be bad with 1 really good pitcher) but also a fair number of guys with big workloads from earlier eras. Some of these guys were – unlike Dickey – the only good pitcher on a good offensive team, but not all of them. Two teams, the 2002 Astros (Miller & Oswalt) and 2003 Mets (Leiter & Trachsel), are actually represented twice here, reflecting the horrible dropoff of the rest of their rotations.
It’s unsurprising that 1972 Steve Carlton utterly dominates this list or that Walter Johnson – who averaged 12 wins over .500 while the rest of his team averaged 10 games under for the decade 1910-19 – makes multiple appearances, as do Roy Halladay, Roger Clemens and Ted Lyons, among others.
A historic season for Dickey. Appreciate it.

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